Dwelling with the Lord, Despite Sin: “I am Naked” is NOT the Last Word!
Genesis 3:9-15; 2 Cor 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35
Today, an African proverb explains our homily: reculer pour mieux sauter – to draw back for an effective attack! The etymology of this proverb is derived from animal fight by butting, where an animal needs to back up (draw back) to gather speed before a butting attack. For us, we return to Genesis, in our first reading, and the creation account of the Fall of humanity for the purposes of learning how to live better. Our first reading is not meant to make us sing the dirge of humanity or to live in perpetual compunction; it is a diagnosis of present human condition and how we arrived at where we are. The reason is that the knowledge of the past is a powerful tool for maneuvering the future. Three characters in a story will help clarify today’s message.
A man once recounted a job interview question put to a job seeker, the answer to which was to seal the deal for him or unmake his job opportunity. The story goes this way: a man driving along in his car, had just one extra seat, in case he needed to give somebody a ride, and there was an imminent storm looming in the horizon. As he drives along, he comes to a lonely bus stop in the middle of nowhere. And, standing at this bus stop are three individuals: a very sick old lady, a man who happened to have saved him from death in the past, and a beautiful lady with all the attributes this man dreamed of in an ideal lady and he fell for her instantaneously. The question was: what would this man do in such a dilemma? The job seeker responded: “I will give the key to my car to the man who once saved my life, and I will ask him to take the old sick lady to the hospital, and I will remain with the lady of my dream!
Our first reading invites us to think outside the box, like the answer of the man in the job interview; we are to see the Fall of Adam and Eve as an opportunity opened up for humanity to return to its original close relationship with God, and not just moan over the mistake of the past. The question of God to Adam is addressed to all of us today, “where are you?” God wishes to know our position, which is defined by our relation with him, whether we are with him or we are far away from him. In God’s question to Adam, there is more to that question than geography, measured by space and distance. It is a question of intimacy and relationship: “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” We are invited to come up with an ingenious idea to dwell with God, the exclusive love of our lives: “Here am I,” should be our answer to “where are you?”.
“Where are you?” and “I am naked” are two poles in human relationships with God. But what is it that renders the human person invisible to God, who supposedly knows everything and created everything that would warrant the question “where are you?” Well, it doesn’t seem that God was not all together unaware of the location where the human person, Adam, was, since he called him by name to inquire his whereabouts. The ability to call someone by name symbolizes that all was not lost – a name is already a sign of relationship: God knows you and me by name! The question “where are you?” simply means, “why are you running away from me?” For, when the Lord said to Adam, “where are you?” Adam responded, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid.” It is important to ask what Adam “heard” in the Garden, which made him to realize that God was around, and the need for him to run away from God and to hide himself: “Adam, where are you?”
“Nudity” is the state of the knowledge of “good and evil,” the consequence of sin: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). To lose one’s innocence by sin brings about the knowledge that leads to flight from God. The power of innocence is the intimacy that God seeks in human beings; when it is lost, the human person flees the presence of God. “Where are you?” is God’s voice calling human beings to repentance and rapprochement with himself. The explanation of Adam, as to why he ate the fruit, is not the paramount lesson in this saga; rather, the compassion of God who seeks out sinners and offers them second chances, despite their sins, is the message of today. God gives every sinner a chase to bring him/her back into a relationship with him: “where are you?”
The tragedy of human relationships with God is the human forgetfulness of God’s compassion and love; worse still, it is when human beings allow sin to blind them to the power of God’s forgiveness and love; it is the forgetfulness of the original blessings and goodness God puts and sees in his creation. In fact, God contests the power of evil when he says, “Who told you that you were naked?” Adam didn’t even wait for God’s sentence, but he passed a sentence of divorce and separation on himself, he took to his heels; of course, God gave him the chase of his life – “Where are you?” Interestingly, the human person can never out run God, because God dwells in the human person, and God’s voice resounds deep down in the core of each one of us – the inescapable compassion and love of God. Indeed, “I am naked” is not a good enough excuse!
The same scandal which befell God in Genesis is the same scandal that Jesus experiences in today’s gospel – the human tendency and proclivity to overestimate the power of evil, to the neglect of the good in the human person! Faced with this scandal, Jesus utters this exclamation: “How can Satan drive out Satan?” It is “evil” that is the culprit and deserving of imprisonment, and not the “good” which God sees and has put in place! What is expected of human beings is to devoid evil of its power and to recognize and valorize the power of the “good” in human beings. It is the surrender of the will in its struggle against evil that makes evil to blossom: “But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house”. The “strong man” is the “good,” and the act of “plunder” is the reign of “evil”: “Adam, where are you?”
Despite the sinfulness of humanity, according to today’s gospel, Jesus still sees something lovable and worthy of praise in the human person. To this effect, Jesus says: “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” This simply confirms that sin is not strong enough to separate God from a sinner. God loves all his children. “I am Naked,” the admission of guilt, is NOT the last word in our relationship with God; dwelling with the Lord despite sin is the desire of God, and it is the last word! “Where are you,” is God’s voice calling you and me to an intimate relationship with himself. Condemnation is not the first thing that comes into God’s mind, as regards sin, but compassion and forgiveness are the special attributes that endear God to human beings: “where are you?”
Curiously, our relationship with God remains interminable and eternal. This is the argument of Paul, in our second reading, “For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven”. Therefore, no child of God has the right to be sorry for himself/herself because we are emboldened by God’s love and compassion for us. In this vein, Paul continues his exhortation in these words, “Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day”. God’s grace towards repentance and conversion is ever present in abundance, wherever sin abounds. God covers human nudity with his mantle of forgiveness and love: yes, God clothes us with mercy, we are NOT naked!
If we stopped to think of our hearts as this garden of Eden of our first reading or the bus stop of our story, then we will realize that every sin committed is comparable to a red card given to a player during a football match. It is God who gets kicked out of our hearts by sin each time we commit a sin. In spite of the red card given to God, however, he still runs after us, saying, “where are you?” – the voice of God seeking a relationship with us. The compassion of God pushes him to seek us out and to seek our permission for a renewed relationship: God doesn’t force himself on us! What Adam heard was the loudness of his conscience accusing him of his sin, but he wasn’t ready to listen to the compassionate voice, “where are you,” inviting him back – what a tragedy! The scribes and Pharisees couldn’t see the joy of the man whose withered hand was restored (Mark 3:1-6), in today’s gospel, but paid attention to the accusation of demonic possession in Jesus.
Today, let us celebrate God’s love and forgiveness of our sins. Let us be happy because it is never too late to love God and dwell with him in love. May we see the good in ourselves and others, through which we may renew our broken relationships with God! How true our responsorial Psalm of today, “If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered.”
Assignment for the Week:
Could you go for Confession/Sacrament of Reconciliation this week in order to renew your relationship with God?