I recognize the possibility of autoanthropomorphism whenever one seeks to discern the core (and secondary) messages in the scriptures. Perhaps this risk is most acute when one’s imagination is activated. Nonetheless as I have been pondering various themes for this piece, I began to wonder what feelings God was experiencing as the scene in Genesis 3 [serpent, Eve, Adam and fruit] played out.
The one that I find more and more dominating the episode is sadness – deep, heart-numbing, painful sadness. God could not have been clearer – ‘And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”’ And God could not have been more intimate – ‘the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day’. And God could not have been more generous ‘The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.’
And God could not have been more personally attentive – ‘The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”’
Yet God received blatant rejection, wilful disobedience in response. Human pride asserted; humble service denied. And a second ‘not good’, divine sadness echoed throughout creation.
Two things I do not perceive in the story. One is surprise. God was not caught off guard by human hubris. The Source of Love knows there is risk in the love we call “Agape.” In the mystery of the divine economy, restoration and salvation through Jesus was already established. God was prepared for the rebellious betrayal of Eve and Adam.
The second absence I discern is divine anger. The sadness is profound, the anger wonderfully absent. Partly because God wasn’t surprised; mostly because God knows we are frail creatures of dust and is filled with compassion for us (Psalm 103). With sadness God describes the diminished prospects caused by disobedience and executes the writ of eviction. God also provides proper clothes and a promise of evil’s demise.
As I have often revisited the Board’s decision to state that the decision of the v145th General Assembly to embrace Pathway ‘B’ does not reflect Authentic Biblical Thinking and to consider next steps [short and long term], I have found many emotions careening through me. Doubtless you have as well.
I believe that like the eating of the fruit in Genesis, last Assembly’s decision failed the test of obedience. I doubt if God was surprised. So, I rest my hope for us and our denomination on God’s compassion and ability to turn dust into gold. Join us as we engage in powerful Spirit-led prayer for The Presbyterian Church in Canada.