If in yesterday’s reading we affirmed that “life is good,” today’s reading suggests a corollary: “life is hard.” On one level, this story of a talking serpent, a God who takes an evening walk, and a very powerful fruit works like other legends (think Aesop) to explain how things got this way: why snakes can’t walk, why giving birth is painful; why we sweat; and, perhaps most poignantly, why it’s so hard to get along.
But, for me, this story raises more questions than it answers. For instance, why did God’s Plan A limit human understanding of good and evil? Are we really worse off for having our “eyes opened”? Sure, the naive life of Genesis 2—a life without shame, strife, or sweat—has its appeal. Yet don’t the Gospels celebrate Jesus’ gift of sight? Doesn't Isaiah proclaim that, as a “light to the nations,” God’s people will “open the eyes that are blind” (Isa 42:7)?
Here’s another one. Part of the serpent’s ploy is to convince the woman that, in eating of the fruit, humans will become “like God” (3:4, 22). Does this detail suggest that, for Genesis 2-3, humanity’s reflection of the divine image comes not from creation itself, but from the fall? And how does this relate to Genesis 1:27?
Finally, what are we to make of the expulsion from the garden of Eden? Is it more a matter of ruling out immortality, or endowing us with a primal purpose: to cultivate the earth? And which is better, painful knowledge or blissful ignorance? As those who participate in the “new creation” that Christ is working out in our midst, perhaps leaving the garden was that inevitable step on our journey home. What do you think?
- How do you hold together the notions that “life is good” and that “life is hard”? How does this story (read with the preceding chapter) help you do so?
- When has “leaving home” helped equip you to “come home” once again?
- What other details did you notice in today’s reading?
Prayer: O God, we don’t really like limits. When we push against them, when we hide from you, when we fancy ourselves as gods, seek us out. Restore us. Send us forth to work in your world. Amen.
Breath Prayer: The Lord God called, // “Where are you?”
