"The Lord looketh upon his Servant full lovingly and sweetly, and meekly he sendeth him to a certain place to do his will. The Servant not only he goeth, but suddenly he starteth, and runneth in great haste, for love to do his Lord’s will. And anon he falleth into a slade (ravine), and taketh full great hurt. And then he groaneth and moaneth and waileth and struggleth, but he neither may rise nor help himself by no manner of way."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 51)
In the Parable of the Lord and the Servant that God has shown Julian, the servant is eager to go on his way to do the will of the Lord. The Lord is looking on the servant with love and sweetness, and when he sends the servant out to do an errand, he doesn't harshly command him or act fearsomely. He sends him out with a gentle voice, and the servant quickly goes out to do all his Lord says. But then he falls into a ravine and is hurt. We see in this parable that the servant is ready and willing and delighted to follow his Lord's will. In his eagerness though, he trips and falls into a ravine and can't get out.
From this simple story, we can see something about how God sees the fall of Adam or humanity. From this story, we can say God sees the fall as an accident, not something done on purpose by evil or malicious intent. After all, we call the sin of Adam "the Fall," not "the Jump" or "the Rebellion." The servant doesn't choose on purpose to go against the Lord's command and thus intentionally jump in a ravine. No, the servant is intent on doing the Lord's will and accidentally falls in the ravine while running to complete the Lord's assignment. To see the Fall as an accident is a comforting way to see what happened to Adam and Eve. After all, they were dwelling in innocence in the Garden of Eden and had had no experience with or wisdom about handling temptation, lies, confusion, or wrong. The early church father Irenaeus said that Adam and Eve's thoughts were "innocent and childlike." Of Adam, he said, "The man was a babe. He had not yet the perfect use of his faculties [he was not yet mature through experience or learning]. Hence he was easily deceived by the seducer." God would then see Adam and Eve as innocent and naive children who were easily duped, not as rebels bent on consciously planning or willing evil. So God would see us the same way when we fall into sin, or "stumble," as the Bible says. To stumble is to accidentally fall down, not to maliciously rebel. Deep down we are kids who don't know everything, get tricked and confused, and fall down. God, like any good parent, treats His kids with love and care when they fall down; He goes and hugs them and picks them up and soothes any wounded places they have. Yes, the Fall was tragic and brought many terrible effects, but it is reassuring to know that God is a loving Father who sees us as basically good little children in need of help and rescue, not punishment and anger.
"For we all stumble in many ways."
James 3:2 (ESV)
A Prayer: Thank You for having compassion on me and for helping me up when I fall!