Not so long ago we were reading the words that the angel spoke to the shepherds on that first Christmas morning, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). For “good news” to be good news it must contrast with some bad news.
Seventh century theologian Saint John of Damascus uses the good news/bad news theme in his reading of the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden. Before looking at the episode in the garden John gives the “prequel” that Adam and Eve are not the only intelligent creatures that God has created, there are also angels. And there has been a rebellion with some of the angels. With that as the background story, the serpent, a rebellious angel, persuaded Eve to joint the rebellion by the act of eating the forbidden fruit, and in turn Adam did the same. Adam and Eve have gone over to the “Dark Side”. At this point, God says to Adam and Eve, “I’ve got bad news, but I’ve got good news. The bad news is that you are now subject to death, but the good news is that you are now subject to death!”.
The end point of the demonic rebellion is total separation from God and because angels, being outside of time, can never repent, they cannot be transformed back into harmony with God. Humans, however, with mortal and corruptible bodies, living in the realm of time, do have the possibility to repent. Our pending mortal death then opens up the opportunity for salvation through our repentance. Our death, in this sense, is a gift.
At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he proclaims, “The people that sat in darkness, have seen great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up…. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:16-17. The events of Easter; Christ’s passion, crucifixion and resurrection give us the ability to be able to truly repent. Interestingly Jesus uses the same elements to defeat Satan that Satan used on us, a virgin, a tree and death!
As we live our lives in the realm of time, opportunities (good news) sometimes arrive disguised as a loss (bad news). To paraphrase a point made by Dr. Martin Shaw, our salvation, offered to us by the finished work of Christ, allows the Holy Spirit access to our lives where he can take our failures and apparent losses and turn them into elegant expressions of beauty. We can enter paradise again and become re-Edenized, or as it says in 2 Corinthians 2:17, we become, “new creations in Christ”.
image credit - The Newspaper Seller Mumbai - Harini Calamur
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