Paul Walker, “However Begun, It Would End Badly”

   “However begun, it would end badly.” That is a line from our favorite children’s book called “Don’t Call Me Little Bunny.” It was written by a French doctor and was published in 1987.   It is, predictably, about a small in stature bunny who didn’t like to be called
“Little Bunny.” So, he made a plan. 

     “Something must be done,’ he said to himself. ‘First, I am small. Check. Second, I am a rabbit. Check. To make people stop calling me Little Bunny, I am going to become the most rascally rabbit anyone has ever seen.’” He started by making ugly faces at the Mama Rabbits who patted him on the head and gave him candy. But, however begun, it would end badly. Armed with a pistol, bow and arrows, a pointy dagger, and a sword, he held up a bank. But, after a chase he was arrested and thrown in prison

     What a great children’s book! However begun, it would end badly would have been a perfect introduction to Adam’s and Eve’s stint in the Garden of Eden. Placed in paradise, given everything they could want or need, they do the one thing they are told not to do – eat “the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden.” If they even touched it, they would die. You might note, parenthetically, the scripture never identifies this fruit as an apple, despite the logo on your mac of an apple with a bite taken out of it.

     Speaking of apples, why shouldn’t you ever get involved in an argument between a creationist and evolutionist?  Because that is really trying to compare apples and origins. (Groan)

     Anyway, the crafty serpent, having somehow slithered its way into Eden, begs to differ with God’s instructions. The serpent says, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.”  And you will be like God. That is the key line in the serpent’s lie. And you will be like God. What does the serpent mean?

     The eating of the fruit in the Garden of Eden is traditionally known as “The Fall.” The fall of innocence, the origin of sin, the advent of woe and misery. And all that is true. You have to have your head buried deep deep deep in the sand to not see that the world is not as it should be. I mean, how is the war in Ukraine really entering its second year? 

 But I think the description of what happened in Eden is not so much that Adam and Eve fell downward from their innocence. Rather, they strove upward from their dependent creaturehood. They thought they could “be like God.” Well, however begun, it would end badly. Because that’s what happened, at least a perverted and hobbled version of being like God. What do I mean? We human beings began to believe that we were the ones in control.

     Control. Got issues? That’s the name of my first Lenten class, which is really a class about sin. Because control is just an updated term for original sin. Are you a control freak? Do you live with a control freak?  I can’t help but bring out once again the well-worn Woody Allen quip. What’s the difference between you and God? God doesn’t think He’s you. God is in control; you are not. And even though you will admit that the bulk of the evidence of lines up in God’s favor, you still just can’t give up control. 

     Speaking of control issues, I want to talk about King Lear for a second. Then I want to talk about you again, so don’t get smug and comfortable. I won’t either, because my wife tells me I have control issues. She’s wrong, of course. I just like to have things go exactly according my plan all the time. Don’t you?

      King Lear is a classic example of “however begun it would end badly.” Remember the story? Aging King Lear decides to “retire” and divide his kingdom and responsibilities between his three daughters. In his words, "'tis our fast intent / To shake all cares and business from our age, / Conferring them on younger strengths, while we / Unburden'd crawl toward death." 

     Nice idea, ceding power and control. Just enjoying the last third of life. Golfing, traveling, fishing, taking it easy. Does this ever work? Have you seen HBO’s “Succession?” Give it a shot if you haven’t – it is a masterpiece on the malevolent outcroppings of control.

     How many “retired” men, having shaken the cares and business from their age, make the boards they now sit on acrimonious, or the families live in unpleasant, or even the church vestries they join needlessly tedious? That last example in our case is truly hypothetical! Just deciding to give up control usually doesn’t end well, for the need to control, once ceded in one area, just finds its footing in another. How does King Lear end? Sorry for the spoiler, but everybody dies. 

     However begun, it would end badly. Now, what about you? The usual barometer for control is worry. The extent to which you worry is the extent to which you are trying to exert control. Or how about your plan for the other people in your life? Are the people you are close to behaving according to your script? No? Well, that’s a shocker. Then, how about trying to change those people? That doesn’t work, either? Well, who knew.

     Let’s get back to Adam and Eve. Think about this. Even God did not micro-manage His paradise. He let the serpent get in. He didn’t protect His children from the serpent’s disastrous lies. He didn’t put a force field around the tree in the center of the garden. He just let it be.

     Or think about the parable that Jesus tells of the wheat and the tares. An enemy sneaks into the farmers field at night and sows tares. The farmer didn’t have a security system in place. The field was just open. When the trespass is discovered, the farmers workers want to root out all the tares. But the farmer says no – just let it be. If you try to root out the bad, you will damage the good. And at this point, you can’t really tell the bad from the good. He says leave that to God. He’ll sort it all out in the end. 

     God’s way of sorting out the sin of Adam and Eve was an odd one. He sent His Son into the world. Not in armor and might, but in fragile flesh. Not in power, but in vulnerability. Not to root out all the sin in the world, but to take it on to Himself. However begun in Bethlehem, it would end badly for Jesus on Golgotha.  Jesus is the one person who did cede his power and control. He went to the cross for the world full of control freaks. In other words, He went to the cross for you.

     But however begun it would end badly is not really the end of Jesus’ story. Nor Adam’s and Eve’s story. Nor your story. Because although Jesus’ life really did end in the most horrific way, God raised Him from the dead. And because God raised Jesus from the dead, I can say to you with 100% assurance: However you have begun, however your control issues have messed you up and messed up the people around you, it will not end badly. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, however begun it would end beautifully.

  Amen.