Preparing for Lent: Returning to God

Before Genesis 3– God is creating, naming and blessing. There is abundance and enough.

Genesis 3:1-13

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

This snake is “arun”.Modern English translations translate that Hebrew word as crafty, which for many has a negative connotation. Many biblical scholars would argue that a better translation of this into contemporary language would be something closer to “wise, smart or skilled”.

Did God really say… wonders the snake. His first words put God’s words on trial. If he was really interested in getting clear about what God said, why didn’t the snake just go talk with God himself? No, no. There is something more than information that the snake is after.

Then the deception continues. The snake says, “You’re not going to die. God’s telling you a lie. God knows that when you eat this fruit, your eyes will be opened and you’ll become like God.”

The accusation is so thick here: God is holding out on you, God is keeping something good from you, God cannot be trusted…

But friends, here’s the tragic, ironic reality:

• The snake said that eating this fruit would make them like God. Wait a second, whose image are they made in?
• Eve and Adam are already like God– they are made in God’s own image! The snake tricks them into trying to take for themselves something they already possess.

Then their eyes are opened. Instead of being naked and unashamed like they were in chapter 2, their nakedness now fills them with shame. They take leaves, perhaps from the very tree they just ate from, and they make clothes for themselves.

God shows up for an afternoon stroll. How does God show up?

• God comes with three questions– Where are you? Who told you? What is this you have done?
• God’s questions are about: Absence, Authority, and Agency
• God comes with questions that expose reality and offer a pathway for restoration. Each question is an opportunity for the humans to practice the honesty that leads to repentance and intimacy with their Creator.

Adam and Eve are stuck in their shame: they hide and they blame

As we move into Lent this year, a season for repentance, for some of us, the questions God asked Adam and Eve would be a beautiful starting point for considering how we might practice repentance and create room to be with God on purpose this Lent, for the first time or the 40th time. Where are you? Who told you? What is this you’ve done?

I want to call us to be radically honest with God about what’s not working in our lives, where we are addicted, disengaged, bitter, hoarding, controlling, and taking, so that we can practice genuine repentance that leads to restored intimacy with God. The God who comes looking for us, every day, wondering if we might like to take a walk together.