God’s Loving Discipline and the Expulsion from Paradise

Բայց ինքը գիտէ, եթէ ճիշդ պատիժ չկարգադրէ այդ երեխային, իր ապագան փճացած պիտի դառնայ։ Ասիկա արուեստ մըն է, եւ վարպետը Աստուածն է։

I haven’t done this in a little while, but I like to go back to parenthood as this wonderful analogy for us to understand our relationship with God.

We think about God the Father, and it’s easy for us to make certain assumptions about what it means for God to be the Father. We hear Christ, for example, speaking to us in the Gospel of Matthew about how we should pray to the Lord. We read recently in our Sunday Gospel readings about the Lord’s Prayer. The way we speak of the Lord in the original phrasing given by Jesus Christ is in the most loving and familiar way possible, saying, “Abba.” This is our most familiar and loving Father in heaven.

We often take the attributes and characteristics of earthly fathers and apply them to God. The fact of the matter is that none of us, even the best of us in this world, can ever match the perfection of fatherhood apparent in God our Father. But he relates to us in this way because he wants us to understand something easily grasped by human beings: out of love, a father wills the good of what belongs to him, so that ultimately it can achieve its greatest good and potential.

This is something every father strives to achieve in his role as a parent, and it is so difficult. One of the times when it is most difficult is when we realize that we have to discipline our children. We often struggle to find an effective way to discipline them. We do too little or we do too much because we are imperfect. Sometimes we have to try many times before we get it right, if we ever do. We are just aiming, right?

In the Orthodox perspective, sin is not simply being naughty. It is falling short of the perfect goal. What is the right way to do something? That right way is defined by God’s will. When we are off target, that is what sin is.

We as parents and fathers can fall short when attempting to discipline our children for their sake. We do too little or too much; we do it when we shouldn’t, or we don’t do it when we should. It’s hard. I know that from being a father, and I’m sure the fathers and all the parents present today understand that dichotomy.

However, the reality is that it has to be done. If there are no consequences, then the child will not be able to learn from the mistakes they have made. Ultimately, that child will grow into an adult who has a deficit in life—an adult who does not understand the right way to be, for their own sake and for the sake of others. They will never achieve their potential without some form of discipline being applied when necessary.

What we remember today is the ultimate and necessary application of discipline by a loving Father: the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.

We must believe that, in his love and mercy, God did not desire for that to be necessary. However, when we read the text closely in the Book of Genesis, we understand that it was absolutely necessary. This is not because we are dealing with a heavenly Father who goes off the rails when he gets mad, makes rash decisions, and applies extreme punishments. It is because he understands exactly what must be applied for the sake of his children.

What God understood to be necessary for Adam and Eve in the creation story—and for all humanity—was that they be expelled from the Paradise designed for them, because they were not ready for it.

In the creation story, Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There were two trees in the Garden of Eden. The second was the tree of life. As God devises his response to the sin that was committed—first by Eve and then by Adam, the sin of giving way to doubt and temptation—he says that they must leave.

Why? Because if they stay, they will eat from the tree of life just as they ate from the other tree, and the text says that they will become “like us.” The word “us” is used in the first-person plural, as a king might refer to himself in the plural—not because there were multiple gods. Of course, God is the Holy Trinity, and he speaks of himself in the plural: lest they become like us.

God was not afraid that they would become like him. Christ teaches us that we are meant to be like God. This is a foundational principle of Christianity: theosis. Our journey brings us closer to the fulfillment of God’s image within us. We are meant to become more like God, and Christ tells us, “You should be perfect like your Father in heaven.” This is what we are supposed to do.

God was not afraid that we would become like him, but he knew we were not ready. If, in that fallen state, we should eat from the tree of life and achieve the ultimate state of human existence—elevated immortality—we would have done so in a fallen condition. We would have been doomed to an eternity of our worst nature. He did not want that for his children.

So when I have to take my child’s iPad away, when we have to say, “You’re not old enough to use social media,” or, “You can’t go out with those children because they’re not the right ones for you to be spending time with,” or, “That’s not what you should be saying; you should say this”—when we have to direct our children, we must keep in mind that first example of discipline applied by God. It was done for our sake: not out of anger or wrath, but out of love and a perfect vision of what humanity could achieve if given the right opportunities to learn.

In our own lives as adults, we may find ourselves without people immediately available to punish us when we need it. Sometimes consequences elude us. If we do not hold ourselves accountable, we must realize that sometimes our own repercussions, our difficulties, and the things we experience as results of our behavior—the very things from which we ask God to save us—are also opportunities for us to grow and become fulfilled as human beings, because that too is God’s will.

Let us therefore be faithful, obedient, and humble in receiving direction from God our Father, understanding that it is meant for us because he loves us and wants us to achieve everything of which we are capable, for his glory.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.