Why do we make excuses to God?

Teacher Man is a 2005 memoir by Frank McCourt, ref lecting on his teaching experiences in New York high schools in the 1950s and 60s. One of its delightful chapters is entitled “The Excuse Note.” He knew that most excuse notes that came to him, allegedly from parents, were written instead by the boys and girls of McKee Vocational and Technical High School. Toward the end of a semester, Mr. McCourt typed a dozen of the excuse notes on a stencil and distributed them to the class.

“What are we supposed to do with them?”

He instructed the class: “You’re going to be writing excuse notes all your life and you’ll want them to be believable. Begin now and finish this assignment at home.”

And he wrote on the chalk board: “An excuse note from Adam to God; or, from Eve to God.:

We know the story: Adam blames Eve. Eve blames Adam. They both blame God or the serpent. But God throws them out of Eden so that their descendants wind up one day in McKee Vocational and Technical High School writing excuse notes.

In all of Holy Scripture’s record of humanity’s response to God, what is the second thing out of Man’s mouth to God? An excuse. “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

After that, everyone has an excuse: Moses—“They won’t believe me. I’m not eloquent.” Aaron—“I just threw the gold into the fire, and out came the idol.” Jeremiah—“I’m only a child.” Felix to Paul—“I just don’t have time right now.”

Jesus once told of someone who gave a great dinner and invited many. But some made excuses why they couldn’t attend. “I just bought some land.” “I must try out the yokes of oxen I have bought.” “I just got married and therefore I can not come.” And the host became angry and said, “None of those who were invited will taste my dinner!”

Why do we make excuses to God? Sometimes, for dark reasons: we are in denial of our own sin. We have many sins that we never mention in our prayers because we have, in our hearts, already justified unjustifiable Christian behavior—we have already made excuses to ourselves.

But there is another reason we make excuses to God. There truly is in us a desire to be good, to be blameless, to please our God and Savior. We “want to be like Jesus, in-na my heart.” As Will Smith said in his apology to Chris Rock: “I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.”

Why did Adam and Eve make excuses to God? Because they were afraid. I mentioned that the second thing Man said to God was an excuse. But what was the first thing Man said to God? “I was afraid . . .” And the rest of the Bible is God speaking to us about how not to be afraid—about how to receive the Savior, who, as the hymn sings, “knows our every weakness,” who expresses to us God’s love and forgiveness, who bids us abandon the excuses that keep us from becoming and living as God always intended.

Part of the story of Adam and Eve is how something very, very, good was lost. The parable that Jesus told is about how something very, very, good is offered one more time. The message of Jesus’ parable is this: None of the guests invited to that wonderful banquet was kept away for having done something sinful. They just made excuses.