Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’— therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. ”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, September 10, 2019
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
On one hand, today’s reading reads like a story of an angry God that kicked God's children out of paradise as punishment for their sin. On the other hand, though, this story might be so much more. This is a story of a loving God doing everything in God's power to protect God's children.
Oh, yes. God was mad. Make no mistake!
But God didn't ever curse Eve or Adam directly. God cursed the serpent. God cursed the ground because of Adam. But God never cursed them, specifically. God explained how their sin had long-reaching consequences. God told them that life would be much harder now. Now knowing the sting of shame, everything would be clouded by that experience, and their work to survive would be much harder.
God also knew that if they ate from the tree of life, they would live in a state of shame and sin forever. God had to protect them from such an eternal fate. By banishing them from the garden, God actually gave them an opportunity to live free of shame. It would be a long time before anybody would learn just how humanity would live eternally without shame. We wouldn't know until the arrival of Jesus just how God would orchestrate our eternal salvation. But for now, Eve and Adam were saved from a fate of eternal shame.
What do you make of the second story of creation in Genesis? (The first story is in Genesis 1.)
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