The Pleasure Park
Sermon
Readings:
Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-25 - the creation of humanity.
Revelation 4 - a strange vision of heaven.
Luke 8:22-25 - the storm on the lake.
Reading:
Genesis 2:4-9
In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, [5] when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; [6] but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground-- [7] then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. [8] And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. [9] Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:15-25
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. [16] And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; [17] but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
[18] Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." [19] So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. [20] The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. [21] So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. [22] And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. [23] Then the man said,
"This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken."
[24] Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. [25] And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
Theme: The pleasure park
Sermon:
Some years ago a couple of American Jewish scholars produced the "Book of J." It caused quite a stir at the time, for the scholars, David Rosenberg and Harold Bloom, claimed that J may well have been a woman.
The first five books of the Bible consist of several different texts written by different authors at different times, but woven together by an editor around 400 BC to make what seems to be a continuous narrative. One of the authors, much of whose work is found in the book of Genesis, is known to scholars as J.
For the first time, Bloom and Rosenberg lifted J's text out of its surroundings of the parts written by other authors, and translated it into modern English - hence the Book of J. The text comes across as fresh and surprising, but even more surprising is Bloom and Rosenbuerg's claim that J may well have been a highly educated woman of the royal household, living at King Solomon's court around the 10th century BC.
J is a humourous writer and her humour is particularly highlighted in Rosenberg's translation where she draws unforgettable portraits of early Biblical characters, especially the women, Eve, Sara, Rebecca,Tamar, and Zipporah. But J's supreme portrait is that of Jahweh - God - who is pictured as exuberant, capricious and very much alive. Because of her unexpected portraits of Jahweh, the author became known as the "Jahwist", shortened to just the initial, J.
J was the author of today's passage from Genesis, so to give you a taste of J, here is Rosenberg's translation of today's passage:
Before a plant of the field was in earth, before a grain of the field sprouted - Jahweh had not spilled rain on the earth, nor was there man to work the land - yet from the day Jahweh made earth and sky, a mist from within would rise to moisten the surface. Jahweh shaped an earthling from clay of this earth, blew into its nostrils the wind of life. Now look: man becomes a creature of flesh.
Now Jahweh planted a garden in Eden, eastward, settled there the man he formed. From the land Jahweh grew all trees lovely to look upon, good to eat from; the tree of life was there in the garden, and the tree of knowing good and bad.
Jahweh lifts the man, brings him to rest in the garden of Eden, to tend it and watch. "From all the trees in the garden you are free to eat" - so Jahweh desires the man to know - "but the tree of knowing good and bad you will not touch. Eat from it," said Jahweh, "and on that day death touches you."
"It is no good the man be alone," said Jahweh. "I will make a partner to stand beside him." So Jahweh shaped out of soil all the creatures of the field and birds of the air, bringing them to the man to see how he would call them. Whatever the man called became the living creature's name. Soon all wild animals had names the man gave them, all birds of the air and creatures of the field, but the man did not find his partner among them. Now Jahweh put the man into a deep sleep; when he fell asleep he took a rib, closed the flesh of his side again. Starting with the part taken out of the man, Jahweh shaped the rib into woman, returned her to the side of the man.
"This one is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh," said the man. "Woman I call her, out of man she was parted." So a man parts from his mother and father, clings to his wife: they were one flesh.
And look: they are naked, man and woman, untouched by shame, not knowing it. (The Book of J, published by Grove Wiedenfeld in 1990, pg.61-62)
It's a delightful picture which somehow captures the fun which God had in the creation of the universe. This feeling of fun is picked up much later on by the writer of Proverbs, who describes Wisdom as a little child playing at God's feet at Creation.
In J's account of Creation, God made human beings by shaping an earthling out of clay then blowing into the earthling's nostrils. So for J, humanity began with the kiss of life from God.
The word "Eden" literally means "a pleasure park" and this fits in very well with J's view of Creation. J's account in chapter 2 of Genesis is much older than the account of Creation in the first chapter of Genesis, where God is depicted as creating man before the rest of his creatures, which are made for man's sake. That account, thought to have been written by E – the “Elohist” from Northern Israel who knew God as Elohim - is a much heavier and more sombre account than J's story.
Even God's instructions not to eat from the tree of good and evil receive a light touch from J. J doesn't have God threatening to kill the man if he should dare to disobey God, but has God attempting to protect the man from knowledge that will be too heavy for him because it will inevitably harm him. "From all the trees in the garden you are free to eat" - so Jahweh desires the man to know - "but the tree of knowing good and bad you will not touch. Eat from it," said Jahweh, "and on that day death touches you." Not that you will die, but that death touches you.
When we learn about bad things as well as good things and have to learn to distinguish between them, our innocence begins to disappear. And when our innocence disappears, death begins to touch us. Life ceases to be one long round of pleasure. Human beings cease to be in the pleasure park. According to Jesus, to return to the pleasure park we have to regain that lost innocence. Jesus took a little child and told the people that they must become like that little child if they wished to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mark 9:36, 10:15).
He also told the people that anyone who put any obstacle in the way of a child would have to answer to God (Luke 17:2). Those who strip children of their innocence in whatever way, are guilty of real sin because when innocence goes, death touches us.
It's clear from J's account that part of the delight of the pleasure park is in sex. Man and woman cling together and become one flesh, and so the sacred rite of marriage begins. Later on in the gospels, when Jesus is asked a question about divorce, he refers back to this moment in J's writings to show that marriage is ordained by God (Matthew 19:4-6).
So the loss of innocence isn't in the experience of sex. The clue to the loss of innocence is in the last phrase of today's reading: And look: they are naked, man and woman, untouched by shame, not knowing it. It's when they do know it and do become ashamed of their nakedness that their innocence is lost.
We lose our innocence when we besmirch things that are clean. When we gossip about other people and soil their reputation just a little bit. When we cheat just a fraction on our income tax because everyone does. When we know someone is damaging others by thoughtless or selfish behaviour, but we don't have the guts to confront them about it. When we're so determined to have our own way that we make other people suffer until we get it. When we indulge in little white lies rather than face other people's pain or anger. When we abuse the gift of sex and make it dirty.
These and countless others are ways in which we not only lose our own innocence, but cause other people to lose their innocence too.
But all is not lost, because through Jesus Christ we can return to the pleasure park and be there forever.
God designed the pleasure park for us human beings, for our enjoyment. Let us make sure we return to it to live there forever when our time comes.
Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-25 - the creation of humanity.
Revelation 4 - a strange vision of heaven.
Luke 8:22-25 - the storm on the lake.
Reading:
Genesis 2:4-9
In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, [5] when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; [6] but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground-- [7] then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. [8] And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. [9] Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:15-25
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. [16] And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; [17] but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
[18] Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." [19] So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. [20] The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. [21] So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. [22] And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. [23] Then the man said,
"This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken."
[24] Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. [25] And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
Theme: The pleasure park
Sermon:
Some years ago a couple of American Jewish scholars produced the "Book of J." It caused quite a stir at the time, for the scholars, David Rosenberg and Harold Bloom, claimed that J may well have been a woman.
The first five books of the Bible consist of several different texts written by different authors at different times, but woven together by an editor around 400 BC to make what seems to be a continuous narrative. One of the authors, much of whose work is found in the book of Genesis, is known to scholars as J.
For the first time, Bloom and Rosenberg lifted J's text out of its surroundings of the parts written by other authors, and translated it into modern English - hence the Book of J. The text comes across as fresh and surprising, but even more surprising is Bloom and Rosenbuerg's claim that J may well have been a highly educated woman of the royal household, living at King Solomon's court around the 10th century BC.
J is a humourous writer and her humour is particularly highlighted in Rosenberg's translation where she draws unforgettable portraits of early Biblical characters, especially the women, Eve, Sara, Rebecca,Tamar, and Zipporah. But J's supreme portrait is that of Jahweh - God - who is pictured as exuberant, capricious and very much alive. Because of her unexpected portraits of Jahweh, the author became known as the "Jahwist", shortened to just the initial, J.
J was the author of today's passage from Genesis, so to give you a taste of J, here is Rosenberg's translation of today's passage:
Before a plant of the field was in earth, before a grain of the field sprouted - Jahweh had not spilled rain on the earth, nor was there man to work the land - yet from the day Jahweh made earth and sky, a mist from within would rise to moisten the surface. Jahweh shaped an earthling from clay of this earth, blew into its nostrils the wind of life. Now look: man becomes a creature of flesh.
Now Jahweh planted a garden in Eden, eastward, settled there the man he formed. From the land Jahweh grew all trees lovely to look upon, good to eat from; the tree of life was there in the garden, and the tree of knowing good and bad.
Jahweh lifts the man, brings him to rest in the garden of Eden, to tend it and watch. "From all the trees in the garden you are free to eat" - so Jahweh desires the man to know - "but the tree of knowing good and bad you will not touch. Eat from it," said Jahweh, "and on that day death touches you."
"It is no good the man be alone," said Jahweh. "I will make a partner to stand beside him." So Jahweh shaped out of soil all the creatures of the field and birds of the air, bringing them to the man to see how he would call them. Whatever the man called became the living creature's name. Soon all wild animals had names the man gave them, all birds of the air and creatures of the field, but the man did not find his partner among them. Now Jahweh put the man into a deep sleep; when he fell asleep he took a rib, closed the flesh of his side again. Starting with the part taken out of the man, Jahweh shaped the rib into woman, returned her to the side of the man.
"This one is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh," said the man. "Woman I call her, out of man she was parted." So a man parts from his mother and father, clings to his wife: they were one flesh.
And look: they are naked, man and woman, untouched by shame, not knowing it. (The Book of J, published by Grove Wiedenfeld in 1990, pg.61-62)
It's a delightful picture which somehow captures the fun which God had in the creation of the universe. This feeling of fun is picked up much later on by the writer of Proverbs, who describes Wisdom as a little child playing at God's feet at Creation.
In J's account of Creation, God made human beings by shaping an earthling out of clay then blowing into the earthling's nostrils. So for J, humanity began with the kiss of life from God.
The word "Eden" literally means "a pleasure park" and this fits in very well with J's view of Creation. J's account in chapter 2 of Genesis is much older than the account of Creation in the first chapter of Genesis, where God is depicted as creating man before the rest of his creatures, which are made for man's sake. That account, thought to have been written by E – the “Elohist” from Northern Israel who knew God as Elohim - is a much heavier and more sombre account than J's story.
Even God's instructions not to eat from the tree of good and evil receive a light touch from J. J doesn't have God threatening to kill the man if he should dare to disobey God, but has God attempting to protect the man from knowledge that will be too heavy for him because it will inevitably harm him. "From all the trees in the garden you are free to eat" - so Jahweh desires the man to know - "but the tree of knowing good and bad you will not touch. Eat from it," said Jahweh, "and on that day death touches you." Not that you will die, but that death touches you.
When we learn about bad things as well as good things and have to learn to distinguish between them, our innocence begins to disappear. And when our innocence disappears, death begins to touch us. Life ceases to be one long round of pleasure. Human beings cease to be in the pleasure park. According to Jesus, to return to the pleasure park we have to regain that lost innocence. Jesus took a little child and told the people that they must become like that little child if they wished to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mark 9:36, 10:15).
He also told the people that anyone who put any obstacle in the way of a child would have to answer to God (Luke 17:2). Those who strip children of their innocence in whatever way, are guilty of real sin because when innocence goes, death touches us.
It's clear from J's account that part of the delight of the pleasure park is in sex. Man and woman cling together and become one flesh, and so the sacred rite of marriage begins. Later on in the gospels, when Jesus is asked a question about divorce, he refers back to this moment in J's writings to show that marriage is ordained by God (Matthew 19:4-6).
So the loss of innocence isn't in the experience of sex. The clue to the loss of innocence is in the last phrase of today's reading: And look: they are naked, man and woman, untouched by shame, not knowing it. It's when they do know it and do become ashamed of their nakedness that their innocence is lost.
We lose our innocence when we besmirch things that are clean. When we gossip about other people and soil their reputation just a little bit. When we cheat just a fraction on our income tax because everyone does. When we know someone is damaging others by thoughtless or selfish behaviour, but we don't have the guts to confront them about it. When we're so determined to have our own way that we make other people suffer until we get it. When we indulge in little white lies rather than face other people's pain or anger. When we abuse the gift of sex and make it dirty.
These and countless others are ways in which we not only lose our own innocence, but cause other people to lose their innocence too.
But all is not lost, because through Jesus Christ we can return to the pleasure park and be there forever.
God designed the pleasure park for us human beings, for our enjoyment. Let us make sure we return to it to live there forever when our time comes.
