One of the great losses of our day is that many people no longer know the fundamental story of Sin and Salvation. The narrative of that story is essential to understanding EVERYTHING. In as brief a way as possible here is that fundamental story:
Resting in Love: Adam and Eve were lovingly created by God and placed in a garden paradise called Eden. They enjoyed great intimacy with God who walked with them each day, in the cool of the evening as the dew was collecting on the grass. God sought them in love each day.
Ruined by Lust: He never wanted them to know evil or experience its poison so he warned them of a tree whose fruit would unlock the power of evil and cause them to die spiritually. But Adam and Eve yielded to the terrible influence of a serpent, Satan, who appealed to their pride and lust for power. Satan had done nothing for them and God everything, but they listened to Satan who told them they would become like gods and be able to overpower God (who loved them). Yielding to pride and ingratitude, failing to trust God who had warned them, Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and set loose it’s terrible poison. They immediately felt shame and vulnerability, as fear and the poison of sin flooded their souls.
Resulting Losses: God came to the garden at the usual time, but Adam and Eve were not there to joyfully great him. They had hidden themselves out of anger and shame and were no longer able to sense the love that God still had for them. God called out: “Adam where are you?!” But Adam (and Eve) had turned inward and could not tolerate the presence of God. Upon finding them in their sorry state God questioned them as to their bitter condition. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. God explained the consequences of this terrible poison they had eaten. Eve would bring forth her children in pain and experience domination from Adam. To Adam he explained that the whole earth had been cursed on account of what they had done and that it would only yield fruit with great difficultly and hard work.
Restored to Love In anger, God cursed the serpent and promised that he would heal this awful wound. One day He would cause the fruit of woman’s womb to crush Satan’s power. And sure enough, after centuries of preparation, the giving of the Law and the sending of the prophets to prepare the people, God did work to heal the awful wound. He had never stopped loving Adam and Eve or their Children. Now he would show the depths of his love by sending his own Son Jesus to die in our place so we would not have to die eternally. Our demise had come through a man, a woman and a tree. Now our redemption, our salvation, would also include a man, (the new Adam) Christ, a woman, (the new Eve), Mary and the tree of the cross. The awful wound was healed by Christ and the gates of paradise were again opened. And this healing has begun in us once again. God had never really stopped calling. But now that the wound was being healed we could once again hear the call and make a response. “Adam (Eve) where are you? And how will you respond?
Don’t you see? This brief story tells everything. It explains that something is terribly wrong with us and needs healing. Sin has grievously wounded us so that we can no longer hear and experience God’s love. It explains where the deep drives of rebellion and selfishness, lust and greed, anger and retribution, envy and sloth that so deeply afflict us come from. It also explains that the whole earth was cursed by Adam’s sin. This is why there are earthquakes, disease, floods, fire and death. Humanity, indeed the whole created world is desperately in need of God’s healing. And now it is available through Jesus Christ. The healing can begin for us if we accept the call to Baptism and faith. If we are faithful to prayer, scripture and sacraments, little by little we can hear the voice of God calling to us, Adam (Eve) where are you?!! And the deep drives of sin begin to loose their strength and be replaced by better drives such as love, compassion, kindness, generosity, Chasity, patience, mercy, confidence and deep faith in God’s love for us.
You gotta know the story and answer the call: “Where are you?!” Answer Him, he’s calling.
I suppose my many words can be better said by a song: “Adam Where are You?!”