Why there is evil in our world? Greek mythology blames Pandora for opening up “the box”. The Judeo-Christian tradition lays the blame on Adam and Eve. Flip Wilson’s comedic character, Geraldine, use to say, “The devil made me do it!” In the story of Adam and Eve, the serpent (personifying evil) didn’t make Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit. The serpent told them that in eating the fruit, they would become Gods. Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit, and, boy, did that plan backfire on them! We have within our own DNA, the genes of our first parents. We want to become Gods, and, as a result, we commit sin.
Breaking things down to their most elemental state, scripture tells us that all human beings are made in the image and likeness of God. Mixed within our DNA is not only that of our ancestors, but the DNA of God. God’s presence resides in all of us. The sins we commit against another person, we commit against God. When we tell someone a lie, we lie to God. If we cheat, or steal from another person, we cheat or steal from God. St Paul writes in the 2nd reading that as we get closer to death, we begin to see with our eyes that which is truly real and discover that everything we have seen up to that point has been not real. Imagine for a moment we are given the eyesight to see the presence of God in all human beings. How could we ever cheat or steal of even think of causing violence, much less kill another person, knowing and seeing God’s presence in that person?
To remedy the sinful flaw in our nature, Jesus appeals to God’s presence within us, telling us to “love one another as I have loved you.” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. We must appeal to God’s presence within us as we interact with the presence of God in others. The Divine DNA of God within us is the anecdote to the DNA of Adam and Eve within us. The more we see and react to God’s presence in others, AND the presence of God within us, the less sin we will commit, and the more peace we will know in our lives.
