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First Sunday of Lent - February 14, 2008 - Rev. Gary Strubel

On this first Sunday of Lent, we take a look at the big picture of salvation. Indeed, in order to fully appreciate the meaning of Christ's passion and resurrection, we must first understand the human condition of sin - the corruption of humanity originating from our inclination to ignore, disobey and replace God. In the story of the fall of humanity, we're offered examples of how we corrupt three aspects of ourselves that were created in God's image. In contrast, the Gospel offers three examples of how Jesus Christ restores and sanctifies those corrupted aspects in the eyes of God.

First, sin is a corruption of God's gift of reason. Unlike the rest of the animal kingdom that lives by programmed instinct we live through logical reason. Unfortunately, we often choose to reason away our trust in God with little or no resistance. We logically decide that God's way is somehow flawed and our way is right. In Genesis, the serpent logically suggests that God is deliberately keeping humanity from reaching its true potential, which is to be like God himself. Christ, on the other hand, sanctifies our gift of reason by offering counter-arguments drawn from God's will for his people. Ironically, by maintaining his trust in his father, Jesus truly reaches humanity’s true potential.

Secondly, sin is a corruption of God's gift of language. Language is something particular to humanity. Although the rest of living creation interacts through rudimentary forms of communication, only humanity can communicate ideas produced through reason. But instead of communicating to bring others to God, we choose to corrupt this gift by furthering our own desires. In Genesis, Eve not only personally chose to write-off God, but passed this logic on in order to separate Adam from God. Christ, on the other hand, uses his sanctified reason to further the cause of his father. He used language to defeat Satan at his own game, and used language to convert the hearts and minds of his disciples. Indeed, the scriptures themselves are examples of this sanctified language, which is why we refer to them as Holy Scripture.

Thirdly, sin is a corruption of God's gift of free will. Unlike the rest of creation that is compelled to live as it was created to live, humanity chooses how it lives. Yet, we are quick to suggest that we aren’t responsible for our actions. We argue that we are somehow compelled to behave a certain way. In relinquishing our personal culpability, we argue against having free will. In Genesis, when confronted by God, Adam placed blame on Eve, who in turn placed blame on the serpent. Jesus, on the other hand, not only resisted the temptation to blame others, but willingly accepted the blame of others and freely offered himself as an atonement for the sin he did not commit.

As St. Paul writes, "therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous." In Christ, God restores humanity to its original state of grace. Though we appear doomed to continue our self-destructive pattern of sin, we are able to appeal for forgiveness. We have the boldness to start fresh because we place our faith that God will no longer judge humanity based our failure to measure up, but rather on the success of Jesus Christ who was able to live as we were created to live.