Lent 2025 Day 4: Sat 8 Mar
Genesis 3:6-13
6 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. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’
10 He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’
11 And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’
12 The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’
The woman said, ‘The snake deceived me, and I ate.’
Nakedness is the natural state of humanity. We are born naked, and we are given clothes by others before we understand our need for them. Clothes protect us from the weather, from the world around us, and from unwanted attention. In a world with seasons and plants, but no shame or untowardness, we would still need clothes for practical reasons, but there would be no shame.
This is what is telling in Adam’s action and response: he has shame. The nakedness has gone from a symbol of innocence to a symbol of shame as a result of what has happened. By becoming law to themselves, the pair has found their bodies can be tools of all sorts of wrongs, because they have severed their link to the source of their own being in the misguided search for something else.
What is also telling, is that Adam does not take responsibility (nor does Eve, who stays quiet) for what has happened. Instead, he chooses to blame someone else, not even his partner in crime, but God, who had the audacity of giving him a companion!
I think it is quite obvious, given the overall themes of Scripture, that had Adam been honest and repentant, God would have forgiven this transgression, after all a God who is not open to forgiveness would not spend the rest of history trying to heal this first human wound.
Father, you have redeemed the tears of Eve through your Son born of Mary. Give us wisdom to call on you on the first dawn of our sin, that we may not harden our hearts to your mercy.
18:08 Blute nur (Arie)
8. Aria S (Chorus II)
Bleed out, you loving heart!
Alas! A child that you raised,
that nursed at your breast,
threatens to murder its caretaker,
since it has become a serpent.
9a. Evangelist But on the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and said to him:
Ends at 23:03
Paul