Tenth Sunday Ordinary Time – Adam & Eve’s Kids…

Jesus was forming a “new family,” a new say of being in kinship with God, self, and others. All based on his teachings.

As Immanuel Kant was wont to say, “What are the conditions for the possibility that” this new kinship could work? What conditions need to obtain so that this new way of relating, not based on blood, could work? What happens when the kids of Adam & Eve enter into this kinship?

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’  The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.”’  But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. [Gen. 3:1-10]

1. The serpent, the most crafty of the beasts, elicited something deep from within Eve during his interrogation of her – the fear of death that ensured her obedience.
2. The serpent craftily elicited a lurking inner mistrust – “I won’t die? I will be like God?”
3. She saw the tree’s fruit would make her and Adam wise because the crafty serpent appealed to some profound envy or such in her/his soul.
4. They ate.
5. They knew that they were naked and hid from each other. 
6. Then they hid from God who came strolling in the garden.
7. They were afraid of being seen… unprotected.

What are the conditions that could foster obedience on the other side of fear, courage in the face of dying, trust in vulnerability (nakedness), and courage to be seen?

I believe that Jesus’ teachings addressed those ‘issues’ one way or another. What if you and I listen for that during the rest of Ordinary Time? What a fresh concept!