Back to Eden
by Pei Zuan Tam
Good morning. Today I would like to begin with imagining a different Eden story. Bear with me.
Eve took of the fruit form the tree God told them not to, and she ate it. She also took some to her husband, but he replied, “God said ‘from all the trees of the garden you are most welcome to eat. But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you must not eat.’”
This thought exercise will proceed just the same even if we switch the roles of Adam and Eve. It is not about men vs. women.
The goal here is to explore the thoughts I found intriguing: right before Adam also chose to taste the fruit of disobedience, he was the only person left to have led a life of complete obedience. What would this Adam do if he continued to refuse the fruit? Would he question/criticize/ridicule Eve? Would he divorce Eve and chase her away, and if so where would he find another wife since there were no other women around? Would he lie for Eve before God so he could attempt to keep her? Would he simply pretend nothing had happened to keep the status quo? The possibilities are many, if not endless.
Scripture and lesson
Fortunately the Bible already tackled this topic.
“At dawn he (Jesus) appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.””
In John’s story, a woman was caught in adultery. All the Adams were bringing charges against her, perfectly reminiscent of the first Adam who brought the first charge in the Bible against another human being:
“The man (Adam) said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”” Genesis 3:12 NASB
There was however another Adam who had not sinned and was in the position to throw a stone: Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:45). All the old Adams cared only to be right in their ideologies, and in doing so felt justified to trample on another human being. The new Adam cared to do right in his submissiveness to God, and his love and duty to another human being, and by doing so restored the dignity of the woman.
Back to our alternate story of Eden, what would an obedient and sinless Adam do to Eve? I think we have a very confident guess by now:
He would not condone Eve’s act, but he would in his actions and words restore Eve.
He would comfort a shaken Eve.
He would do all he could to let Eve know that she is loved.
He would endure the jeering of Eve, but he would not chase after the vanity of being right.
He would lay down his life and be at peace with it (Hebrews 12:2-3) if that was what it took to free Eve from the shame and agony of her own making.
To me, the thought of what Adam should have been is such a powerful image that convicts me. So many scriptural “instructions” simply fall into the right perspective with this image in mind, scriptures such as:
Do not judge, or you will be judged
Matthew 7:1 NIVBut someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
James 2:18 NIVLove is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 NIVBear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13 NIVHe has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micha 6:8 NIVLive in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Romans 12:16 NIVBe completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Philippians 2:3 NIV
And the list goes on. In fact, one can simply copy-paste the entire bible here and finds that it all points to what Adam should have been. Those who believed and are baptized are indeed restored to do what Adam should have done, to be what Adam should have been, because Jesus has shown the way (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).
Challenge today
In these days, it is so easy to vent, and I have been guilty of many such actions. A plethora of social media outlets only makes it easier. The cost of attacking others is low; the immediate gratification of being right in our own ideologies is hugely rewarding. I have come to realize that these actions are but the endless reenactments of the old Adam, who being guilty casted the first stone. But having been reborn into Jesus the new Adam means freedom – freedom to choose honoring God, and freedom to love our fellow brothers and sisters of humankind (Matthew 22:37-40). In this light, the seemingly daunting “rules” in the Old Testament becomes natural, for example:
Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. - Leviticus 19:14 NIV
Who is the “deaf’? Is that not the collective “opposition” that holds to a different ideology than our own, who we happily criticize and ridicule, who we exercise our sense of superiority over? They are the “deaf” since they may or not hear our insults from within our little gossip circles or across the Internet. But the Biblical standard is clear: although someone may not hear it, we still owe them the duty to do them justice and love them in our words.
Prayer/Meditation
As soon as you leave your quiet time today and turn to the news, you will be greeted by a cacophony of voices to stoke and flame your sensibility. You may have been looking for these voices on purpose to pick a fight. With the lesson learned today, how would you prepare yourself so that you will choose to respect the dignity of your “opposition”, who shares the same image of God and carries the same spirit of God as you do? (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:7)
Seek the peace God prepares for us in Eden.