For some reason this time around the theme of Genesis seems to be forgiveness. Adam and Eve find that, as soon as they leave the garden, opposition enters the world in a variety of forms (including noxious weeds, menstrual periods and disputations about how to follow the rules) and as children arrive, the tension grows. My husband used to remind our teenage boys every time they went out in the car, "Remember, basically everybody's mad." Given the nature of the world we live in, it's safe to say that at any given moment, each of us is battling some kind of nagging irritation, and it may not take much to push one or two of us over the edge.
Adam was made from the earth, adama in Hebrew, so his name literally means earthling. (Apparently Hebrews loved those kinds of puns, and we just miss them in the translation.) He and Eve were created to be in complete harmony with their environment. But that harmony begins to crumble as their sons square off over their respective sacrifice offerings. Cain's jealousy over God's preference for Abel's offering is a sad foreshadowing of the endless debates about how to properly worship God, that have been the cause of so much strife and bloodshed. The irony of that would be comical if it were not so heartbreaking.
If Cain could have simply forgiven Abel, or at least agreed to disagree over the proper form of sacrifice, how would the history of the earth be different? Because he could not, sin entered the world. The conflict goes on as we enter the saga of Abraham, in the rivalry between Sarah and Hagar. We don't know if Isaac and Ishmael got along, because their parents separated them before they could really have a shared story, but the enmity of their mothers nearly cost Ishmael his life. Jacob and Esau are our next example of brothers who rival for God's favor (as they suppose) and again history is shaped by that family feud.
Are our family relationships enriching, or ruining our lives? How many of us have hesitated to attend a family event because we will meet someone there with whom we are in conflict? How many of us have harbored grudges for years? Jacob had to live far from his home because of his actions and the anger they caused in his family. How often, like Cain, do we exile ourselves from the garden of familial love because we can't get along with the other people who live there?
Getting Back to the Garden
Given the fact that disharmony causes all the trouble on earth, we ought to think a little more about how to get over the hurt and anger that drive us away from those we love. Here is where Genesis has a lot to teach us, and it begins with an unlikely hero, Esau. His remarkable response to Jacob's return signals an amazing turn in the narrative of Genesis. Jacob's journey toward reconciliation with his brother has taken twenty years, years during which he has been deceived as thoroughly as he once deceived his father, and in which he has lived with a father-in-law who wished to exploit him as much as he wished to exploit his brother. The man he is now, returning to his homeland with his wives and children, still retains elements of his former self (he sends the wives and kids ahead of himself as human shields, putting the least favorite in front, and keeping Rachel and Joseph close) but he is also sincerely penitent.
As the dreaded moment of meeting arrives, Jacob does as the vassal traditionally did to the suzerain, or lord, and bows to the earth seven times before Esau. It is clear that Esau has also grown more world-wise, as he comes to meet his brother flanked by 400 men. But he shows no desire to punish Jacob. Instead, he runs to meet him and embraces him, and is gracious to his wives and children. His behavior and his comments offer us a few hints into the mysterious process of forgiveness.
The power to forgive has two halves: it requires an act of will on our part and an outpouring of grace on God's part. Both parts are essential. In a moving scene that will later be repeated in Jesus's parable of the prodigal son, Esau runs to meet and embrace his brother, and as he embraces him, grace pours out on them both. Jacob, who has wrestled through the night in search of God's blessing, finds it here in the frank forgiveness of his elder brother. Jacob marvels at the mercy extended to him, as he had marveled the night before at meeting God face-to-face. He connects the two experiences thus: "For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably." (Gen 33:10)
Forgiveness is a miracle, of which God is the source. Without divine help, we can no more forgive the sins of others than we can forgive our own sins. We can only step forward and begin the process by opening our hearts and minds to a forgiving attitude, and then asking for God's grace to provide the miracle. When we do, we will find that to forgive is to enter the presence of God. To fail to forgive is to forever shut ourselves out of that presence. M. Catherine Thomas observes: “Forgiveness is primarily an issue of Presence, because with forgiveness comes the restoration of the Presence of God.” Forgiveness, we find to our surprise, is the only way back to the garden.
