After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree
the LORD God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”
There was only was prohibition which Adam was meant to heed in to guide the entirety of his life in the garden. There were not yet 613 commandments of the Mosaic law, nor even the ten of the decalogue, for as yet they were unneeded. Avoiding this one evil act would encompass perfect fidelity. It would ensure the correct disposition of creatures before their creator.
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die (see Genesis 2:17).
It was not all it once through an act of premeditated malice that Adam took the fruit. It rather happened first that Eve was deceived. But this was possible precisely because Adam first committed the omission of his duty, for he had been put in the garden "to tend and guard and keep it" (see Genesis 2:15). And yet now there was this obviously suspicious serpent in the garden, contradicting God by speaking lies to his wife unopposed. Had Adam responded vigorously and immediately he would have found himself sufficient to the task which the Lord had asked. The serpent's lies could have been thwarted before they grew in credibility, desirability, and in the power they had over the imagination. Because it was Adam's job to prevent the intrusion of the lie it was he who was held accountable first when he failed.
“Where are you?”
The reason God asked this question was not because he did not know, for it was impossible for him to hide from the all seeing eyes of the Most High. Rather he asked this of Adam to give him the opportunity to confess what he had done. It was as though God had asked, "What is the condition of your soul? Where is your heart which now feels the need to flee from my love?" But it was already too late for Adam to hear in God's words the true intention of his love. Instead he and Eve both were now consumed by the need to defend themselves, to hide their failures. Now that they had officially declared their desire to "be like God" they could only see themselves as in competition with him, a competition which offered no possibility of a good outcome for them. Adam blamed not only the woman, which, after all, was unfair since he had not done his job properly to protect her. He blamed God.
The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me
All of what God intended for the good of man and woman was now seen with suspicion. There was nothing for weak mortal creatures who imagined themselves to be in competition with God to do but to attempt to hide from his gaze. Their minds were darkened to the degree that they could not recognize the offer of an opportunity to confess and set things right. But because Adam, and the human race with him, fell to the degree where they could not even truly be open to receive the offer of forgiveness God himself promised to act.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel.”
After what seemed like endless ages of history the fullness of time arrived. The woman and her seed where finally revealed in Mary and her son Jesus, for this was the only instance of a child being born without the involvement of an earthly father, the only situation in which the mystery of speaking of the seed of a woman would have made sense to the minds of the ancients. What began with Eve's disobedience would begin to end by Mary's obedience. But although the first Adam failed his wife in his duty toward her, Jesus did not fail his mother in the grace of protection with which she was surrounded from the first moment of her conception.
Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.
It was because of this divine protection that Mary was entirely free to respond to God, to overcome earthly fears, and to trust in providence. Eve chose to believe in the lies of the devil, especially that God was holding out on her, and was unable to trust him. There were, it was true, mitigating circumstances. Her experience of the presence of evil that Adam should have handled probably put her in a place of fear where a clear and rational response was more difficult than it ought to have been. Having to speak the truth of God to the serpent alone rather than supported by Adam must have made her experience doubt because she was not meant to fight alone. Yet, that said, she still had grace enough to resist, truth enough unto which she could hold tight. Her culpability, while mitigated was not excused. Mary did not have to fight alone, but her assent, though empowered by the grace she was given, was still authentically her own.
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
We still need the power of Mary's yes to untie the knots of sin still remaining in our world from the disobedience of Eve. This was why Mary was a part of God's plan for us since the first chapters of Genesis. The forgiveness and trust we could not find on our own could only be revealed to us by a heart that was entirely open to trust. Mary revealed that when that trust holds firm, though there will still be challenges, nevertheless all things will be possible for God. That trust was what was meant to ensure the presence of God in the garden for Adam and for Eve. When that failed God himself intervened so that the experience of his presence could be restored, and more than restored, given in an altogether new and personal way.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.
May Mary's fiat become our own. May she teach us by her prayers to trust as absolutely as she did, even when, like her, we don't fully understand. We can learn to live in the same freedom that she herself knew because that trust never waivered.
No comments:
Post a Comment