What is the First Sin?
What was the first sin?
For many of us we understand the first sin was when Adam and Even ate from a tree that was “off limits”. This was the first “answer” I was given when I was younger. It makes some sort of logical sense. There was a prohibition and then that prohibition was broken and thus there you have it, the first sin.
This way of thinking about the Bible story in Genesis is good if you are trying to instill into a child that they need to listen to authority figures (parents, teachers, etc.). It is a way of teaching young ones that rules, even rules you may not understand, are put in place in order to protect you and to violate those rules comes at a cost.
As we get older we come to see this is not true. There are plenty of people who violate rules but do not suffer any consequences. There are also a lot of rules that are in place that are unjust and do not make a lot of sense. Then when you drill down into Christianity, you hear that we are saved by grace and not the law, that we are in fact not bound to the law. When we read the Genesis story and are told the “moral of the story” is that we need to abide by the law, but were we not told that Jesus comes to liberate us from the law we scratch our heads. Are we free from the law or are we supposed to follow it so as to not be like Adam and Eve?
The Bible is a set of stories that are full of symbol and depth of meaning. Pay attention that Adam and Eve ate fruit. In other parts of the Bible we learn that fruit is a metaphor for that which comes after something else. For instance, we bear fruits of the spirit, after we receive the Holy Spirit. We will bear fruit after we abide in the vine (Christ). Fruit comes after.
Adam and Eve’s consumption of fruit ought to prompt us to ask, what is the thing that comes before? What is this fruit they are eating? Not what sort of fruit as in apples or pears, but more like is this the fruit of love or the fruit of hate? Even demons bear fruit. Not all fruit is good, but if we act with hatred, we will bear the fruit of hate.
And so if fruit comes after, then eating the fruit cannot be the first sin. The first sin has to happen and the first humans are eating of the fruit of that first sin. And so, what is that first sin?
There are a lot of arguments on what that first sin would be. Perhaps it is worth considering that the first sin is not disobedience or pride, but redirection. Redirecting our desires away from what God desires toward what we desire.
When Adam and Even desired what God desired, then the tree in the center of the garden was not even a blip on the radar of Eve or Adam. It never even bothered them, because their desire was mirroring what God desired and God desired them not to eat from that tree. It was only when they no longer desired what God desired that Adam and Even were able to eat of the fruit.
And thus, the first sin is not a choice of produce but a choice of desiring something other than what God desires.
This Lent, consider the actions that you and I might call “sins”. Chances are these sins are not sins, but evidence (fruit if you will) of the sin that came before. Consider what James 4:1-3 says:
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
The conflicts and disputes among us are fruit - they come from somewhere. And where do they come from the author asks? They come from our choice to abandon the desires of God and pursue our own desires.
(This is adapted from a sermon delivered on February 28, 2021)
Personal Disciplines and Communal Practice (Video)
Recently, I had the chance to speak to some of the leadership of the church I serve about moving from a deciding body to a discerning body. In an effort to guide the group toward discernment, there are both personal disciplines and communal practices. This video was an effort to teach different disciplines and practices.
You may not care to watch this entire video, I do not blame you - I don’t like to listen to me, too. However, if you are interested in some of the disciplines and practices, I have put minute marks below for your reference.
I hope this teaching is helpful for you to either participate in these disciplines and practices or at the very least give you something to push against and discover your own Lenten disciplines and practices. (These minute marks and links are also in the comments of the video on Youtube.)
Don't be showy, unless it is ashes
The following is an abbreviated version of an Ash Wednesday reflection offered here.
Have you ever wondered why on the day when many Christians make a very public display of their religion is the same day that we read Jesus, who on the Sermon on the Mount says:
‘Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.*
‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
So what gives? Why not be showy unless it is Ash Wednesday?
Notice that Jesus speaks of three practices: fasting, praying and almsgiving. In each of these practices he speaks of a poor model and a better model. The poor model is that of the religious authorities while the better model is what he (Jesus) does. The invitation is not to abandon these practices but to model your practices from Jesus and not the hypocrites.
The invitation to model Jesus in our fasting, praying and giving is really just the beginning. And really among the easiest things to do as followers of Jesus.
Ashes on our heads on this day is not for show but the vow, promise, desire that we would model our lives after Jesus not just in the easy practices (fasting, praying and giving) but in the more difficult practice of Jesus: obedience.
As it is said of Jesus in Philippians 2:
who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
The ashes on our heads are the hope that we too would imitate Christ not just in our fasting, praying and giving but in our divestment of power and control. In our obedience - even to the point of giving ourselves away. That we would take up the cross.
The ashes are the invitation to imitate Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
In this light, I less sure that ashes are very showy.
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.