Resident Theologian

Another way to think of Eve is as resident theologian. Her response to the snake is learned. She has thought about the command and interpreted it. She also seems to immediately recognize the truth of the what the serpent is saying. Adam and Eve will indeed live and not die as Jesus tells us. They will also be "as gods," even again as Jesus says. But, of course, where Jesus loves us and tells us the truth, the serpent was wanting to destroy humanity. The best way to do this is by using what is true in the service of a lie.

The Assistant

And they 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 face of the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “ I heard you voice in the garden, and I saw that I was naked and hid myself.” He said, “Who told that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” (Translation mine) We see that God speaks to Adam first. It is Adam to whom he gives the command, and later, while walking in the cool of the day calls out to the man, “Where art thou?” Later God will address the Ten Commandments to the Israelite, just as he did with Adam “Thou (masculine singular) shalt have no other gods before me,” “לֹֽא יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ.” We see that God gives pride of place to Adam. Adam was and is first and God respects this in both the Tanakh and Gospels and Epistles. At the same time, we also see that God loves a level playing field. Notice that God has a series of questions for Adam but with Eve it is simply, “What have you done?” God is short with Eve. Why? The answer lies with God’s intention for the woman. He creates her to be a help or “ezer” for the man. Only God is also called “ezer.” It’s a word that implies help in battle. The woman is God’s assistant Marine on behalf of the man. This is perhaps the reason that God is so short with Eve. Picture a janitor slaving away under your sink, something goes badly wrong and the janitor shouts to his assistant, “Give me the pipe wrench!” No please, no thank you because the assistant is the janitor’s right hand man. The woman was created to be God’s apprentice, his assistant when it comes to the man. We see later how Manoah’s wife reasons with him, setting his theology to rights, saving him from the imagination of his heart (Judges 13:22ff). She is but one example among many of what it means to be a "help suitable" for man in both the Tanakh and the Gospels and Epistles.

"Midnight Mass"--The Cats Were The Tip-Off

“Midnight Mass”— The Cats Were The Tip-Off Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t watched “Midnight Mass” be aware, there are spoilers. I will try to stick to early episodes but if you liked to be surprised, this article might not be for you. Art often provides a way to understand, to process, the times in which we live. Mike Flanagan’s highly interesting and entertaining series is such an attempt to understand, or perhaps better, to chew over what we’ve been up to in the Western nations for the past two years. The cats were the first tip-off. Early in the coronavirus scare, we saw scenes coming from China of cats who were killed, sometimes even dropped from high-rises, but perhaps more often, exterminated by government officials. The cats were sacrificed for the greater good. Even our big cats in the United States were, for a time, suspect. Dogs too were also sacrificed in China for “the greater good.” They were carriers of covid, and thus, unclean. In “Midnight Mass,” both species are early victims of the new or perhaps rather old, religion. Which brings me to the religiosity itself—the rejuvenated priest is a purveyor of “salvation” in the very first episode. In the same way, in real life, masks, lockdowns, distancing and vaccines were all invested with sanctity and salvation. Stanley Hauerwas, a theologian whom I greatly admire, in a dialogue with Will Willimon, even as the lockdowns held full sway at Duke and the world, opined “isolation may be a form of love.” And, of course, as is necessary to all religions, there must be those who fail to comply; there must be sinners, transgressors, the unclean who are outside the assembly, outside the church. Even the “We’re All In This Together” mantra is echoed throughout “Midnight Mass.” In the very first episode, a rather domineering woman insists that come a crisis, the entire community repairs to one and only one refuge, the church. On the island, they, like us, are “stronger together” until, of course, they aren’t. And miracles. As in real life, many insisted that the masks had protected them from colds and flu for a year, so in “Midnight Mass” wonderful things happen to build the assembly of the faithful. It also looks to me like the old/young priest has similarities to the nation’s high priest, complete with his own feminine devotee/boss lady and do-gooder, in real life taking the form of the always scarfed Dr. Birx. As Father Paul administers the sacraments and safety/salvation, so too, Dr. Fauci. But perhaps the priest, like Dr. Fauci himself stands for all of us. We were troubled, half-demented, weak and then we “found the solution.” The solution was a bit troublesome, no one likes to lug a big heavy box around. The box must be dragged into the manse by the young priest himself but once there it not only provides safety, it also provides comfort. The priest knocks on the heavy wooden box and companionably, whatever is within, knocks back. But the real tip-off for me comes from the opening scene. What was it that we were most afraid of? Was it getting covid? Yes, we were afraid but that fear paled before another, the fear of killing someone else. Is it any wonder that this is exactly how “Midnight Mass” begins? In the years following the horror and desolation at Salem Village, every attempt was made to sweep what had happened under the rug. It was only later, with Nathaniel Hawthorne, that the attempt was made to understand what had happened in the darkness. What is less well known, is that Sweden preceded Salem in being grasped by delusion. Sweden also gave in to witchcraft hysteria, and from 1668-1676 wrought horrors that real evil witches might envy. But their reckonings, how they processed the events of these eight years, differed from that of New England. The Swedes were far more willing to look things in the face. As the delusion was dying out, the clergy and governors prudently advised the populace simply to pray to be delivered from evil and abandon their hyper-focus on invisible menaces that might or might not be infecting themselves or their neighbors. Mike Flanagan ruminates in the direction of the church. As a Presbyterian minister, I think that’s a pretty good direction. How was it that the good, holy, and just commandment “love thy neighbor,” become a monster that justified ratting on our neighbors, attacking them in public places, isolating ourselves and coercing small and large sacrifices? How did that derivative of the word salvation, namely “safety,” become a false idol, not just in the time of the covid scare, but arguably since December 7th, 1941 or on second thought maybe even earlier, even 1692? I pray, hope and actually expect that quite soon congregations all over this nation will begin to figure out the answer; we’re close. But here’s the question that I think Mike Flanagan is asking, and I think it’s a good one, how is that people fall prey to dark angels and convince themselves that these angels are angels of light?