2/10/2008                                                                             Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

 “Oh, If I Could Be Like God”

Rev. Jonathan Rumburg

Introduction

            Sometimes I dream
            That he is me
            You’ve got to see that’s how I dream to be
            I dream I move, I dream I groove
            Like Mike
            Oh, if I could Be Like Mike
            I wanna be, I wanna be
            Like Mike
            Oh, if I could Be Like Mike

            These are the lyrics to the 1992 commercial and song that sent sales through the roof for the thirst quenching sports drink Gatorade. 

            Writer of these lyrics, Bernie Pitzel, got the initial idea for this immortal jingle while watching the Disney film The Jungle Book with his youngest son.  But Disney would require a hefty payment and only a five week time frame to use their tune, so Pitzel took his inspiration and penned his own song.  The result was a phrase that had every aspiring athlete around the world, both young and old, saying they wanted to be like Mike.  Mike, of course, being Michael Jordan.

            Now, while this may be how Pitzel claims to have arrived at the “Be Like Mike” Gatorade slogan, I think that truthfully the inspiration really came from our text for today.  For it was an ad that put before us a way in which we could be like that which was greater than us— Drink Gatorade, and maybe, just maybe, you too could drive the lane of the basketball court, and dunk over your opponent.  Drink Gatorade, and maybe you too could hit the brakes of your shoes, cut back in the direction you just came, and then shoot a fade away jumper that hits nothing but net as time expires on the game clock.  (And you again beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Easter Conference Finals.)

            Drink Gatorade, and maybe, just maybe, you too could be like that which is greater than you. 

            Oh, to be like Mike, all I have to do is drink Gatorade.

            Advertisers—Today’s crafty serpent that tempts us with reasonable notions of the impossible.

            Pitzel and his advertising colleagues can say their inspiration comes from other sources.  But truthfully, they all can be traced back to the Genesis story for today.

Move 1

            In our reading from Genesis, we hear part of our creation story—the part where Adam and Eve do the deed of eating that forbidden fruit, and thus commit the sin that gets them kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

            It is a story we all are familiar with, one that we all can recite from memory.  But what is this story really about? 

            Is it a story about temptation and the first sin?  

            Is it a story that assigns blame?

            Is it a story about grace?

            What is this story really about?  And what does it have to with the first Sunday of Lent?

***********

            Sometimes stories get used up.  They become so familiar to us that we can no longer hear anything new in them.  What results, is that because we think we know exactly what they mean, we hear only our interpretation of them. 

            And that happens a lot with this text.  We see the snake as an evil tempter or as the devil.  We arrive at the conclusion that the fall, and why humanity is no longer living in paradise, is all Eve’s fault because she ate the apple.  And because of the devil’s temptation and Eve eating the apple, God is eternally angry and humans are worthless sinners.  And because of all this, we easily arrive at the conclusion that many advertisers are today’s crafty serpents that tempt us with reasonable notions of the impossible.

            That’s what thousands of years of poor interpretation has done to this story.

            So we should clarify a few things before we go any further.

            The snake, as it is often made out to be, is not a snake at all, but rather and upright, walking and talking serpent.  Eve wasn’t the only one being tempted.  Adam “who was with her” (verse 6) heard and gave into the same temptation.  There is no mention that what they ate was an apple. 

            And we know full well that God didn’t become eternally angry and see human beings as worthless.  In fact, we immediately see the amazing grace of God when God did not follow through with the punishment of death if the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in fact eaten from.

            This story, that so many think they know so well, has nothing to do with blame, harsh punishment, or God’s wrath, and everything to do with God’s grace and redemption for those whose lives are filled with temptation, the desire to be wise, anxiety, and uncertainty.

Move 2

            It’s unfortunate that this story so often gets misinterpreted and misused, for truly the Genesis story of Adam and Eve is our story, come alive in this holy text.  It is a story about how we as human beings long to be like that which is greater than us.  Oh, how we long to be like God.

            How many of us have thought about such a thing?  How many of us have thought about having such power and authority, and how we would care for the earth and its inhabitants?

            Just like every basketball player wishes they could be like Mike, or today like Lebron, many of us say, “Oh if I could be like God I’d eliminate pain and suffering, natural disasters would end, and all the world would be a Garden of Eden.  Oh, if I could be like God.”

            It’s good that we want to be like God, because that is what I think, in part, Lent and this story beacons us to do.  Be like God.

*******

            The first couple lives in a wonderful garden full of delight and tasty food.  They have everything they need— Freedom, safety, health, companionship, and dominion.  Add to all that, they have a wonderfully intimate relationship with God.

            But along comes this upright, walking and talking serpent, with its niggling voice that creates doubts about being enough and having enough.  The serpent convinces them that being human is not enough.  They could be more.  They could be like God. 

            And like humanity today, Adam and Eve gave into the crafty deception of the serpent.

*******

            How typical of human beings.  How typical of us to want to have the capacity to do anything, to be anything.  We want to be what we are not.  We want to achieve what we cannot.  We don’t like to be, or at least not to appear, less than perfect.  We’re afraid to admit that we don’t know everything.  We don’t want our weaknesses to show; but rather we want to present ourselves as in control and knowledgeable.

            And that is why this story is so important on this first Sunday of Lent.  For Lent is a time for us to reveal our limitations to God and to ourselves and say we need a Savior.  Lent is a time for us to recognize that though we have sinned, God does not punish us with death.  Rather God forgives us through God’s grace and gives us another chance.

            This story of Adam and Eve is our story because what we are getting from this text is a story that tells us that no matter what we do, no matter our sin, we don’t have to be perfect, we don’t have to be in complete control because God will show us how grace filled and loving God truly is. 

            But it is also telling us that the desire to be like God has its bad connotations, but good ones too.  And that we need to understand the good from the bad.Move 3

            As soon as Adam and Eve eat the fruit, their eyes are opened and they know they are naked.  And thus in that moment the fashion industry is born as they start to see themselves for the first time, and immediately worry about how they look. 

            The more profound result, however, is that suddenly the world isn’t just a place to admire.  Suddenly Adam and Eve become players in the game of life and death—and their eyes are open to it.  This is incredibly daunting and frightening to them because instantly their lives become complicated and fragile, and they don’t have a game plan, or even the skills to play the game, let alone win it.

            Add to that, they don’t know if God is going to punish them with death or not.  They don’t know where they are going to live, or how they’ll get by or even survive.  They don’t know what will now happen to any future children because of their decision.  They don’t know anything. 

            And with the painful realization of all the things they didn’t know, along with their misguided reason to be like God, I imagine Adam and Eve started feeling the same anxieties that we all feel about our own lives.

            But what Adam and Eve didn’t know, that we know now, is that the world of timelessness that they were about to leave, lead into a world of creative possibilities.  A world where human beings would actually get a good and faithful chance to be like God.

            Once Adam and Eve’s eyes were open, they had to leave the garden, and go out into the world of creative possibilities.  It’s almost as if God said to them, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that you are now creators yourselves.  You are now empowered by your imagination and wills to be fruitful.  You can give birth to children and crops, to cities and civilizations.  The bad news is that all this fruition has a cost.  It’s not going to be easy.  In fact, it’s going to be very hard and sometimes painful work.

            And then I like to imagine one other thing that God says.  I imagine that just as Adam and Eve are about to step out the gates of the garden, into this world of creative possibilities, God sees that they are both excited and frightened, and so God says to them, “I will always be with you.  And one day, we’ll walk again in a garden of paradise.”

Move 4

            The serpent had it wrong when it implied that the reason God didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat of the tree was because God didn’t want them to become like God.  The truth is: God wants human beings to be like God.  

            God wants us to create beautiful things.  God wants us to care for one another.  God wants us to forgive and extend grace to those who do us wrong.  God wants us to love ourselves and our neighbors in the same way God loves us.  Unconditionally.

            That after all, was one reason why God came to earth.  Jesus came not only to redeem us and bridge the gap sin had caused between humanity and God.  But Jesus came to show us that it’s good to want to be like God when you live out your life by extending love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

            Jesus showed us that we should work in our lives to lift up the poor and the lame.  Jesus showed us how we can live like God, by working to help make pain and suffering no more, and striving to make all the world a Garden of Eden where there is freedom, safty, health, companiosnhsip, and faithful dominion.

Conclusion

            I like that Lent comes so early this year.  I like that it is running congruently with our Month of Compassion.  Because one of the things that Lent calls us to do is be co-creators in this world.  Lent, in part, beacons us to be like God by working to share our resources so that anxiety filled lives are changed for the better.

            I like also, that my opinion of advertisers is redeemed when I read the advertising literature from Week of Compassion.  You can read in their flier, “When we share our resources we make a difference in the lives of others.  We reach around the world, giving shape to the heart of Christ.  And when we understand how the blessing of sharing changes lives, our own lives are never again the same.”

            The season of Lent can and ought to be a life changing season.  During Lent we are called to live like God in Christ Jesus lived.  With love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, and compassion.

            So maybe we should rewrite that Gatorade slogan and make it our Lenten song…

            Sometimes I dream

            That he is me

            You’ve got to see that’s how I dream to be

            I dream I move, I dream I groove

            Like God.

            Oh, I’m gonna live like God.

            Amen.