Consequences
12Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned, and so everyone must die. 13Sin was in the world before the Law came. But no record of sin was kept, because there was no Law. 14Yet death still had power over all who lived from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. This happened, though not everyone disobeyed a direct command from God, as Adam did.
In some ways Adam is like Christ who came later. 15But the gift that God was kind enough to give was very different from Adam’s sin. That one sin brought death to many others. Yet in an even greater way, Jesus Christ alone brought God’s gift of kindness to many people.
16There is a lot of difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gift. That one sin led to punishment. But God’s gift made it possible for us to be acceptable to him, even though we have sinned many times. 17Death ruled like a king because Adam had sinned. But that cannot compare with what Jesus Christ has done. God has been so kind to us, and he has accepted us because of Jesus. And so we will live and rule like kings.
18Everyone was going to be punished because Adam sinned. But because of the good thing that Christ has done, God accepts us and gives us the gift of life. 19Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God.
They say that every action has a consequence. How true that is proved to be in this reading – one bad, one good.
The world God made was perfect. But just one little thing wrong by Adam and Eve let sin into it. They knew they were doing wrong and couldn’t resist it – which opened the floodgates for more wrong. Very soon eating an apple became murder. A matter of degrees perhaps, but all doing what God had asked them not to. Sadly the effect was not just on them, but on the whole world. Now the possibility of doing wrong was out there.
The cost of what Adam and Eve did was a downward spiral of awful possibilities, and one look around the world tells us we have continued in that tradition very well…
But, fortunately for us, that was not the end of the matter. Because God didn’t give up on us.
Just as the actions of one person – Adam (not quite sure why all the blame is laid on Adam in this passage and not collectively or solely with Eve?), let sin and death into the world, so in one man – Jesus – comes acceptance and forgiveness, and the chance for everything to be made right again.
Because of what Adam, and subsequently each one of us, has done, we deserved to be punished. But because Jesus came into the world, took on a human life, showed us how to live it the right way, and then gave his life as an offering to make up for ours – God accepts us again. Adam’s actions caused people to do the wrong thing, but Jesus gives is the opportunity to do the right thing.
Are we going to take it?
Thank you Lord
that through the life and death of Jesus
you give us new possibilities.
As we naturally follow wrong ways,
make wrong choices
and open up those ways to others,
thank you that you offer us a different way –
a way of acceptance and forgiveness,
the chance to do right things.
We bring to you our bad choices.
Thank you that through Jesus
you take them from us,
and give us a different way.
Pam's Perambulation 