The first reading, from the the book of Genesis, tells of what follows immediately after Adam and Eve consume the forbidden fruit. We hear of Yahweh walking in the Garden, looking for Adam, calling out Where are you? With a hint of humor, we hear Adam hiding from Yahweh. His shame makes him reluctant to come out and face the truth of his sin of disobedience. What follows is… shifting of blame, I only did it because EVE, whom YOU put here with me, made me do it. Eve, in turn, blames the serpent. If we were to take this text in a literal way (e.g. Were their names actually Adam and Eve? Did the snake actually speak? Was the fruit an apple or a pomegranate? How did Yahweh walk through the Garden?), we would be distracted by the truths the text tries to convey: the unalienable human dignity as given from God, the reality of temptation and sin, the promise of a Savior, the existence of Evil, etc.
Over the years past there has been much theological and philosophical debate over the concept of Evil, to the point that some argue that Evil doesn’t actually exist: Evil could be explained psychologically, politically, socially, but certainly not spiritually. However, this view doesn’t do justice to the Bible, nor, I would say, to our human experience. We only need to look at the 20th century–the deadliest in history– to realize that our human nature has been compromised, that there is something impeding us, opposing us to live according to our dignity and as brothers and sisters.
The book of Genesis offers us rich signs to reflect even on contemporary issues. Take for example the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. What could it mean to eat the fruit from such a tree? It would appear that knowledge of Good and Evil would be a desirable thing to have. If they were allowed to eat from all trees, why, then, would God forbid them to eat from that tree?
St. John Paul II, reflecting on these questions, teaches that of all the freedoms afforded to us by God in Life, the one thing we cannot do is to appropriate to ourselves the authority of saying what is Good and what is Evil. Since our dignity stems from his making us his image and likeness, it is He and only He who legislates this moral order:
“Man cannot himself pretend to establish the moral law, to decide himself what is good and what is bad, independently of the Creator, even against the Creator. Neither man nor any other creature can set himself in the place of God, claiming for himself the mastery of the moral order, contrary to creation’s own ontological constitution.”
It’s a modernist notion that I decide what is good and what is evil in my life, that there is no such thing as sin, just my wants. We live in a confused world, one that forgets where it comes from and desperately seeks purpose in appropriating to itself everything, even any objective moral order. We see this in the Transgender ideology: I am whatever I decide to be.
The serpent suggests to Adam and Eve that they will be like gods, knowing good and evil. They will be the moral legislators. They will dictate the terms. The creature refuses to be a creature.
Many civilizations of the time believed that pesky little demons existed and roamed the earth, and they were the ones really responsible for our evil actions (serpent blaming, again?). However, the notion of temptation that the Bible portrays is much more suggestive when it comes to the dark powers acting in the human heart; they present to us a distorted sense of reality. We see this in how the snake changes how reality is presented to Adam and Eve: Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’? Eve responds: No, we can eat from all trees, save for the the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which we cannot even touch.
God is the great Unifier, the one who seeks us out in our fall: The coming together of people to form communities is the work of the Spirit; to remain united even in rough times is the work of God; even finding the strength to forgive yourself and not remain divided is God’s action. Anything opposing these actions is the work of the dark powers. “Devil” (dia–bole, in Greek, diablo in Spanish) is the one who separates. I’m sure you have felt the dark powers fo the world in opposition to the moral order of God. Think of those times when you have been not a source of conciliation and unity, but of division.
God is the great Affirmer. He sees the greatness and beauty of your being. Because you’re made in HIS image and likeness, when he sees you, he sees himself. The satan is the great accuser that makes you perceive that you are unworthy of God. Think of those times you were an accuser to others and not of mercy, a source of judgement and criticism.
As with Genesis, God has fulfilled his promise of a savior, a savior that can overcome the dark powers of the world, the powers of division, accusation, and death.
Today’s gospel reminds us that we are in battle:Â “No one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man.” It’s also an action from the dark powers to see how Catholics have been flocking away from the very remedies that the savior has left us: prayer, Mass, Eucharist, the saints, Confession… his Word and the Sacraments. Perhaps out of fear to word their sins to a priest, or maybe because, like Adam and Eve, they appropriate the moral order to their lives and they decide what is good and evil “for them”, more and more Catholics give in to the fear of going to frequent confession and end up bound, tied as their property, their freedom, is plundered. The most effective way to keep someone captive is to make them believe they are free. It’s this belief that someone is free of their sin if they confess them “directly” to God. Nowhere, by the way, in the Bible do we hear that sins are to be confessed “directly” to God; but there are explicit references that offer healing in confessing sins to men.
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful” Jm 5:16.
Consider this medical analogy. You cut yourself on your left hand and you don’t clean the wound with antiseptics or tend to it in any way. Days later you notice that it hasn’t healed and your whole hand is starting to hurt. If you dismiss it as unimportant, that wound will get infected and fester. Eventually, you will lose your hand, your whole arm, and will most probably die. What could have been resolved by overcoming the inconvenience of going to the doctor has now compromised everything.
I remember when I was a kid I fell off my bike and scraped my entire leg. The doctor noticed in my face that the antiseptic was stinging, and said: “If it stings it’s because it’s working.” And that’s the image I would like to leave you with, if you’re struggling to go to confession and find that healing that you seek: if it’s uncomfortable to go, if it’s embarrassing to word your sins or even painful just to think about it, if it stings, it’s because “it’s working.”
