Incident in the Garden

We all know the story of the man and woman in the Garden of Eden who ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. What were they thinking, anyway? Clues in the text suggest that it was an attempt to lift their status from nobodies to somebodies. Ambition still drives us today. Is that bad or good? These are the questions that I explore in this week's sermon.

Is there anyone who doesn’t know the story of the forbidden fruit? Everyone in the Judeo-Christian tradition knows it. Even people who have never set foot in church know it. God told the first man and woman not to eat the fruit of the tree that grew in the middle of the Garden of Eden, but they ate some of it anyway. And the snake was behind it all, smoothly suggesting that God didn’t really mean it when he forbade the man and the woman to eat that fruit. Sure, we all know that story. But there’s more to it than we pick up with just a casual reading. It’s more than just a story of disobedience. It’s a story that warns us about the glamour of status. When we unpack the story, it tells us a lot about ourselves even now.

So let’s start by taking a close look at that snake. Most people don’t like snakes. When they run into one, they run the other way. But that wasn’t the case in the ancient world. In the world of the Bible, snakes were symbols of wisdom. The symbol of the Greek god of healing, for example, was a staff with a snake twined around it. Far from being feared, in the ancient world snakes were honored. So when the serpent struck a conversation with the woman, she would have been flattered at his attention. And she would have taken what he said very seriously: “When you eat the fruit of that tree, you will be like gods.”

Like gods! Really? That would be a real advance in status! At the end of chapter 2, we read that the man and his wife were naked; and that they weren’t ashamed of it. That little verse is a comment on their lack of status – and on their ignorance about it. In the ancient world, the only people who went about naked were slaves. Everyone who was anybody wore clothing! And the better your clothing, the higher your status. It’s not that much different today. Teenagers would much rather wear Calvin Klein jeans instead of jeans from Sears! What you wear reflects who you are. The man and the woman were nobodies – and their lack of clothing was proof of it. So when the snake suggested that eating the fruit from the tree would make them “like gods,” it occurred to the woman that she would like to raise her status and become like a god. Making herself better sounded like a good idea.

Well, you know what happened. They did eat that fruit, and when they did, they realized that there was a difference between good and evil. That made them want to decide about good and evil for themselves when they made a choice. They didn’t want to just take orders from God any more. But, of course, there were problems with that. They may have known about good and evil; but they didn’t always understand the difference between the two. They certainly possessed more knowledge; but they didn’t always know everything that they needed to know. And they certainly didn’t always understand the consequences of their choices that they made. But their status had changed, and it had changed permanently. So, to show the world that they had bettered themselves, they made aprons out of fig leaves. They weren’t naked slaves anymore; they were something else. They now had a higher status than the animals, but a lower status than God. Oh, yes, that snake was crafty when he appealed to the woman’s desire to better herself.

The desire to become better still drives a lot of what we do. And ambition isn’t always a bad thing! I’m reminded of that every time the Olympics roll around. Athletes who have trained for years to better themselves in their chosen sport perform in remarkable ways!

·         They achieve excellence, like Gabby Douglas who won a gold medal in women’s gymnastics. She was better than any other woman in the world on the balance beam, on the uneven parallel bars, on the vault, and on floor exercises.
·         Some athletes achieve sustained excellence, like Michael Phelps. He is now the most decorated Olympic athlete in history, having won 22 medals over 3 Olympic Games.
·         They achieve despite handicaps. We’ve all seen pictures of Oscar Pistorius, the South African runner who competes on artificial legs since both of his lower legs were amputated as a child.
·         They achieve despite injuries. In the men’s 4x100 meter relay race just a few days ago, American sprinter Manteo Mitchell finished one leg of the race on a broken leg.
·         They achieve even though it may put them at personal risk. Sarah Attar and Wojdan Shaherkani, are the two women who represented the country of Saudi Arabia for the first time in the Olympic Games. They have been repeatedly insulted, and even threatened by conservative Islamic men who believe that women should not compete alongside men.
·         And they achieve even though they appear to have no chance to achieve! Claressa Shields grew up in inner city Flint, Michigan, living next door to drug addicts and crackheads. As a child, she wanted to learn the sport of boxing. Although her father told her boxing was only for boys, she took up the sport anyway. She used worn-out equipment, and sometimes even had to make her own. Her family was the poorest of the poor. She was quoted as saying, “I went without a lot of meals growing up.” What chance was there for someone in those circumstances? But she never gave up; and last week she won a gold medal in the very first appearance of women’s Olympic boxing.

No, there’s nothing wrong with ambition. I am inspired by the athletes of the Olympic Games who work so hard for a chance to prove that they are better than everyone else in the world! But it also makes me wonder what might happen if we Christians channeled our ambition the way that Olympic athletes channel theirs. What if we used our ambition for the good of others? Instead of striving to better our status through big homes, fast cars, and designer clothing, what if we tried to improve ourselves through what we can do for God? We know how to do that. Jesus told us to work deeds of mercy, to share what we have with those who have less, to visit the imprisoned, and to befriend the unloved. What might happen if we worked as hard to improve our Christianity as Michael Phelps did to improve his swimming?

That’s exactly what God wants us to do, you know. We aren’t God’s slaves any longer. In Christ, God has adopted us as beloved children; and made us partners in creating the kingdom that God intends for all creation. But our job is still the same one that God originally gave us in the garden – to take care of the world by nurturing and cherishing it and everything that lives in it. If we tried to outdo each other in following Jesus’ example of love, what might we achieve? If each of us took an interest in just one lonely child, a whole generation might grow up experiencing love as an alternative to hate and violence. If each of us bought just a few extra cans of food for others when we shop for ourselves, food pantries would be full of good things to share with hungry families. If all of us practiced prayer as diligently as Olympic athletes practice their sport, we would live our whole lives in touch with God! Yes, our human ambition got us in trouble way back there in the Garden of Eden; but God can transform that drive into something that can be used for the good of the Kingdom.

We will always want to make ourselves better. It’s human nature. If we would only work to follow in the way of Jesus Christ, we could make the whole world better, as well.