Fig Leaves

Good morning,

In telling the story of Advent, the story of Jesus, the truth of the Fall of Man is inescapable.

6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

      8They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:6-12

Adam's and Eve's disastrous decisions in the Garden of Eden are the very reason Christ came.  Since Eden, not a single human soul is born without that stain, now built in to the human DNA.  We are all unable to resist the Serpent's beguiling words.  Regardless of his many temptations, at least one is going to the particular trap we fall for.  We all have that moment when we discover ourselves stained, irreparably soiled by sin.

The very ones who dismiss this key event in the history of mankind, the Fall, are the same ones who reach for fig leaves.  But, they aren't alone, because even followers of Jesus Christ, even Believers, Redeemed Ones, daily feel the lure of the Serpent's words and lapse into sin.  As the anguished hymnwriter said, "Prone to wander, LORD, I feel it!  Prone to leave the God I love!"

There are really only two responses to the stench of our sin.  In the midst of our foul besmirchment Jesus comes.  He calls to us:  "Come to me, all of you who are weary and impossibly weighed down with your sin; and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28)  We can either run to Him for confession, repentance, cleansing and restoration.  Or, we can grab a fig leaf - - - some lesser remedy.

Look at the picture above again.  Did you notice, in the design of the fig leaf that the young leaf is red, reminiscent of blood? A fig leaf represents a false and ineffective blood atonement for our sins.  "Fig leaves" can be denial, rejection of God's truth, self-righteousness, self-help, false religions, pop psychology, mind-numbing drugs, addictive substances....the list goes on and on.  All other options, cures, antidotes, though they may appear to be "magic bullets" will fail.  None other than the one God gave to us, in the person of the Baby in the Manger, can heal our deepest wounds.

He calls to each of us today, not only in this Advent season, but every day:  "Where are you?" (vs. 9).  Here is the call of a loving God, the Lover of our Souls, who poured Himself out so that all of our sin can be forever remedied, so that no revulsive unholiness can resist the power of His blood which covers them all, so that all we He created can run toward Him to find our utter completeness in Him, and only there in His arms.

St. Augustine of Hippo, an early church father, came to understand this.  Today's closing prayer will be from a portion of his work entitled, Confessions:

Great are you , O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense and your wisdom beyond reckoning.  And so we men, who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you - - we also carry our mortality about us, carry the evidence of our sin and with it the proof that you thwart the proud.  You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and draw us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.

"The Fall turns into a falling into His everlasting arms! (Deuteronomy 33:27)"  Ann Voskamp

Oh Jesus!  Only You.  Amen.


Sources:

https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/621/Our_Heart_is_Restless_St_Augustine.html

 Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. Print.