Genesis 3

es, the blame game. It's always easiest to blame someone else for your own failings, as I have done too much myself, to the detriment of relationships and my own happiness. Taking responsibility for failure and owning up to one's mistakes is difficult. But I believe that it is important to do so, even after apparently it is too late to solve the problem or fix the situation. I have found that being honest with another person about our struggles, limitations, and even our lies, has helped create a firm resolve not to repeat those mistakes, I think because by saying it out loud, you force yourself to acknowledge your sin in a way that mere self knowledge does not. Jesus forced the demons he cast out to name themselves. I think the same is true of our deepest sins and failings. This truth of human nature is why Sacramental Confession, and even confession to friends, family, and to those we have wronged is salvific. The only way to cast them out is to name them--which is exactly what Adam and Eve fail to do in the third Chapter of Genesis. God interrogates them (as if he needed to!) and instead of admitting fault and seeking help, they cast the blame elsewhere.

Notice that God doesn't curse the man and the woman until after they have opted to play the blame game instead of taking responsibility. Could there have been some kind of more immediate salvation if Adam or Eve had stood in the position of savior, or helper for their spouse? I guess we'll never know. As Aslan says in The Chronicles of Narnia, no one is ever told what might have happened.

One thing I do know is that Jesus Christ is the Lamb who has been slain, whose flesh has covered my nakedness just as God covered our parents' nakedness with animal skins. I wonder if He made them watch as he slew one of their animal friends in order that they might no longer endure the shame of their nudity.

Lord Jesus, give me resolve to overcome temptation through your Grace, that assisted by your mercy, I may be freed from the original sin of Adam, and clothed  in your righteousness, to enter Your New Eden You have prepared, Amen.