The Illusion of the Sacred Object
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Beth Henricks
October 18, 2026
Good morning, Friends and welcome to light reflections.
I am here today sharing a message with you as Bob and Sue are in Michigan to attend the funeral of Sue’s uncle and godfather.
Our scripture today is Genesis 3:2-6 NRSV
“The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. But God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree, that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” But the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”. So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.”
As I was contemplating on the topic of a message, I remembered a book I read last year written by Peter Rollins called The Divine Magician, the Disappearance of Religion and the Discovery of Faith that really had me thinking about the illusion of the sacred object and our identification of scape goats when that illusion shatters. I share these thoughts and some of Rollins writing with you today.
The scripture here is well known among all religious and even non-religious people and there has been much written about it, debated, depicted through paintings throughout the centuries, and used to diminish women’s roles in society and the church, It is quite the dramatic moment in the narrative of the beginning of the world and sets us apart from the garden of paradise and on the road to a sinful existence. If Eve had not eaten of the forbidden fruit, would we all be living in a garden of paradise today?
I was intrigued with Rollins examination of this Scripture. He views this foundational story of humanity as one where the illusion of a sacred object will magically fulfill our life and complete what is missing from our hearts. He writes, “Adam and Eve were not forbidden to eat something that would satisfy them but were faced with a prohibition that made them think that the fruit would satisfy them” (pg 15) He illustrated this point with an interesting story. A teenage boy that was artistically talented, had a significant crush on a girl in his art class. The girl’s artwork was bad, and others in the class made fun of it. And to mock and humiliate her, they encouraged her to enter a project into the art show. She protested but they continued to play this cruel game of encouragement. The girl went to see the talented teenage boy to talk about her project. The boy was thrilled that she was paying attention to him and he encouraged her in her work. What she produced was bad, but he heaped praise on it because of his feelings for her. And because of his encouragement, the girl entered the project into the show.
The boy did not want her to be humiliated with her terrible painting; he broke into the room and stole her painting. The teacher found out what he did and before she was going to suspend him, asked why he stole the painting. He said it was because he had wanted to win the prize, so he decided to steal the best painting. Very quickly word spread of this news and everyone now thought this girl had created a masterpiece, and she probably would have won the prize if her painting had been in the show. A great masterpiece story had been created. The illusion was there was a masterpiece, it had been stolen and it could have won the prize. The reality was a terrible painting had been stolen, but this led to the idea that it was a masterpiece which in turn led to the fantasy that it could have won a prize.
This story and many of our stories, create an illusion of something that is the answer, the masterpiece, the beloved girl, the one thing that will make us whole , which falls apart when we take the fruit, see the painting, reach the sacred object.
Eve takes a piece of fruit from this fruit tree even though she can eat from every other tree in the garden, because she believes this will give her knowledge and make her like God. Who wouldn’t want that? How would each of us face this decision to gain knowledge and be more like God? This seems like a noble and faithful goal. Why would we not pursue this object and desire.
Could the prohibition from God on this one piece of fruit actually create the dissatisfaction in the first place? Why does this one tree that God forbids them to eat from is the one they want?
As Rollins describes, The story of Adam and Eve offers a mythical description of how sacred objects are formed and how their very formation creates within us a sense of painful longing. We falsely believe that the sacred object can offer us wholeness and lasting pleasure; but in actuality , it is responsible for birthing our sense of dissatisfaction. The sacred object cannot offer wholeness because itself is not whole. Or maybe the sacred object can never be possessed because it doesn’t really exist.
The irony in this story of Eve eating the fruit to be more like God is that both Eve and Adam were already like God, being created in God’s image and indeed they already possessed the dark and light within themselves.
When I officiate a wedding, I always share in my wedding address that people are often overly concerned about finding the right person with whom to spend the rest of their lives with. And that I am not sure this is the right question, the right search for the sacred object that will be the one. I raise the point that it should not necessarily be of finding just the right person as much as it is a question of being the right person. When we do what is right and fair and honest and loving; if we are humble and kind and compassionate, our marriage will be full of these same qualities. Finding exactly the right person may be our sacred object. If only, we find this person everything will be good. But it is only in releasing the idea of the sacred object, recognizing there is no sacred object and understanding this loss, we begin to truly live. We look within ourselves to find the likeness of God, to be the right person that is fair, loving, kind, humble and compassionate.
There is the chance that when the sacred object does not fulfill, we will look for a scapegoat, someone, something that we can blame for our lack of attainment. I can’t reach my goal because someone else, some community, something is the reason that I am not happy, I cannot achieve my goal because of this other that is taking away from me and Instead of turning inward and facing ourselves, we are cowardice as want to blame others. Do we have the courage to undergo an inward transformation? We must all experience a dark night of the soul when the sacred object, the scapegoat fails to fulfill us and we must walk into the darkness, the doubt, the release of all of these false idols to go deep within in the soul to examine ourselves as St John of the Cross wrote about and experienced in the 16th century. We must go behind prohibitions to understand our problems and enter into the work of undergoing transformation. This transformation moves us beyond a set of beliefs about the world to how we exist in the world.
The story of Adam and Eve in the garden eating the forbidden is connected to the crucifixion where the idea of the disciples and Jesus followers believed in a narrative, in a sacred object of a worldly king. Jesus breaks the idea of this sacred object and saves us from it. He turns this all upside down and asks us to become like children again to understand and enter the kind of kingdom he is taking about. He brings us salvation from the sacred object. When we accept this salvation, we don’t retreat from life but enter into it more deeply. We move from worshipping an idol to embracing an icon that draws us into a sense of wonder and awe. This is how we live a life transformed into the salvation of Christ.
We will now enter our time of unprogrammed worship – I offer these queries for consideration:
Do I have something in my life that I think will make me happy or fulfilled?
What are my sacred illusions?
Who or what are my scapegoats?