Let’s take a little stroll down memory lane. Think back. What is the first time you clearly remember getting into trouble? getting into trouble. Now, there are many reasons why one could get into trouble. I wouldn’t know, I only got in trouble once in all my life. I learned very quickly. But for example, when we got into trouble, did we try to lie our way out of it?

Oh no, not me. I didn’t do it. My brother did it. It’s his fault. How many? No show of hands, please. How many tried to lie their way out of trouble? No. It’s a very effective technique. Now, how many decided to hide the evidence? So say we broke a lamp or an ashtray. And I really dated myself. How many of us even have ashtrays anymore?

But we decided if we hide the evidence, they will forget about it. Out of sight, out of mind. Did we ever use that technique? And then, of course, lastly, there is the sheer act of desperation. We are in so much trouble we simply decided to run away. That is the answer. I will join the French Foreign Legion again, dating myself, and no one will ever see me again.

And I will be out of trouble. All are very good techniques. And notice one of them is the technique that Adam used in the first reading. Notice he knew he had messed up. He knew he had done something wrong. So what does he decide to do? I will hide from God. God will never find me. Well, why is that never a good idea?

Because God always knows. God will always find us. Now how many of us, knowing that we have done something wrong, have tried to hide from God, or even more denied it? Nope. Was it me? I didn’t do it. God, I’m innocent. Surprised God knows the truth. There is always a consequence. Now what’s very interesting, Saint Paul calls Adam the first Adam and he calls Jesus Christ the second Adam.

And in today’s gospel, the old Adam and the new Adam, the first Adam and the Lord are mirror images. Notice Adam knowing he had made a mistake, tried to hide. He tried to get away from God and couldn’t do it. God caught up with him. On the other hand, Jesus comes in truth. Jesus comes in light and in innocence.

Adam tries to hide. Jesus goes home and shows everyone who he is. Adam tries to lie. Jesus tells the truth. God understands. God sees Adam, the scribes, the Pharisees, Jesus’s mother, brother, and sisters do not see the truth. They don’t recognize who he is. They are blinded. What does Jesus say here I am, I’ve come in spirit and in truth.

I am the light of the world. And what do they say? They don’t believe him. They think he’s lying. He’s hiding something. He’s trying to pull the wool over their eyes. They say he’s crazy. He’s possessed. We don’t believe you. Three things. How often does the world want us to deny Jesus? Adam lost the garden of Eden. Jesus proclaims the kingdom.

The new garden. How are we when the world asks us? Do we say Jesus is crazy? He’s possessed. He’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes. There’s no such thing as salvation. How do we react? Are we like the disciples who sit at Jesus feet and come to him in such great number that he can’t even eat?

Or are we like the scribes, the Pharisees, and his own family? He’s out of his mind now. That’s a very interesting point. Adam tries to hide from God his father. Now why would Adam hide? Was he afraid? Did he feel a little guilty? Did he somehow know that he had disappointed his father? Our father? God?

When we are afraid to proclaim Christ Jesus, do we feel a little frightened by the world and everything it says? Do we feel a little guilty that maybe we’re not witnessing to the kingdom of God? Are we a little disappointed in ourselves? So rather than just say, okay, I’m gonna do better, we just give up. How is it today that when we don’t proclaim the kingdom of God, we ask ourselves why are we today more like Adam, the disciples who listened to Jesus or the scribes, the Pharisees, even his own family?

Well, let’s go back to the first time we realized we had done something wrong. What was our reaction? Have we gotten over it? Are we still feeling a little guilty about whatever that was? Ten, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60? Shall I keep going years ago? Or how was it that we felt the healing power of mercy and forgiveness today?

How is it that we are going to feel the healing power and mercy and forgiveness from our God that will allow us to go out and proclaim the new in the new creation, that we’ve become, the Kingdom of God. How will we not run, not hide from God? Our father, but be living witnesses of the truth, the way, and the life?

Well, it’s in the Eucharist that we are about to receive. When we receive the Eucharist, we become Christ Jesus in the world. Messengers proclaiming the truth. And when the world tells us we’re lying or we’re crazy or we’re possessed, we have the Eucharist. We have the truth. We have the body and blood of Christ. And so let us remember that first moment.

Let us remember the healing. Let us consider Adam and Pharisees families and our father, God in heaven. And let us today witness to the kingdom, the kingdom of God, through Christ Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.