Playing Adam in a Peter World

Two quick stories which should illuminate some of our tendencies to isolate from God when we sin: Adam's disobedience and Peter's denial of Jesus. In the first story, Adam has just disobeyed God's order to stay away from the tree in the center of the Garden of Eden. Specifically, God instructs Adam that he may not eat the fruit from that particular tree, or else he would die, see Genesis 2:15-17. However, as you may already know, Adam eats the fruit anyway. Then, the next time that God catches up with Adam in the Garden, he is hiding, afraid to show himself naked before his God. That is when God punishes Adam and Eve, sending them away from the Garden and condemning them to die for their sin.

Let's fast-forward to Peter's denial of Jesus. It was the night that Jesus was handed over to be sentenced to death when his close friend, Peter, denied even knowing him, see Matthew 26:69-75. After the resurrection, Jesus catches up with Peter on a beach where they have just shared breakfast together. Peter was still ashamed, much as Adam had been in the Garden. He knew that he had chosen worldly things like security, anonymity, and cowardice when he could have stood up for his friend. But Jesus restores Peter's standing as a friend and minister, see Matthew 21:15-17.

The parallels in these two stories are remarkable. Both Adam and Peter were helpless messes as the result of thier sinfulness and disobedience. Both men stood again before thier God, ashamed of their behavior. But the similarities end there.

You see, in the case of Adam, God had not yet reconciled sinful man to himself. In fact, Adam's disobedience is still passed on to us, generation after generation. Adam was truly hopeless as the result of his disobedience. Death became his end, as well as the end of every man thereafter.

On the other hand, Peter's interaction with Jesus on the beach shows us the way in which God's plan for reconciliation is available to all men. Jesus gave Peter an opportunity to confess his love three times. Jesus' death and resurrection assures us that though we sin, we can be forgiven. We must be careful to resist our tendency to play the part of Adam, when through Christ we are all as fortunate as Peter.