The loss of innocence
That evening they heard the LORD God walking in the garden and they hid from him among the trees. But the LORD God called out to the man, ‘Where are you?
He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked’. (verses 8-10)
Read Genesis 3:1-24
What a very sad, but so very human, story this is!
Conned by one of God’s creatures – a lesser being than themselves – two people decide to break free of God’s restrictions, so they can be like him! We who watch from afar can see the sad irony of this, for they had been created in God’s image, anyway.
Then God comes and gives them both a chance to admit their wrong and to say sorry. Instead, the snake is blamed, the woman (‘that you put here’, says Adam to God) is blamed. Today, so many years later, we have turned making other people responsible for out problem behaviour into an art form.
And so God must judge them. He shows them how their relationship – once so idyllic and innocent – has now been strained. Their relationship with creation has also been ruined. Their relationship with God himself is damaged so badly that it cannot be humanly repaired.
Yet God acts graciously. Human beings, faced with an eternity of living as God’s enemies, are allowed to die. And even death will be conquered, for someone will come who will turn death into a gateway to God rather than a barrier between us and him.
A human story? Yes. But also an incredible story of the love of God.
Father so often I, too, choose to go my own way. I thank you that you acted in love for me – while I was still a sinner. Amen.
by Robert Turnbull, in ‘God’s Promises for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1999)
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