Two Patterns
The Apostle Paul helps us see two patterns of being human. He first names Adam (v.14) as a pattern of life we recognize all too well. It is a pattern marked by disobedience, brokenness, and death – what Paul called sin. Sin touches every part of human life, even the good and beautiful parts, and ripples outward into the whole creation, bringing suffering, loss, and death. Try as we may, our love is imperfect, our faith is fragile, and even our best intentions fall short. This pattern is shared by all of us and reaches into every generation.
The season of Lent gives us space to face this truth honestly, not rushing past our weakness nor explaining it away. It’s a spiritual discipline for me to humbly acknowledge my limits, my failures, my need. Yet Paul does not leave us with the Adam pattern alone. He gives us the pattern of Jesus Christ and explains that where Adam’s one act of disobedience spread sin and death, Christ’s one act of obedience spread redemption and life to all. God’s grace shown to us in the pattern of Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension, is greater than all sin. And through Jesus, God revealed a new way of being human and will re-create us into his pattern (5:18) through the Spirit.
I think of Ash Wednesday, the opening day of Lent, when ashes are placed on our foreheads and the words are spoken: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is an unmistakable naming of the Adam pattern -- our frailty, our mortality, our sin. But the mark of ashes is never the end of the story. The same forehead marked with ashes may be later washed in baptismal water and anointed with oil. During Lent, we are also nourished at Christ’s table of grace with words of forgiveness and life. Lent teaches us to hold both truths together: we are descendants of Adam, yes—but we also belong to Christ who has redeemed us and given us a new identity, beloved children of God. The obedience of one has opened a new way of life for us ... toward living in the fulness of life that is truly life.
Gracious God, we confess our frailty, our sin, and our deep need for your mercy. We thank you that your obedience has opened for us the way of righteousness and life. By your Spirit, shape us into the pattern of Christ, that we may live into the new life you have given us and walk in the fullness of your grace.
Sumarme Goble