A Requiem for Love

June 16, 2010

I recently finished Calvin Miller's "A Requiem for Love." (All following quotes are from the book, unless otherwise noted.) It's a beautiful re-telling of Genesis 1-3. I really enjoyed the book!! I liked the way Miller narrated the struggle between God and the devil over the free wills of Adam and Eve, but what stuck out most to me in Miller's retelling was the perspective he chose to give in regards to Adam's eating of the forbidden fruit.

The way Miller described it was that Adam always clung close to God's fellowship and words, but once he knew that Eve had taken the forbidden fruit and would certainly be kicked out of Eden, he was faced with the choice of either leaving with Eve, his wife, and being cut off from His father, or staying in the pure fellowship he had with God his Father and being alone.

If he ate not

She'd die alone in bleakness.

And if he ate he'd crush the hear of his Creator.

He paused beside the sapphire pool, looking down.

He studied his tired face.

It cracked in pain and fell away.

"My wife, my Father: Which shall I choose?"

According to Miller's version, because Adam couldn't bear the idea of being alone again, he took the forbidden fruit and was cast out along with Eve. Adam's choice can be seen as a sort of sacrifice for his wife. He chose to cast himself out of the presence of his Father whom he so dearly loved for the sake of his wife, who had even broken his trust by learning from the Devil. This reminded me of another sacrifice done to save humanity. Jesus chose to come down to earth as a human to die for our sins, and in that act of taking upon himself all our sins, chose to cut himself off from God his Father for our sake.

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" (Matthew 27:46)

He chose to leave his home, paradise and come down to this broken and wretched place for the sake of depraved creatures who have always continually spurned his love for them. And that is love.

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)

God's gifts of love and choice to Adam and Eve were ultimately used against Him and His perfect plan for us, something the devil wanted all along.

"Implanting love and choice in you

Is that heaviness which I must carry,

Staggering underneath the weight

Of what I've given.

I know at last My children might greet Me

With faithless daggers,

Stabbing Fatherhood-

Not killing it but wounding all its dreams. "

And this brings to mind another point. Adam's choice could also be seen as a choosing of 'love' and the companionship it offered him over God. That perspective makes me consider the ways that we often times idolize and choose 'love' over God. We separate God and love, seeing love as something that we can find in the companionship of friends, materials, careers, ambitions, etc, and the love of God as something altogether different, and that we often times put at a more inferior level, for I do not believe we reflect on the love of God nearly as much as the other loves we have in our lives. God and love shouldn't even be separated, for God is love.

Life knows no more debauching infamy,

Than that which answers love with treachery.

I like that quote. It brings to mind Judas' betrayal of Jesus. Even Peter's. And then all the events in my daily life that can be seen as treachery and betrayal against God. Have we not all answered to Love with treachery in our lives?

I believe we have. It's a bleak realization, but thank goodness God is still working out His salvation and goodness in our lives. He has not given up on us despite the many times we betray Him in our daily lives, and may we, in turn, strive to center our focus and our all on Him alone, learning to first love Him above all else, and truly believing that everything else will fall into its own right place when we first have our sights and hearts where they were created to be.