Evil enters the story
Tuesday, Aug. 13
Genesis 2:4 – 3:24 Read it here Listen to it here
This account of creation is more personal and intimate than the one we read yesterday. It is also more tragic in the full literary sense of the word – the same intelligence and curiosity that allow the man and woman to be companions for one another and for God also lead them to want to know more, and to suffer for that desire.
The reading begins in paradise. There is a lush garden, watered by a river provided from God himself. Among all of the plants and trees in the garden, two stand out: the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We’ll meet the tree of life again in scripture; it is the very gift of life God has given Adam and Eve.
It’s the other tree, though, that is at the center of today’s story and sets the stage for the rest of the Bible; really, for all of the human story.
As adults we sometimes look enviously at the innocence of children. Children – at least those with the good fortune to be born into a good environment – trust that they will have food, shelter and love. They don’t really understand how good that is, though, since they know nothing else. They haven’t yet learned about evil and all it brings.
But they are born with the curiosity to want to know more, and with the desire to shape their world, not just live in it. They can’t stay children, at least not if they are going to experience all that life has to offer.
Whether Adam and Eve could have resisted the temptation to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what would have happened as a result, are questions we can only speculate on. But they did eat of the tree. Ever since, we have been learning what good and evil are all about; sometimes joyfully, often painfully.
We often skip over one of the significant aspects of today’s reading with slight amusement or even embarrassment. Verse 2:25 reads, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”
It was only after they begin to gain knowledge of evil that they began to perceive threats and feel the need to hide, from one another and from God. We still use clothing to hide who we are and build a picture of who we want to be seen as, out of fear of what would happen if people or God saw us as we really are. (This goes far beyond clothing; we put a lot of effort into building an image to hide behind.)
God didn’t create us to be ruled by shame and fear. As we continue reading the Bible story, watch for the ways that God seeks to free us from shame and fear.

Tuesday meditation

Proverbs 1:8-9
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

Prayer focus
In this world we are surrounded by good and evil. God, give us the discernment to know one from the other, and to always choose good over evil.

-Rev. Mark Fleming