Homilies on Genesis, 1–17

Homily 17

HOMILY 17 "They heard the sound of the Lord God as he strolled in the garden in the evening.'" E HAVE SAID ENOUGH, I would think, as far as our abilities lie, in giving our explanation lately of the tree, to teach you, dearly beloved, what was the reason why Sacred Scripture called it the knowledge of good and evil. So today I want to proceed to what follows, so that you may learn God's unspeakable love and the degree of considerateness he employs in his care for our race. Everything, you see, he made and arranged so that this rational being created by him had the good fortune to be of the greatest importance, and far from being in any way inferior to the life of the angels, enjoyed in the body their immunity from suffering. (2) When, however, he saw them both through negligence transgress the commands he had given them, despite the warnings he had conveyed by threatening them (134d) and putting them more on the alert, he did not stop loving them at that point. Instead, faithful to his own goodness, he is like a loving father who sees his own son through negligence committing things unworthy of his upbringing and being reduced from his eminent position to the utmost depravity: he is stirred to the depths of his being as a father, yet, far from ceasing to care for him, he displays further concern for him in his desire to extricate him gradually from his abasement and return him to his previous position of dignity. Well, in just the same way does the good God, too, have pity on man for the plot to which he fell victim with his wife after being deceived and accepting the devil's advice through the serpent. Like a 1. Gn 3.8. 222 HOMILY 17 223 doctor treating a sick and suffering patient confined to bed, who needs much healing and the doctor's attention, he goes immediately to his side. (3) In order, however, that you may learn (13Sa) God's ineffable considerateness, from the words themselves you must listen to the reading. "They heard the sound of the Lord God," the text says, "as he strolled in the garden in the evening ; both Adam and his wife hid from the Lord's presence amongst the trees of the garden." Let us not, dearly beloved, pass heedlessly by the words from Sacred Scripture, nor remain at the level of their expression, but consider that the ordinariness of their expression occurs with our limitations in mind and that everything is done in a manner befitting God for the sake of our salvation.2 I mean, tell me this: were we prepared to follow the drift of the words without taking what is said in a sense befitting God, how could many absurdities be avoided? See now, let us consider this from the very beginning of the reading: "They heard the sound (13Sb) of the Lord God," the text says, "as he strolled in the garden in the evening , and they hid." What are you saying-God strolls? Are we assigning feet to him? Have we no exalted conception of him? No, God doesn't stroll-perish the thought: how could he, present as he is everywhere and filling everything with his presence? Can he, for whom heaven is his throne and earth his footstool, be confined to the garden? What right-minded person could say this? (4) So what is the meaning of this statement, "They heard the sound of the Lord God as he strolled in the garden in the evening"? He wanted to provide them with such an experience as would induce in them a state of anguish, which in fact happened: they had so striking an experience that they tried to hide from the presence of God. Sin, you see, appeared and 2. For an Antiochene like Chrysostom, anthropomorphisms represented a particular challenge to the delicate balance of the two correlatives to his theology of the Word-divine transcendence and considerateness for human limitations . This particularly striking example of anthropomorphism of Gn 3.8 illustrated the latter eminently, but Chrysostom urges his congregation not to take it so simplistically as to impugn that other factor, the transcendence of the divine author. 224 ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM transgression, and they were covered in confusion. After all, that incorruptible judge-conscience, I mean-in taking...