Trinity Lutheran Church

        And the cookies were warm, and moist, and had a fragrance that filled the air…

         I grew up with the same reading of this tale that most of us did. The basic reading.  God made Adam and Eve a garden…everything in the garden was theirs, and they could eat of all of the trees…except for one. Touch that, you die.

         But the snake, the devil, tempted and tricked the woman. “You won’t die,” he said. “You’ll be smart! You’ll be like God!”

         And the fruit did look delicious…and so the woman took it, and ate, and then gave it to the man—tricked him perhaps? Who ate it as well.

         And all of a sudden they realized they weren’t wearing any clothes. And God found them, and punished them, and sent them away forever.

         That’s the basic reading, surface reading. Genesis 3, “1.01.”

        And every day, the fragrant, warm, moist plate of cookies was placed on the kitchen counter, alongside other cookies…which looked and smelled quite good as well. And mom gave the children the same command.  The command she gave every day before heading off to work. “These cookies over here are yours—you eat them. But these cookies here you don’t touch. They belong to your father. They’re not for you.”

         But there’s much more to this Genesis story than initially meets the eye. And, as is true with the creation portion of Genesis, we often get so caught up in the concern over whether it is historical, that we miss the point. We miss the fact that this story, which is doubtless inspired and God-given, illuminates the human condition like no other story. It is story, given to us by God, that we are called to learn from.

         So first…let’s look at the questions it raises.

         The snake—what was he about? Shrewd. Crafty. Translations of the bible use words like, subtle, sly, sneaky…the original Hebrew word actually is a pun on nakedness—some humor working there! He is transparent, if you will, naked in his intent. He seems to be a critter that has spent some time in this forbidden tree.

         But notice what he’s not. He’s not Satan. That’s a modern addition to the tale that simply isn’t there. He’s just a slithering, lying reptile.

         Or is he?

         The woman says, “God says don’t eat of this fruit, or you’ll die.” Actually she says, God says, “Touch it and you’ll die.”

         But the snake says, “No…you won’t die. You’ll be like God. You’ll know good and evil. You’ll be wise.”

         Did they die? No. Not for years and years! And while we can’t know what God’s intention was when he made Adam and Eve, there’s no promise of eternal life in the garden at creation. No mention of it whatsoever.

         The snake promised knowledge…the snake said, “You won’t die.” And when the world’s first bare naked lady tasted the fruit, she saw he was right.

         And what about the man? He was tricked, right? No, he doesn’t deny that he knew what the fruit was. And he certainly made or let Eve go first. He looks like a little kid about to do something bad, saying to his friend, “I’ll do it if you do it.”

         I don’t know about you…but in the midst of the evil deeds of childhood, I always had more respect for leaders than followers.

         And day after day the cookies were placed side by side on the counter. Day after day the children took from their own plate and left the cookies made for father alone. But day after day those cookies, father’s cookies, looked and smelled better and better. And the cookies made for them…more ordinary.

         And the children began talking about the forbidden cookies. What were they like? How did they taste? These cookies mom makes us are getting so boring! And she makes dad so many…he never eats them all…no one would ever notice…maybe if we just split one. No one’s around; no one would see…

         And the day came when father returned home only to find crumbs on his cookie plate.

         What about God in the story?

         He finds Adam and Eve wrapped in fig. And he knows. But is that really all there is to it?

         What parent doesn’t know what his children will do? What parent leaves a child alone with something that they are not supposed to have? What parent is surprised when the power of curiosity and the promise of experience takes a child down a forbidden path, especially when the parent has placed the path before them while simultaneously saying, “Don’t go this way.”  

         Come on. Is God a fool?

         The truth is, when you read this story honestly, you can only come up with two possible conclusions. God was foolish, or, God knew the kids would eventually get in the cookie jar.

         And thus begins the really interesting conversation.

         Genesis 3 is about many things, including finding your own way, growing up, separation, and the importance of the journey of life.

         Oh yeah. And it is about sin.

         Adam and Eve are kids…children really. Placed in a perfect world without the faculties to recognize perfection. They are unable to appreciate what they have. And like all children they long to grow up, leave father behind, and go on their own.

         The snake—which Freud, of course, had a field day with—is a symbol of the desire to break away from dad. The conversation with Eve brings a desire that’s already there to the surface, a very human desire placed there by a God who created us to question and wonder and search.

         But as we all discover as children growing up, growing up means our parents can’t protect us from everything anymore—especially from ourselves. We make decisions, often the wrong decisions, and then have to live with the consequences. And while God does punish Adam and Eve, most of the punishment is brought upon ourselves.

        The truth is, just as we as children hit a time when we want to break from mom and dad, humanity wanted to, and perhaps in a sense needed to, break away from God.

         We needed to grow up. We disobeyed, just as (I think) God knew we would.

         And humanity was given its own path to walk, and the rest is history.

         Why would God let us, or make us in a way where we would sin? It’s one of the great questions of all time and the answer is a difficult one. No one really knows it for sure, save God. But it’s obvious that, despite the perfection of the Garden of Eden something was perhaps not quite so perfect. Perhaps God left the cookie jar open because the truth is, you can’t appreciate the good fully, until you have seen the bad. Until we see through our own actions what the consequence is of not obeying God, it’s hard to obey God, and embrace God, with complete honesty.

         Without making mistakes, without sin—you can’t grow up.

         You just can’t.

         Sin opens a door…a door where we can see our own shortcomings and failure, but also where we can recognize God’s gift of grace. A grace that proclaims we are loved…for who we are…warts and all…even if we don’t always listen…even though we are not perfect.

         The story of the fall explains that there is a flaw in our nature. A flaw that separates us from God. Mom and Dad ate the fruit first…but of course we all climb into the tree and snatch the fruit for ourselves, we all walk away from Father. And as is the nature of sin, the same flaw that separates us from God causes breaks between us—“No! This woman! This woman YOU gave me, She gave me the fruit!”

        “No, father! This snake, this snake that YOU put here deceived me! He made me eat!”

         And clinging to our selfish desires we find ourselves in a world separated…often denying our own guilt, as well as the truth that all are brothers and sisters.

         But the story shows us, as well, the way back. Simply, to no longer point the finger at others, to love and obey God, and to allow God to simply love us. To shower us with the gift of grace. A gift revealed in many places, and at baptism…usually at a time when our actions cannot return the love that is being poured out for us.

         For that is how good fathers…and mothers…love their children.

         And though children need the journey…that is how the good father also welcomes us home.

         This is the story of the beginning. Your beginning; my beginning; our beginning. It sets us on a journey, a journey marred by sin, but a journey where we are continually saved by grace. May the end of the journey find us close to our father, and bring a day when we realize that the separation we see around us must cease, and will cease, on the day when through grace, we sin no more.