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The First Sunday in Lent Scripture:
Notes from Fr. Cathie Caimano’s sermon:
The very first fast was in the Garden of Eden
At Trexo, we’re focused on fasting in Lent.
God says to Adam and Eve: ‘DON’T EAT of that fruit’ - but of course they do!
God should have known - God DID know
We’re only human. - God made us human
Our origin story - ‘original sin.
People often reject this doctrine - ‘‘We’re not born bad’. There’s no way babies are born bad’.
But this story is about our limits - and also the adventure of being human.
It’s about the fact that we are made in the image of God - but we’re not God.
We have limits. We make mistakes. We must die.
It’s what makes our lives SO beautiful and precious.
What would have happened if Adam and Eve had NOT eaten the fruit?
They would have stayed in heaven - in the Garden
Which would have been wonderful - but would it?
they would have gotten bored! not appreciating the splendor. ‘Ho-hum another day in paradise…’
What I believe: humans are made to LOVE. Our mission in life, the whole thing about life, is that we learn to love and be loved.
If we never fail at love, we can’t ever know what love really is.
We want to get out there and LOVE!
That’s why suffering is baked into the human experience. It’s awful - we don’t want it. GOD doesn’t want it.
But if we don’t disobey God - which God knew we would do - we never get to see the consequences that not loving brings.
We’re experimenting all over the place! And failing sometimes (and sometimes succeeding spectacularly)
This is not about punishment - it’s about teaching us that LOVE is the MOST valuable thing. The thing we want most. The thing we keep striving to do and be.
Which brings us to Jesus - tempted by the devil
I always think the same thing: come ON! Jesus is GOD, is he really tempted by the devil?
But Jesus is fully God AND fully human.
What does that mean? That’s a theological conversation we’ve been having for thousands of years. (Heresies).
Some people say it means that Jesus grew into his understanding of himself as the Messiah, so right here at the beginning of his ministry, he doesn’t KNOW he can stand up to Satan.
But I’m not sure of this.
Jesus is fully God, from birth. We just celebrated Christmas and Epiphany, and we saw how people reacted to him, even as a baby. HE KNEW.
Jesus’ temptation was to ONLY be God - he doesn’t have to be human!
Jesus could have just smited Satan. He could have walked around throwing thunderbolts and healing every sickness and banishing death just like that.
But instead he chose to LIVE as a human, LOVE as a human, SUFFER as a human, DIE as a human.
Why? For the love of us.
So that we can continue the adventure of being human - learning to love and be loved.
AND - so he could bring us back to Paradise by dying for us - and rising again,
To save us from thinking Adam and Eve made the wrong choice.
And so we come to Lent
DON’T eat - we tell ourselves when we fast during Lent. And maybe we’re tempted like Eve is: the devil maybe whispering that it doesn’t really matter - there are no real consequences if we don’t keep our Lenten discipline.
And he’s right - sort of.
Because just like the consequences of all our failed attempts at love, it’s not about punishment, it’s about what we miss out on.
The adventure of life.
Living in this tension of being made in the image of God - but also having the freedom - and the limitations - of finding our own way.
Learning to love. Learning how precious and beautiful this life is.
Learning the gift that Jesus has given us with his own life.
We’re only human, after all.
Don’t forget to join us at Trexo for your spiritual workout. Hearts up!
