The serpent asked the woman,
"Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?"
This was the voice of the Devil at the beginning and it is still a voice with which we must contend in our lives today. We still face attempts to make us unsure about what God said, and still hear this "Did God really tell you" repeated.
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'"
Hopefully we can remember that the negative commandments of the law are present to preserve a much more expansive freedom, just as the single commandment not to eat from that tree was meant to preserve a vast array of other viable options. When we don't succumb to the idea that morality is a constraint we will become less likely to take offense at it, or even to mistrust it in favor of our emotions. Curious, then, that Eve seemed to add "or even touch it" to the original command given by the Lord. Was she already beginning, just a bit, to succumb to the serpent even by adding this small amount of extra negativity? Would she then feel just a little more oppressed, a little more entitled to indulge? Would she then be a little more open to believing the lies of the enemy?
But the serpent said to the woman:
"You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil."
Now when Eve looked at the tree she saw something good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. Why, she might wonder, would God hold this back from her? Was he, as the serpent suggested, trying to maintain an advantage of domination over his creatures? As these words of the enemy worked on her mind she came to a point where she no longer considered the good things of the garden with reference to the one from whom they were given. She could then think only of how they seemed to her. The very act of taking the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was an act by which she decided to decide for herself apart from God what good and evil would be for her. And in this sense she did become like God. But evil did not suddenly become good because she willed it. Nor could the word of God's command be annulled by wishing it were otherwise.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Although Eve was deceived Adam did not therefore get a free pass. He was sitting at her side, watching the events unfold as they dad, and yet kept his mouth shut. He who was supposed to guard the garden, above all to guard has wife, utterly failed to do so, and completely abdicated his duty. In our analysis it seemed like Eve did better, at least trying to present the word of God in her defense. Adam seemed simply to crumble, to pressure from his wife, through fear of the serpent, but again, like his wife, attempting to decide for himself in what good and evil would consist.
When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden
at the breezy time of the day,
the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden.
The Lord was still so close at hand. Perhaps repentance at this early stage could have saved the entire project. But the hearts of Adam and Eve had already fallen, and the trust the once expressed so readily could now no longer be found. It would not be until Jesus came as the new Adam that this fallen heart of man could be healed, not until a new and more terrible tree would give us a more perfect fruit that we could be renewed in the life that we were always meant to have.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
In one sense we, tainted by sin, are this deaf man. We mean this metaphorically and do not suggest his condition was a result of sin. Rather we know all too well that we are so slow to hear the word of God as to be deaf to it, so slow to speak it as the answer our worlds needs (and so quick to say just about anything else) as to seem to have a speech impediment. We need ears to hear, ears that only Jesus himself can give us. We need freedom to speak, but it is a freedom which only comes from close, intimate contact with Jesus. Let us hear the word to this deaf man as a word that delivers us, one which surmounts every obstacle to penetrate our inner worlds and sets us free.
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")
And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
As he heals us of our hardened hearts, brings us back from death to spiritual life, may we share the astonishment of the crowds, and with them, give thanks.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
"He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."
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