An effort was made recently to look at some of the good points of the first man, Adam. (Worth having a read.)
It’s worth remembering, that we all come from that first guy. There are things to applaud, especially considering where he came from, who created him, how he created him, what he did initially and how things really worked well with his wife at the start.
We cannot get away from it, though, some things went wrong with Adam.
The Genesis narrative records an episode featuring a talking serpent. People read it and dismiss it as fairy tale, mythic and purely for a morality tale. Some read it that way. Others, including Jesus, took it a lot more seriously.
This is not about what went wrong with Eve – this is about what went wrong with Adam. The focus is not about the talking serpent. The point is to notice what Adam did and did not do.
First, it’s important to remember, Adam knew exactly what the instruction was regarding that particular tree. God was keen for man not to eat from that tree because He saw the consequences. Adam heard that and awas aware of it and so had a responsibility to that which he was instructed.
His wife was having a conversation and Adam said and did nothing about it. His wife made for the fruit and he did nothing about it. His wife ate the fruit and he did something about it – he had some as well. His act was taken knowing full well what he was doing.
From that act of rebellion, Adam who previously enjoyed life naked and not ashamed took a new awareness of his nakedness as something to cover up. And he’s been covering up ever since. He covered up when God had the first public inquiry. His idea of a cover up was to blame his wife and the God who had given him the wife that he had celebrated and was grateful for. His idea of covering up was to do everything but take responsibility, confess and seek forgiveness.
Unsurprisingly, since then those who have followed Adam have been very good at doing nothing until it’s time to get in on something for their own self-gratification, even if it’s at their cost. Then when that cost crops up, those who have followed Adam have been good to cover up. Rarely inviting vulnerability or operating from integrity and taking responsibility, there are loads of mind-games and cover-ups that those who have followed Adam have taken part in.
The devastating effects of what went wrong with Adam are evident today. The defiance, the desire to rule without reference to the Creator, the lack of protecting others. Most disturbing of all, is that element of looking to be the source of what is good and evil – detaching from the source of life itself to do so.
So tragic.
If that was the whole story then the human experience would be truly frustrating. The capacity to do so much good alongsie the capacity to do so much evil. this is to be the experience for ever? This is the human lot? This is all there is to the human experience?
The good news is that this starts a story of the journey back to true humanity. Even as Adam is kicked out of the delightful presence of God in that garden, the journey back has begun and would culminate in the presence of the Second Adam. The Second Adam would let us see what the Original plan was mean to be all along – dependence on the Creator to fulfil what we’re to be as His creature made in His image.
Now we have the choice. To continue in the old Adam and the frustrations that come with that or to consider what comes with the Second Adam and the glorious realities that unfold in that journey.
The journey back, however, features some more profiles before the incarnation of the Second Adam that are worth exploring …
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 