Slices
Prepare
Reflect: ‘Every action that we take exacts a cost and produces consequences. Nothing can be undone.’*
*Kilroy J Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls, Booklocker.com Inc, 2015
Bible passage
14 So the Lord God said to the snake, ‘Because you have done this,
‘Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.’
16 To the woman he said,
‘I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labour you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.’
17 To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,”
‘Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.’
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for ever.’ 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Explore
Sin’s entrance wrecked the order characterising Genesis 1 and 2, setting in motion a principle of brokenness that would for ever affect every person and every part of creation. Cracks would emerge in three key areas. First, instead of unbroken fellowship with God, humanity would be embroiled in a painful battle with evil (v 15). Secondly, harmony between men and women would turn to hostility (v 16). Thirdly, the earth would be resistant to human toil, only reluctantly fruitful, while ‘groaning’ under the burden of humanity’s exploitation (vs 17–19; Romans 8:20–22).
Although often viewed as the story’s ‘punishment’ element – an angry judge pronouncing sentence on wrongdoers – there is another way to interpret today’s passage. When we disregard the manufacturer’s instructions for using an appliance, it may break, malfunction or cause injury. Similarly, deviating from God’s design has adverse consequences for his creation. God’s pronouncements (vs 16–19) need not be interpreted as punishments imposed but, rather, as predictions about how the inevitable consequences of sin would play out over time. In relation to marriage, for example, ‘Genesis 3:16 is not God’s prescription for a new order, but description of the disorder that reigns when sin is allowed the upper hand. God isn’t pronouncing a punishment; he’s simply predicting that a hostile power struggle will undermine a once harmonious partnership.’**
**Tanya Ferdinandusz, Marriage Matters, Back to the Bible, 2018, p129
Respond
Place your hope in Jesus, who ‘entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right …’ (Romans 8:3, The Message).
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 7,8; Psalms 1,2
Pray for Scripture Union
In just over a week’s time we will be running the first of three gatherings for our holiday and mission leaders. Please pray for those who come that they will be excited and inspired to share the good news with children and young people in the coming year.
