Trinity Pulpit

Adam, Mud/Man — Adam, God/Man

Seventh Sunday after Trinity

Rev. Wade E. Butler

July 6, 2008

Synopsis ►

We take a peek at the dawn of Creation. Adam had several vocations: tend the Garden, avoid a tree, name the animals, love & take care of his wife, and be fruitful & multiply. However, Adam abandoned his vocations. When he did that, sin poured into this Creation. Death, doom, sadness, and pain came in for us all. Jesus Christ came in to this world to reverse what Adam had done. He came to repair what the first Adam ruined. Jesus Christ came to fulfill Adam’s vocation. First, he began to teach and call to Himself children—Peter, Bartholomew, Nathaniel…–and instructed them to preach and create more people who believe in the Gospel, to “be fruitful and multiply.” Then, Christ began to love the one who was from His side. When He hung on the cross and his side was pierced, what came out? Blood and Water, Communion and Baptism, the two things that make the Bride of Christ. Then, He began renaming, from Peter, “the Rock” to each one of us whom God Himself has named with a new name at Baptism. Adam was to avoid a tree: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Jesus had to be nailed to a tree to redeem us. After He was removed from the cross and risen, He was mistaken for the gardener. Why? Because He was gardening! Mary Magdalene found Jesus fulfilling Adam’s first vocation: tending the garden, caring for the Earth. The first Adam failed us; the Second Adam redeemed us.

Scriptures for the Day ►

Old Testament—Genesis 2:7-17

Epistle—Romans 6:19-23

Gospel—St. Mark 8:1-9

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