PROTECTING THE FAMILY - B: 10th Sun in OrdTime (9 June 2024)

First Reading: Gen 3:9-15

Today's First Reading deals about the popular story of mankind's great sin against God. It is the great offense of eating the forbidden fruit, against what God was saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 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” (Gen 2:16-17).

However, there seems to be a huge misreading of this commandment of God. It is because in Eve’s conversation with the serpent, she said, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden nor shall touch it, or you shall die’” (3:2-3). Here, she randomly mentioned a tree in the middle of the garden without qualification that it is specifically the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In effect, she also downplayed the moral implications of God’s commandment. The consequence of this alteration is that she could easily downplay its wordings. Thus, when the serpent tried to lure her, with the flowery words: “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (3:4-5), she easily succumbed to the temptation.

Eve’s big mistake is that she allowed herself to converse with the astute serpent. She undermined God’s commandment and relied on human reason, which is often clouded by worldly concerns and ambitions. She should have known that the serpent is a liar in the first place and will present sin as something beautiful and reasonable at all times. The worse that happened is that she told the same lie to her husband Adam. Soon, both committed the infamous offense against their Creator. True enough, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, realizing that they were naked and would need to cover themselves with sewed fig leaves (v. 7). They were so guilty that they could not even face God when he passed by the garden (vv. 8-10). The next encounter is the blame game where Adam blamed Eve for tempting him to eat the forbidden fruit; in turn, Eve blamed the serpent for duping her (vv. 12-13). They thought that they could excuse and save themselves from God’s wrath. But God punished them all in the succeeding scenes of the conversation, which subsequently brought to mankind the state of sinfulness called concupiscence, making everyone attracted to human pleasures and desires. It will take God’s Son to redeem all creatures from this damnation, which was fully realized in Jesus’ crucifixion.

The rub in the episode is the fact that Eve misread or misrepresented God’s commandment. She didn’t take seriously it wordings. Similarly, we can also fall into the same predicament if we try to reason too much in understanding divine ordinances. When we play with biblical words and appropriate biblical texts to conform to our wishes, we are allowing the devil to easily dupe us, ruining not only our lives but the next generation. This reality is felt strongly in the Philippines right now when the proposed bill of divorce has been recently approved in the Congress. When it is approved by the Senate and the President, too, it will become a law, discontinuing the legacy that the country has of being one of the only two states in the world that do not yet legalize divorce—the other is Vatican City.

Of course, we should also consider and defend the rights of the abused, violated, and tormented women inside marriage. They must be protected at all costs. Meanwhile, we have intelligent, smart, and creative lawyers and legal persons who can find ways to advance their cause without destroying the institution of marriage. The only problem with the bill of divorce is the undermining of the value behind marriage, which is not only a contract between couples, but a covenant between them and God. It is the typology of the Blessed Trinity wherein the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit love each other in perfect unity. Tarnishing the sanctity of marriage is whitewashing the values of love, unity, faithfulness, and respect among family members. Let us focus on preserving this sacred institution lest the next generation will fall into moral decadence as what was brought about by our first parents in the biblical account.

- Rex Fortes, CM