Paradise Not Lost Forever: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-8 - Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The home can be a very dangerous place for little children, which is why it is important to childproof your home. Experts recommend installing electrical outlet covers, locking up medicines, household cleaners, sharp objects, and firearms, anchoring bookshelves and chests of drawers to the walls, and setting up safety gates around stairwells, windows, and exterior doors. Let’s not forget the green Mr. Yuk stickers.

Children are naturally curious, and that curiosity can be dangerous. But children are also rebellious and will eventually learn how to defeat these safety measures. That’s why it’s important for parents to stay one step ahead of them.

By that logic, shouldn’t God have childproofed the Garden of Eden? Or, better yet, shouldn’t God have idiot-proofed it, since Adam and Eve were adults?

Photo by AlanFrijns on Pixabay

Knowing what I know about human nature, telling someone they can’t have something or do something creates temptation. I’m reminded of the electrical panel box in the church basement. There’s a sign on it that says, “do not touch.” It never fails that children will open that box and play with the switches. One wonders if we would be better off not putting up a sign at all.

But is God at fault for what happened in the Garden of Eden?

Adam thought so, which is why he blamed God before blaming Eve for his sin.

Click here to read the Scripture text

This impulse to shift responsibility for our failures is one of the most basic expressions of our sinfulness. This is rebellion: we want to be God over our lives, over the world, and over other people. We want to define what is good and what is evil. This is what made the forbidden fruit so desirable: that by eating it, “[their] eyes will be opened, and [they] will be like God, knowing good and evil.” They won’t just know about evil, they will have its power to get their own way. So that they can rival God and become like God. And when their attempt to rival God fails, Adam and Eve become rivals to each other—and this rivalry continues in their children, with Cain murdering Abel out of jealousy when inexplicably favored Abel’s offering more than his own.

This vicious cycle continues throughout the Scriptures. We see it most often in kings who amass power through plunder and bloodshed, building up mighty empires through exploitation and enslavement. Whatever they want, they take by force. Whatever they want to do, they do, because might makes right. And as we saw during the Daniel Sermon Series, these men become so powerful that their ambition soon turns to insanity. Their empires cannot hold themselves together because of all the rivalries among the powerful, and because of the oppression of the demoralized masses.

Human beings cannot be God, or even god-like. That’s not going to stop people from trying. But God has shown us a better way.

God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to till and keep it. They were servants of the land which served them, and they were servants to each other. All they had to do was to obey God, be responsible for themselves, and be servants. Even though they messed it all up, these same basic duties hold for you: obey God, be responsible for yourself, and be a servant to the neighbor and to creation. This way of life makes life good for everyone.

This doesn’t solve the problem of evil, unfortunately. But Jesus has taught us to love our enemies, pray for our persecutors, and forgive those who sin against us. To forgive someone is to refuse to be their rival. It’s not about excusing wrongdoing and allowing it to keep happening, but it breaks the cycle of rivalry and retribution, the likes of which continues to tear apart the Middle East and the politics of our own nation. Jesus also set an example for us to become servants of (as well as defenders of) those who are marginalized, exploited, and oppressed. We help those who cannot help themselves, and we work together to empower those who’ve been rendered helpless to gain the skills, knowledge, and resources to be able to take responsibility for their lives and serve the common good. Or, to put it more simply, we do what Cain refused to do: to be his brother’s keeper.

While so much suffering is created by the evil we do to each other, and the evil we do to ourselves, there is much toil and suffering that simply happens, due to our mortality and the brokenness of creation. But God answers that too, putting on mortal flesh in Jesus Christ, suffering evil with us, and dying with us.

As tragic as the story of Adam and Eve is, its happy ending is (essentially) the rest of the Scriptures, right up to and including Revelation: God will not give up on humankind or on the universe he created. God will make the heavens and the earth new again. God’s Holy City will come down out of heaven, where the river of the water of life shall flow beside the tree of life, bearing its fruit and its leaves for the healing of the nations. There will be no curse, because we and all creation will have learned that we cannot be God, but God still gives us the fullness of his kingdom and its righteousness.

In the meantime, trust God. Obey God. Be a servant to the neighbor and creation. Forgive sins and sinners. Work for peace and justice. And God will show you the way forward through this world of suffering and evil to the perfect life of his eternity.