A Fall and a Separation

"If God is good and all-powerful, why is there evil?" is a question we hear frequently from people who struggle with, or reject, faith in God. Often referred to as "the problem of evil," this question makes sense coming from an unbeliever who thinks humankind is evolving in a positive direction, basically good, deserving to inhabit an "I'm okay; you're okay" world. But even some believers, or former believers, struggle to explain why evil exists, and I have to admit I don't really get their puzzlement.

It's because of the fall of man (and before that, the fall of Satan). That's why.

God wanted a real relationship with the human beings He created in His image. Therefore, He made them free to choose or reject Him. Therefore, He created a tree in the garden whose fruit, if eaten, would expand their awareness to "good and evil" instead of "good only." He made it clear that He wanted them to choose Him ("Don't eat of that tree"). But the tree had to be there; if it was not, Adam and Eve would be with Him only because they had no chance at anything else. Our Father didn't want prisoners, even prisoners of paradise. By saying a continual No to the tree, Adam and Eve could have made the decision to choose God every day. It's not unlike marriage; not at all. There are reasons, temptations, opportunities, and just plain dumb delusions that can make one leave a spouse, but unless there are dire circumstances we say No and choose our mate. We choose relationship. 

When we consider the fall, we usually think about our separation from God, the sentences pronounced on Adam and Eve, the fig leaf aprons, the scratching of crops from a hard, dry, thistle-ridden land. The punishments, in other words. But have we really dug deeply into everything that the fall meant--and means? It's not just a fall; it's separation of many kinds.

I recall being taught in high school English classes that literary plots centered on one of three main conflicts: man against man, man against nature, and man against himself. Why man against himself? Separated from God, we no longer have the direct communication with Him that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden. We miss that because we were created for it. We can't expect the unbeliever to be much impressed by this idea, though the loss of a great part of our human purpose has an effect on us whether we recognize it for what it is or not. Easier to grasp are the personal problems we encounter: lack of direction, mental issues, low self-esteem, feelings of insignificance, inability to break bad habits, wondering if anything even matters. This is man against himself: separation from what we want to do and be, separation from meaning and purpose. And then at death, the biggie: the soul separates from the body. This was never supposed to be. This was never God's plan. But it has to happen if we are ever to be redeemed from the fallen state. 

Man against man happens at a sociological level. It starts immediately in the garden when Adam and Eve blame each other rather than take responsibility. It spreads to Cain and Abel, to Jew and Gentile, to the church and the world--huge divides between individuals and people groups that don't even take into account differences in ethnicity, languages (the tower of Babel, another sin, brought yet more separation), politics, or economics, none of which would plague us if we hadn't lost the garden. We kill and covet, as James says, because we fell, and for this reason we experience lack, and we try in vain to fix it by going after the other guy and the things he has.   

Too, we have man against nature. Climate extremes, weather patterns, unforgiving ocean currents, treacherous terrain, all manner of poisonous plants, wild animals, deadly organisms. We can no longer subdue and husband the rest of creation the way we were meant to, in the garden. 

It's not just the fall, it's that there are so many separations as a result of it that we and our world are splintered apart compared to what we were meant to be. And the more splinters there are, the more differences we see, and the more reasons for anger, suspicion, self-protection, mistrust, and other-ness. 

Unbelievers struggle with the existence of evil because they don't think humans are fallen (though they may also think we haven't much significance in the grand scheme of things). Believers know we are fallen (but still significant, being made in God's image), and the world is fallen too. 

Why is there evil? We did that. 

What's God doing about it? Jesus Christ.

Escape vs. Life

 

There's a joke in Christian circles that some people only want Jesus for "fire insurance." These folks' position could be summarized as, "I just wanna not go to hell. Going to heaven is the main thing, right?"

And I do think it's the main thing. Miss heaven, and not only will nothing else matter, but nothing you accomplished in life will ever have mattered. Think about that one for a moment.* <Shudder>

1 Corinthians 3 explains how "fire insurance" works. If anyone builds on the foundation that is Jesus Christ (so these are Christians who are being discussed), but their works are found to be of "wood, hay, or stubble" (temporal, hasty or sloppy, scanty, of poor quality, self-serving), the works will burn up, but the saved person will escape, barely, through the fire (3:15). If the person has built with gold, silver, or precious stones (investing in people, getting to know God, seeking God's will and doing it, obeying His precepts), such works will survive the test--which, interestingly, is portrayed as being conducted by fire--and result in a reward (3:14). Again, I am sure arriving in heaven even with one's clothes burned off is infinitely better than not getting there. But is "fire insurance" the gospel that Jesus intended or that Paul preached? I don't think so.

We are invited to much more, and the early Jewish Christians realized this. For them, life was holistic in a way that modern Westerners don't quite grasp. We compartmentalize, not least in our insistence on the separation of church and state (which idea has grown way beyond the original intent of declining to establish a specific state-sanctioned denomination). Think about the picture of early Judaism that the Bible holds up to us: the temple, the sacrifices, the laws, the feasts, the psalms, the prayers, the prophets. The exodus. This was not their religion. It was their relationship with God and His with them. It was their way of life. It was their life. 

In Jesus Christ, we are invited into the life of the Godhead. We are branches in the vine, fishers of men, a royal priesthood. If we hear His voice as He knocks on our door, we can dine with Him and He with us. We can take His yoke and find rest for our souls. We become part of His body, which is called "the church," but which is not an institution made of bricks and marble, pews and a pulpit, but is instead God's blood-bought family. Made in God's image, we are invited to share with Him and each other the love that flows between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for eternity, because it pleased Him to create us to share it with Him. This is our life. 

We modern Westerners like "fire insurance" because it allows us the "doing our own thing" we insist on (idolize, honestly) while still comforting us that we have eternity covered. I hope too many of us aren't wrong about that; after all, Jesus will say "I never knew you" to some of the people who call him "Lord, Lord." I hope any heavenly regrets are mild; I can't help but think they will be, when the face of Jesus and throne of God make us bow down in worship and forget all else. But will there be regrets about little treasure stored up, scant rewards, "what I coulda woulda shoulda done on earth"? Perhaps. Perhaps so.  

I don't want just fire insurance. I want life. I have eternal life now (1 John 5:11), and I want to live it now, in as much union with the Godhead as I can. I'm nobody special, but I thank God that He's placed this desire in me for life with Him. 

*I can think of one exception: If you're a lost soul who raised a saved child, that matters. But it won't comfort you in the end.

Losing Our Lives to Save Them: Mary

 

One clarification to begin with: I am not Catholic, and those of us who aren't don't venerate Mary in the way Catholics do. That doesn't subtract from the fact that to the coming of the Messiah, Mary was absolutely crucial. 

I wrote some weeks ago here about how Esther laid her life down to save it. But the other day it struck me all over again, and deeper, how Mary did the same.

Mary was a young Jewish woman, I don't know how old, but both young enough and old enough that she was betrothed to Joseph while still being in the preparation period before the actual wedding. As such, Mary was a virgin, because even though the betrothal was legally binding for her and Joseph, unlike our engagements today, the true marriage would not exist until Joseph had taken her to the wedding chamber (which he would have been in the process of preparing for her) and they consummated the union. Sexual relations defined marriage in a very real way (unconsummated marriages are not considered real marriages by many even now, and can at times be annulled, nor does the Bible present them as a viable option), so to have indulged in relations beforehand, with one's betrothed or anyone else, would have "cut the covenant" before its time, made the parties "one flesh" with someone other than their spouse, ruined the celebration of the entire betrothal/preparation/wedding period, possibly created a "mini-marriage" with someone never intended (an explanation for why a man who seduced an unattached virgin had to pay the bride price and marry her, per Exodus 22:16-19 and Deuteronomy 22:28-29), and spoiled the woman's chances of ever marrying anyone else. In plain terms, sex prior to the time the groom arrived to claim his bride and sweep her off to the bridal chamber stood to knock their lives clean off the rails. Mary would have known all this.

And when Gabriel visited Mary and told her she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she couldn't have failed to understand the ramifications. Some would believe Joseph had gotten her pregnant; others would believe she'd betrayed him with another man--certainly Joseph himself would believe that. She would face the anger, confusion, shame, and disappointment of her parents. She would lose not only Joseph, but any other possible suitor. Her good name. Her reputation. Her chance to have children. Possibly all economic support, for life. Not that these losses would necessarily matter, because she would be subject to stoning under Deuteronomy 22:23 unless the authorities happened to believe she'd been ravaged in an open field (22:25-27).  

Did Mary protest to Gabriel about any of this? She did not. She only asked him to explain how a virgin could become pregnant. Like Esther, Mary laid down her entire life as a Jewish woman when she replied, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). Think for a moment how utterly she had to trust God for everything from that moment on. She could never have guessed that Joseph wasn't lost to her, that home wasn't lost to her, that she wouldn't be destitute with a child, that she wouldn't be killed and perhaps the child with her, that God would speak directly to her betrothed and tell him to proceed with the marriage. Only God!

What a kindness Gabriel did to Mary when he told her that Elizabeth, her relative, was currently six months along. Because with Elizabeth, who for different reasons was also miraculously pregnant, Mary could have refuge and, frankly, get herself together. How much Elizabeth's affirmation of her as the "mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43) must have encouraged and strengthened her! So much so that she remained with Elizabeth for the rest of the latter's pregnancy and sang the beautiful hymn of praise to God that we now call The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). 

Mary lost her entire life for God and found it, just as Jesus would later teach. Not only through all of the foregoing, but when Simeon said to her in the temple, at the presentation of Jesus, "And a sword will pierce your own soul, too." 

Is there a mother who would not immediately have understood those words and frozen in horror? The account in Luke doesn't reveal Mary's outward reaction to this, if any, but the loss of Jesus was another price she paid. 

Many, many of us are not called to risk our lives, or our children's, literally, but because people like Esther and Mary were, and trusted God, and were delivered in marvelous ways, we can take courage that when we forsake a particular path in life in order to walk the one God calls us to, He will be there to meet us. And as for life, we will indeed find it.

Of Great Price

 

Lord, help me mine the gems,

dive for the pearls in Your word,

find one, yea more, of great value,

much wisdom above rubies,

the treasure buried in fields

of familiar stories

that others miss.

Though each jewel captivate

with sparkle and luster;

gleam and gloss;

nuggets, facets of meaning;

let its beauty, its richness,

yield to and lead to the light

of Your face.