Meditation on Genesis 3

The crunch of one bite of a piece of fruit hanging from a tree. I imagine the spray of juice moving out from the bite in slow motion, carrying with it the corruption that the world would endure until it is made new. That one bite, that simple moment that shook the foundations of earth stemmed from the falsely compelling idea that perhaps my thoughts can be like God’s. He must be keeping something from me and if I take this one little step, then I will truly know. I will be as wise as him whom created me and can reign in my own right.

The tool of inception of this idea is the serpent. Today we see it was satan and he has been sharing the same lie with generations. Attempting to keep those in need of grace away from it.

But at the moment of the bit something else happened. As the juice spray fell to the ground a new need was planted. A need for redemption, a need for newness, humanities need for reconciliation and a savior. And there is a hint of how that need will be met. The offspring will crush the serpent’s head. It will take generations but this promise has been fulfilled. The serpent’s head is crushed, and though he flails around attempting to destroy as much as he can before he is incinerated, he has been defeated and the pursuit of the old lie is cast in new light.

We can have a relationship that will be finalized when it once again appears as if the simple bite never took place. Until then, we are messengers of opposition to the lie. We know how the need is met and we can facilitate meeting that need for others around us. It is now our toil and our pain. To see others saved from the temptation of one simple bite.

Not without purpose, Adam does not name Eve until after the fall. It is an image of how we as humanity are cast, actually named, in sin and brokenness. But alas in Christ we have a new name. One only he knows and will share with us. Until then we claim our family name, the one of our adoption. This is so much better than the lie.