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| are already like God. Without catching the repetition of
this key word, “likeness,” the reader will miss the irony that gives such a sense of pathos to Eve’s tragic fall. Here again, we see how crucial it is to read the second creation story in light of the first. Eve did not have to eat the fruit to be like God; it wasn’t something that needed to be grasped at. But the serpent suggests that they are missing out, that God is holding something back. Eve looks at the tree and thinks: “That’s good fruit; very desirable. Why won’t God let us have it?” With that question, the serpent sows doubt into their hearts, and the resulting harvest will be bitter indeed. p 17 “The Key to Interpreting Reality” What went wrong with Adam and Eve? They had it all; they were created by a perfect God who made them “very good.” To understand the nature of the Fall (remembering that Adam and Eve represent all of humanity), one must look closely at what lies at the heart of the temptation—and it is more than forbidden fruit. The serpent’s subtle suggestion that God was holding out on them resulted in Adam and Eve’s questioning God’s heart. Pope John Paul II, in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, observes that at the root of the Fall is a failure to grasp the nature of God’s fatherhood, which meet[s] a first resistance in … original sin. This is truly the key for interpreting reality.… Original sin attempts, then, to abolish fatherhood … placing in doubt the truth about God who is Love and leaving man only with a sense of the master-slave relationship. 4 If we see God as master and ourselves as his slaves, then God is out to gain, not to give. With this view of God, the Lord appears jealous of his power over the world and over man; and consequently, man feels goaded to do battle against God. No differently than in any epoch of history, the enslaved man is driven to take sides against the master who kept him enslaved. 5 If God is out to enslave and limit us, what do we do? We run away, like the Prodigal Son. The problem is that we are running away from the best father there is, our heavenly Father who loves us deeply. At the center of the first temptation, and at the heart of all rebellion against God, is a disordered vision of God that distorts him into a master who seeks to oppress us. Is God a loving Father who can be trusted or a jealous tyrant who is to be feared and rebelled against? This is the first and most lasting question posed in the 4 John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1994), 227– 228. 5 Ibid. Garden of Eden about God. The Catechism, reflecting on the Fall, observes, “Man, tempted by the devil, let his p 18 trust in his Creator die in his heart” (No. 397). The serpent suggests that God cannot be a loving Father, for if he were, he wouldn’t have given Adam and Eve a commandment “limiting” them. The serpent repeatedly tries to tempt us to believe that God is looking out for Number One and that we have to look out for ourselves! The devil hasn’t changed his playbook; he hasn’t needed to because this old temptation continues to work. Much later in the biblical story, the serpent will use this oft-repeated temptation on the New Adam, Jesus Christ, seeking to sever his trust in his Father. Referring to Jesus’ temptation in the desert, the Catechism states that Satan tempts Jesus three times, “seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God” (No. 538). Two different times Satan questions Jesus, “ tải về 6.33 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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