Excuses, Excuses!

Genesis 3:8-19; Hebrews 4:1-3, 9-13; Mark 10:17-30

One of the great lessons of our Old Testament lesson for today is that no matter where we may try to hide from God, no matter what it is that we may try to hide from God, God always knows where to find us, and God always knows what we may be hiding from him. There are no secret places, no secret sins, that we can keep from God.

In the story of Adam and Eve hiding in the garden after their sin, this is what the first human beings found out. They found that when they had disobeyed God, there was no way they could hide, either themselves, nor what they had done from the all-seeing, all-knowing mind of God.

And I fully believe that Adam and Eve are us. You see, this isn't simply a story about two persons who lived several thousand years ago in a place called Eden. Rather, it is much more than this: It is the story of the human relationship with God. It is the story about you and me, of how we sometimes rebell against the will of God, and of how God then responds to us.

One of the things that this story from Genesis points out is that human beings are the only beings in God's creation that are aware of their natural, unclothed condition. For example, dogs, cats, monkeys, even chimpanzees and gorillas are not aware nor care that they are naked. The fact that human beings wear clothes is a sign that human beings, unlike any other aninal, are very much aware of and even critical of their own appearance. Indeed, we are different from animals in that we are self-conscious. And, according to scripture, we are even capable of judging between right and wrong.

While it was this new-found ability which caused Adam and Even to hide in the garden, this was also the tip-off to God that they had done something which had changed them. No longer were they simple creatures, content to live or die according to God's rules. Now, they were complex, restless, questioning, doubting, and rebellious, even striving to become other than what God had created them to be.

And, as we look around the world, around our community, around our neighborhood, at our families, and at ourselves, we have to admit that this is what still causes problems for us, today. Rather than simply accepting our place in God's creation, we human beings have chosen, and continually choose every day, to be something other than what God has created us to be. Like Adam, and like Eve, we are restless, we are questioning, we are doubting, and, to say the least, we are rebellious, as well. Whether we like it or not, this is the human condition. While wanting to do good, we continue to sin. While wanting to obey God, we choose to go our own way. While wanting to trust in the Lord, we trust in ourselves, instead.

I remember a little boy's version of the hymn, "Trust and Obey," when he said that at Sunday school they had been singing "Trust and O.K." When you think about it, this really isn't so bad. Afterall, everything must be O.K. if one's life has been committed to God's precious keeping. There is no other way, but to trust and obey. But, in spite of this reality, we human beings are continually trying to find some other way.

And this is the way we all are. As the scriptures say, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." When I was a kid I remember my brother and sister and I playing along the Lake Michigan beach, just south of the Sleeping Bear Sand Dune. From that beach you can see the Manitou Islands. And I remember how we used to pretend that we could jump from the edge of the water all the way to the island in the distance. We would line up along the shore and run towards the water to see who could jump the farthest. Now, as far as I know, no one has ever made it all the way to Manitou Island. There have been some mighty good jumps, but nobody yet has made it.

Nevertheless, it's a wonderful game because when you jump, you get wet, and you can say to the other person, "I jumped farther than you did." And it is true. Some jump farther, I know some persons who could certainly out jump me. But I'll tell you this, if you do you'll get wetter than I will. The farther you jump the more water you get, but you won't make it to the Island. All come short of the island, although some jump farther than others. "All come short of the glory of God," although some are not as great sinners as others.

But, the thing that intrigues me about the story of the man and the women who were hiding from God in the garden is that when God asked them why they had sinned, they gave all sorts of excuses. The man blamed God, then he blamed the woman. Then the woman blamed the serpent. Rather than taking responsibility for their own decisions, they made up excuses, and chose to blame others.

And, again, that's just the way we are, isn't it? Rather than taking the responsibility for our actions, we blame someone else. Children blame their parents. Parents blame their kids. Students blame their teachers. Teachers blame their students. Employees blame their boss. The boss blames the employees. The patients blame the doctors. The doctors blame the patients. The criminals blame society. Society blames the criminal. We do really well at finding excuses for our failures, rather than pin-pointing where the blame more often lies for our mistakes -- ourselves.

In our gospel lesson for today, we see how Christ revealed that he was, indeed, God in the flesh. A rich young man came to Jesus and bragged that there wasn't anything that he had to do in order to inherit the kingdom of God. But, Jesus looked at the man and knew more about him than the man would dare admit to anyone. No matter how hard the young man tried to conceal the fact, Jesus knew that there was something wrong in the man's life. And Jesus spelled it out to him. "You lack one thing," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." At this, the man left Jesus in despair. His excuse was that he had too much wealth to be a disciple of Christ.

Adam and Eve thought they had some pretty good excuses for rebelling against God. And, certainly, the rich young man thought that his wealth was a pretty good excuse. After all, with wealth and position comes responsibility.

And, we all have our excuses, as well. I found this list of excuses, the other day: "You see, God, it's like this: We could attend church more faithfully if your day came at some other time. You have chosen a day that comes at the end of a hard week, and we're all tired out. Not only that, but it's the day following Saturday night, and Saturday night is one time when we feel that we should go out and anjoy ourselves. Often it is after midnight when we reach home, and it is almost impossible to get up on Sunday morning. And you must realize that you have picked the very day on which the morning paper takes the longest to read -- the day when the biggest meal of the week must be prepared. We'd like to go to church, and know that we should; but you have just chosen the wrong day!

Or take this article that was printed in a small town newspaper a few years ago:

Mrs. Ella Craig, age 81, hasn't missed Sunday School attendance in 1,040 Sundays--a perfect record for 20 years.

1. Doesn't Mrs. Craig ever have company on Sunday to keep her away from church?

2. Doesn't she ever go anywhere on Saturday night and get up tired on Sunday morning?

3. Doesn't she ever have headaches, colds, nervous spells, tired feelings, indigestion, sudden calls out of town, business trips, Sunday picnics, or any trouble of any kind?

4. Doesn't she have any friends at all -- friends who invite her to a weekend trip to the sea shore or mountains?

5. Doesn't she ever sleep late on Sunday morning?

6. Doesn't it ever rain or snow on Sunday mornings?

7. Doesn't she ever get her feelings hurt by somebody in church?

8. Doesn't she ever get mad at the preacher or Sunday School teacher?

9. Doesn't she have a radio or television so she can listen to "some mighty good sermons from out of town?"

What's the matter with Mrs. Craig?

Jesus presented a terrible problem to the rich young man. And, certainly, God showed Adam and Eve, and all of us that all have fallen short of the glory of God.

But, there is Good News! God doesn't leave us desolate and hopeless. For Jesus came into this world with a purpose. For Jesus told his disciples: "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age and in the age to come, eternal life."

We may be Adam and Eve's children in the flesh. We may come short of the glory of God. But, with Christ as our brother, with him #1 in our lives, there is hope, there is victory, there is forgiveness, and there is eternal life.

When Adam and Eve had sinned, they tried desparately to hide themselves in the garden, but failed. Jesus gives us another solution: We can take our sins, our sorrows, our trouble, and our mortality to Jesus. Or, as the hymn states:

Are we weak and heavy laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge,

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer!

In his arms he'll take a shield thee;

Thou wilt find a solace there.

Amen.