1st Sunday in Lent (Invocabit)—February 18, 2024
Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Paola, Kansas
Rev. Joshua Woelmer
Text: Genesis 3:1–21
“Resisting Temptation”
Theme: The Fall into Sin tells us much about our current sinfulness but also about the redemption that is promised in the Seed of the Woman.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
We all have heroes. If I could follow up with my sermon from a few weeks ago and talk about World War II, there are many heroes that came out of that war, from the individual soldier level to the generals to the political leaders like Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, I want to acknowledge that heroes do not only come out of wartime. If we are speaking of “heroes” generically as “role models,” then there are many people we look up to for their outstanding achievements. Patrick Mahomes or Taylor Swift might be role models for some. There are also superheroes like Superman or Spiderman that kids might look up to.
Here’s the thing to remember though: every hero has flaws. For the sake of this sermon, I’m excluding Jesus, of course, but we’ll get to Him. Part of why we look up to heroes is because we understand that we are like them when it comes to their flaws, but we can aspire to follow their good qualities. Superman’s flaw is famously a made-up mineral called kryptonite. But he also has a weakness of wanting to save everyone all the time, which isn’t always possible.
Winston Churchill accomplished so much as he encouraged Britain to resist Germany during the air bombing of Britain, but he also had huge flaws. Not only was he drunkard, but he played a part in the failed WWI attack in Gallipoli. He also may have contributed to a famine in India. Taylor Swift has produced many popular songs—and those who are devoted to her music are called “Swifties.” At the same time, her personal dating life is probably not worth imitating. I’m not even going to get into the behavior of the Kansas City Chiefs players at the parade in Kansas City.
We have flaws too. Every single one of us knows this. We do not live up to the standards of behavior that other people set for us. We don’t even live up to our own standards of behavior. We certainly don’t live up to the perfection that God demands. All of these flaws point to a deeper, innate Flaw from which everything comes.
It’s like if you keep seeing rocks in your field, you know that there must be a bedrock where they’re all coming from. If you see flaws in everyone around you and in yourself, then something is deeply wrong with us, let alone looking at decay in all of creation. In the church, we call it “Original Sin.” Original points to its origin in Adam and Eve, but also its ongoing reality in our lives. We have a sinful nature because of the Fall into Sin. It is worth looking at, because it tells us much about sin and redemption.
Adam and Eve were created perfectly in the Garden of Eden. Adam was made from the dust of the earth, and Eve was made from his rib. They were meant to be together. In fact, they were together when Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempted them. The text says this: “she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (6c). The devil doesn’t aim at Adam though—he asks his questions of Eve.
The devil’s temptations go against the word of God. First, he questions whether they were really said, “Did God actually say?” (1). Then, when Eve gives a mostly right answer—she does add the word “touch” to it—he follows it up with a blatant denial: “You will not surely die” (4). Finally, he gives a promise that is double-speak: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (5). It’s double-speak because their eyes will be opened and they will indeed know good and evil. However, this knowledge of good and evil will not make them like God.
But...it worked. Eve saw three things about the tree: It was good for food, which meant it was delicious. It was a delight to the eyes, which meant it held promise to her. It would make one wise. Here’s what should have happened: Adam should have stepped in. He should have stopped Eve from taking that bite.
But he didn’t. Adam is as much to blame for the fall into sin as Eve. In fact, St. Paul twice lays the blame at Adam’s feet, not Eve’s (Romans 5; 1 Tim 2:13). Adam is the one who confirms his wife’s sin by participating in it. Why did he let her taste it in the first place? We will never know. Maybe he was curious and wanted to treat her as a guinea pig for what would happen.
Their eyes were opened. They did not become like God. They did know good and evil. They realized that they were naked without being covered by the righteousness of God. This affected all creation too. St. Paul says, “we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” (Rom 8:22).
God did not leave mankind alone. The marvelous aspect of this story is that God shows himself to be just and merciful. Instead of leaving his children alone in their sin, he goes out to them. He calls out to them.
First, they pass the buck. Eve passed the buck to the serpent. Adam passed the buck to the woman and by implication to God himself, referring to her as “the woman whom you gave to be with me” (12), as if it was God’s fault for giving him a wife. You notice, however, that Satan was speechless. God didn’t let him say a word.
God issued a threefold punishment in response to the first sin. The first is the most important. God spoke judgment against the serpent, cursing it to crawl on its belly and to eat dust. But the real judgment was against Satan, who had taken the form of a serpent in tempting Eve. That God is not just talking to a snake becomes obvious when he says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (15). God is not talking to a snake. A snake is incapable of enmity. God is promising here a Savior from sin. A child will be born who will crush his head, but in the process he will suffer.
The curse of sin continues. The woman will bear children in pain and suffering. There is also a flipping of the order of marriage. As God said to her, “your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (16). What should be good and natural within marriage will no longer be peaceful.
Adam’s curse is that he will fight the elements and be frustrated in his efforts. His dominion over all things was broken. At the end of a life of labor, he will return to the ground from which he came: ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The wages of sin is death.
In the midst of the curse, the death, the pain, and the guilt, was the promise. The Seed of the woman shall crush the devil’s head. God brings life out of death. Adam knew that when he named his wife Eve, which means mother of the living, not mother of the dying.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they covered up themselves but couldn’t cover their shame. God could. He didn’t cover them with plant leaves. He covered them with clothes made from animal skins. Those skins were obtained by the shedding of blood. God covers us today with the garment of salvation, purchased by the blood of Jesus.
What this means for us today is that original sin is very real—in your heroes and role models and even in your own life. It will never go away while you are on this sinful world. The sin that you struggle with will change throughout your life. It will be like a game of whack-a-mole. As once as you think you have conquered one sin, another will pop up. But God gives us strength to persevere in this life unto the end, and he holds out before us his Son, Jesus, who has bound Satan and who Himself persevered in this life unto the end as well. Except his end was different from ours, and that is something worth looking forward to.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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