“Garden of Good and Evil”

(Genesis 2:4b-9; 15-17; 3:1-13)

In the day that the Lord made the earth, and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground—

Then the Lord God formed man (Adam)  and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.  And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed.  Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden, to till it and keep it.  And the Lord God commanded the man.  You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die.”

Now, the snake was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?”  The woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden.  God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it or you will die.’”

The snake said to the woman, “You won’t die!  God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  Then they both saw clearly and knew that they were naked.  So they sewed fig leaves together and made garments for themselves.

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and the woman hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?’  He said, “I heard the sound of you, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  God said, “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  The man said, “The woman who you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.”  Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?”  The woman said, “The snake tricked me, and I ate.”    

I spent some time this week searching for a new way into this familiar and, to be honest, much-aligned scripture text.  I hoped that I could find a way in as I read it again and thought, “Oh man, this is going to be a lot of work.” I have rarely preached on the tree of good and evil in the garden.  Maybe I’ve been too timid or too lazy.  When I reread this story, though, I was simply charmed by it.  It’s really a good story.

            But honestly, I cringe almost every time I hear a reference to it because they mostly seem to be focused upon what we call “the fall.”  And not only that, “the woman” is almost always to blame.  For me anymore, though, it’s not so much about that being a sexist way to approach the text, but it is that the traditional way of interpreting it is just not all that helpful.  It’s not helpful in finding more about who we human beings are and how we ought to live.

            So, let’s see what we can glean from this story this morning.  We’re back to the garden (which may remind us older folks of a Crosby, Stills and Nash song).  In the middle of it are two noteworthy trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Good and Evil.  The man, Adam, has been told that they may eat freely of every tree except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The consequence of doing this is death, he is told by God. 

Eugene Peterson’s version of the Bible has God saying, “if you eat that fruit, you’re dead (I think in our terminology today it would be you’re dead meat).”  Eat that fruit off the Tree of Good and Evil and you are dead meat!  I am so intrigued by that threat from God….  

            Then, of course, we know the serpent went to the woman and told her she was being fooled by God.  He said, “You aren’t gonna die if you eat it.  Instead you’ll see what’s really going on.  You’ll be like God, seeing everything, all the way from good to evil.”  Ooh, so she went ahead and ate that fruit and then handed it the man to eat it as well. 

            What the man and the woman immediately saw was that they were naked, and they felt embarrassed, so they sewed some fig leaves together and wore them.

I love the way that God is characterized in this next part though: “When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and the Woman hid in the trees of the garden; they hid from God.”

            What follows, of course, is the blame game: Did you eat from that tree?  Well, yeah, but the woman made me.  Well, yeah, but that snake seduced me, and so I ate.

            Traditionally we’ve been told that this is where human beings fell from God’s grace, where they became imperfect, where they turned into sinful creatures.  That does not make sense to me, really.  The thing is, the man and woman were created by God (the first creation story tells us they were made in God’s image).  And, it seems, God created us free to choose.  Surely God knew what was going to happen in this situation.  Surely we are carefully and perfectly made to be the wonderful, imperfect creatures that we are.

            I think this story is a way to talk about, a way to understand that imperfection, the way that we struggle with our self-will, our self-centeredness, our ability to see the whole picture but our continual, impulsive desire to act only for ourselves, our temptation to think we can control and manage everything, to act as though we are God.  Sometimes this is referred to as our sinful nature.

            The Psalmist puts it this way in chapter 139: “Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb; I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!  Body and soul, I am marvelously made!  I worship in adoration—what a creation!  You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; you know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something, Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you….”

            The Garden story is not a way to talk about how horrible and hopeless we are because of one fateful day, but simply a charming tale documenting the way that we human beings are.

             And so, what does this mean for us?  It means we must never become over-confident that we have it all together, that we won’t mess up, that we have everything figured out.  I’ve heard too many stories of fine folk doing bad things they never, ever thought they were capable of.  Arrogance is a danger for us all, and Adam and Eve ought to remind us of that all the time. 

            It all means that this season of Lent is just critical for us Christians because we are invited during this time to reflect on our own lives, on our own behavior, on our own sinful nature and how that plays itself out in our lives. 

In Lent we are given the opportunity to repent and believe, to ask forgiveness and know that, because of Jesus, that forgiveness is ours.  On Ash Wednesday many of us received the sign of the cross on our foreheads and were told that from dust we have come, to dust we shall return, and we were reminded to repent and believe in the Gospel.

            Folks, this job is never complete.  Every day we need to go to God and renew ourselves by examining our way of living and to ask God’s help to do better.  The Adam and Eve story isn’t so much a glimpse into some moment back in the mist of time, but, rather, it is more like a painting of who we are, a reminder of what we do and a realization of how we need to ask God’s forgiveness so that, rather than be separated from God and live in fear and embarrassment, we can stroll around the garden with God in the evening breeze. 

           Yep, we’re gonna mess up, but God sent us Jesus to be our lifeline.  As he came out of the wilderness his words to us were, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”  …They still stand.  By God’s grace and Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we are always welcome back, even, especially, when we have strayed for a good while.  That’s how it works.  Lent is a great time to come on home to the garden.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.