In the Beginning

The heroes and villains in our stories, comics, and movies share one common factor. Both heroes and villains become who they are because of a significant moment in their lives. They all have an origin story on which the entirety of their fate and persona hang. Some of these are, of course, very familiar to even those of us who know very little about comics. Bruce Wayne lives in Gotham City. One night, his parents are leaving the theater when they are shot and killed in front of him. Young Bruce commits his life to fighting crime and becomes Batman. Spiderman is a teenaged superhero who is named Peter Parker. Young Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider which gives him superhuman strength, agility, coordination, and his spidey-sense. One night, Peter is unable to save his Uncle Ben from a thief, and thereafter uses his powers to fight crime.

Villains also have their origin stories. Lex Luthor, rival of Superman, is tainted by his wealth and power as well as his jealousy over Superman’s popularity. One of Batman’s most famous enemies, Two Face began as Harvey Dent, a district attorney in Gotham City. After a mob boss throws acid at him, destroying half his face, Harvey descends into madness and becomes a supervillain.

Origin stories have become something of a trend in recent years. Movies like Maleficent and Cruella tell us the origin stories of those famous villains. (Maleficent was assaulted and betrayed by the man she loved and Cruella de Vil’s mother was killed in a dalmatian-related accident.) You are very likely to hear a young person say “this is my villain origin story” in response to life’s frustrations- like being stuck on hold waiting for customer service, spilling coffee on one’s shirt, or getting unsalted French fries at McDonald’s. All perfectly reasonable villain origin stories, obviously.

But really, whether you’re a hero or a villain or just a regular degular person like you and me, your stories, the stories you tell yourself about yourself, matter greatly. What you believe to be fundamental to who you are and how the world works, really defines a lot about how you move in the world. The fascinating thing about today’s text, these verses from Genesis 2 and 3 that form humanity’s origin story for Christians and Jews alike is this: is this the start of a hero’s journey or is this our villain origin story?

Our text today includes the second creation story, where the Lord creates people from the dirt of the earth and then the story of those people’s choices that led them away from God and out of the garden God created for them. For many people, this is a very familiar story. But sometimes we’re surprised to find out what is actually here in the text because what we’re more familiar with is not what the Bible actually says but what the translators and interpreters and medieval artists have taught us to see here.

It’s very clear from what’s here that God’s design for creation was all about connection. In Genesis 2:5 and again in 15 it is said in most English translations that people exist to “till” or “work” the ground. For us hardworking Presbyterians, that makes sense. We do often act as if we exist to eke out a living from our world. But actually, the Hebrew word is less related to agriculture and more related service. God isn’t creating to find someone to plant and harvest, God creates people to serve, guard, protect, even worship through and with creation.

And so, God creates from the earth a human from the dirt of the ground. Again, the language here matters- the Hebrew word for human (and man) is adam and the dust of the ground or the dirt is adamah. God makes a little dirt guy, a clay person from the dust of the earth. The point is that we are, again, connected to the earth, connected to creation. There is now someone who can serve, guard, and honor the earth. But creation is a story of connection, and seeing that our little dirt guy needs another person to be connected to, seeing that being alone is not good, God creates a dirt girl from the dirt guy. God says that the dirt girl is to be a helper to the dirt guy, and again, culturally, that makes sense because we have historically been taught that women are to be helpers. But that’s not really the best reading of God’s why either. In the Hebrew, the concept of a helper is not about hierarchy as it often is in our culture, instead, it is about fulfilling a shared task. In Psalm 33:20, for example, read about God being a helper to God’s people. So, our little dirt guy and dirt girl (who we of course, ultimately come to know as Adam and Eve) are created to be connected to one another and to the earth and to God.

There’s one other form of connection here too. Not only are our dirt people made from the earth, but so too are the living creatures- “so out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air.” The words “living creatures,” nephesh hayah, in Hebrew are used throughout this story and the first chapters of Genesis to refer to all living things on earth, humans and animals alike. In fact, in Genesis 9, God makes a covenant not with humans, but with all nephesh hayah, all living creatures. God creates, breathes life, and makes promises to all living creatures because we were created to be connected. Connected to the dirt from which we came, connected to one another, connected to all living things, connected to God.

It sounds like a hero’s origin story, right? All of creation moving in rhythm, singing in harmony, connected and whole in the presence of the God who walks among us. The world is nothing but possibilities and fruitfulness.

But what comes next is not about connection and completion; it is instead, a story of rupture and destruction.

The serpent (who, by the way, does not crawl on the ground until after all of this so we can have fun imagining a snake that stands) is crafty. And this crafty serpent talks to both Eve and Adam. They’re both there the whole time- the pronouns are plural (y’all) and the serpent reveals that eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, will not, in fact lead to their death. And in fact, the serpent says, God doesn’t want you to eat this fruit because if you do, you will become like God. And the dirt people’s desire to have everything and to be everything leads them to eat the fruit.

We know the struggle of temptation and jealousy. Temptation in every form reveals to us something about ourselves. Our constant struggle to fill our emptiness, to numb the pain, to assert ourselves over another- our temptations tell the story of our vulnerabilities, our fears and weaknesses. Our jealousies speak to us of what we truly want. And for Adam and Eve, they are tempted by power, by knowledge and understanding. And in their utter innocence and ignorance, they give themselves over to temptation.

And their eyes are opened. What was perfect innocence is transformed into painful experience. They who were practically children are changed into adults. They realize that they are naked and suddenly they are terribly ashamed of their bodies. Shame overwhelms them and they stupidly sew leaves together as if that will somehow protect them from the consequences of their choices. And when they hear the sound of the God of creation and connection coming towards them in the garden, they hide from the presence of God. Their eyes are opened. They’re not dead- at least not yet. And they do know good and evil. And they believe themselves to be on the wrong side.

All of that wonderful connectedness that marked the beginning of creation is gone forever. The humans begin to see themselves separate from the animals, separate from the very earth from which they were created. The consequences of eating the fruit are that they will now have to work to bring forth food from the ground. Thorns and thistles emerge from the ground and “by the sweat of [our] faces [we] shall eat bread until [we] return to the ground”. And there is enmity between humans and snakes forever. Adam and Eve become separated from one another. Before whom were they embarrassed about their nakedness? They are no longer partners in the same way. Adam blames everything on Eve and she blames it on the snake. In their broken relationship they can no longer trust one another fully, their connection is ruptured. And the God with whom they had previously walked in the garden is alienated from them. I can imagine tears in God’s eyes as God says to his beloved dirt people “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

And so, I return to my earlier question. Is this story, our own story, is it the origin story of a hero or of a villain? Is this the beginning of a hero’s journey, and like Odysseus making his way back home to Ithaca, we are to spend our lives working our way back to the garden, back to the wholeness and peace of a connection with the earth, with one another, and with God? Is that the point of us, to make our way back home like the prodigal son?

Or is this the story of why we will never quite get it right? Is this the explanation for why we are driven by unhealthy and unholy desires? Is it the origin of why we have and do and will sin? Are we destined to be villains?

The stories we tell ourselves matter. A villain becomes a villain because they believe they already are one. They do evil things and create chaos and pain because they believe they can do no other. And a hero does good and noble things because they are on a mission, they are driven by a cause, by a primal need to right what has been made wrong. And I know we don’t live in a comic book, but what we believe about ourselves matters. The nature of this story is what we live out every day in our choices, in the ways we treat others, in the ways we treat the earth. Are we heroes or villains? Are we created in God’s image or has our desire to be like God destroyed us? Are we good or bad? Yes. Both. We are the living interpretations of this story.

But there’s one other angle to consider. A tiny detail at the end of Genesis 3 that tells us something critical about how God views Adam and Eve, and by extension, us. Genesis 3:21 says, “And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.”

In choosing wrongly, Adam and Eve damaged the connection between themselves and God. And they are punished; there are consequences. And they are trying to hide their shame in the silliest possible way. But God sees them as they are, fallen, separated, angry and embarrassed and hurt. And God offers them the grace of clothes, the grace of protection from the elements which will hurt them in a way they have never before experienced. They must leave the garden, but even still, even now, God goes with them. God does not leave them without love or grace. And this grace is not a flimsy leaf that is going to dry up and crumble, this is durable grace, it is real love.

Are we heroes or villains? I don’t know. It depends on the moment, I guess. It depends on the choices we make when we leave this place. But here is what I do know: grace abounds. God goes with us. We are not alone. May we choose wisely based not on who we believe ourselves to be but based on the love and grace of the One who created us. Amen.