"4 Statements of Eve" "Hopeless or Hopeful?" Genesis 3:2-3, 3:13, 4:1, 4:25; Matthew 2:13-18; Galatians 4:4-5 Jesus said in John's Gospel that he

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Chrystal Greene
5 years ago
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1 "4 Statements of Eve" "Hopeless or Hopeful?" Genesis 3:2-3, 3:13, 4:1, 4:25; Matthew 2:13-18; Galatians 4:4-5 Jesus said in John's Gospel that he came that we might have life, and have life abundantly. That is an incredible statement to make, is it not. We were created by God to have life, to have life that we might worship God, glorify God, and enjoy him forever. This all is true even though death came as a result of the Fall. It all came crashing down, seemingly, with Adam and Eve. However, in God's universe, death does not have the final say we must never forget. Life in Christ does. Let me say by way of opening, that God seems to keep making lemonade out of lemons, rectifying the follies of mankind, which of course he knew would be the consequence of giving us a certain sense of choice and free will. In case you are wondering about my paring up our Gospel lesson with our OT lesson, it is because Eve was the first woman to have suffered the loss of a child, a son, though an adult son. As I was giving this some initial thought to the loss of a child it occurred to me that I have heard over the years various statements regarding the death of a child at one stage or age of life or another. Only in recent years has there been greater attention in our culture to the loss a mother experiences at the loss of a pre-born child or an adult child. This past Monday it occurred to me that it is a blessing that we seem to be moving away from the view that, in one sense, no particular age or stage of life is more or less difficult to deal with than any other. I think many would agree that, for some people, the loss of an adult son or daughter is no less grievous than in terms of a young or pre-born child. Our Gospel lesson reveals, with the greatest brevity, the trauma experienced by Rachel (metaphorically speaking of course). Rachel represents all mothers who suffer from such loss. The grief expressed here surely was of the kind that Eve experienced, though Genesis barely gives us a clue as to the nature and level of it. The long and short of all this is that Eve is perhaps more of a positive example for us than usually understood, more than she is usually given credit for (at least historically speaking). Today's sermon is the first of a two-part series that take a close look at Eve and what her words memorialized in Scripture may have to say to us. If you were here last week you will remember that I offered a few words of response to a question asked of me from time to time, namely, "How do you select the Scriptures or topics on which to preach?" My answer, more or less, is that I generally follow the Common Revised Lectionary. However, I am free to deviate from that whenever I sense the Holy Spirit is leading elsewhere, or, in a general sense, when I simply sense the need to. But there is occasionally another factor involved, of which today's sermon is an example. I need to note here that my preferred professional magazine is "Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity". In the latest edition I found not only a delightful but compelling article that features a look at the 4 statements made by Eve. The article's author, Judith Anderson, takes a close look at the very words of Eve. What she brought to light were things about Eve I know I've never considered before. By the time I

2 finished the article I knew Eve's words were worthy of special consideration and the subject matter for a sermon. It seems to me that, historically and theologically speaking, there has been a lot of ink spilled on the failures and sins of Eve, not the least of which focus on and emphasize her disobedience, her playing the infamous blame game, her purported desire to deflect responsibility and culpability, her causing her husband to sin, and all the rest. But Judith Anderson's look at the words of Eve suggests there is a whole lot more to consider. My sermon is not a re-enactment of Anderson's article, however. But what I did was take some key points that she rightly made and went from there. Thus, in one sense, I simply used Anderson's article in much the same manner as I do my commentaries, as a resource. Thus, I owe a debt of gratitude to her. The article is titled simply "Listening to Eve". Now isn't that an interesting thought - listen to Eve herself rather than merely rely on what others have had to say about her. The first recorded words of Eve are a response to the serpent's clever but devious, "Did God REALLY say, 'You must not eat from ANY tree in the garden?" [emphasis added]: The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" (Genesis 3:2-3, NIV) A unique, and very helpful, way of understanding the words of Eve is by the simple use of the concept of "confession", not as in confession of sin but in confessing what one believes to be true or simply needs to be said. In fact, in the present passages we are thinking in terms of confession that honors God. Eve's first recorded words reveal her confession of God's provision and generosity. Eve's words confess to God's great and generous provision. What is often overlooked is that while Satan seeks to focus Eve's attention on the single forbidden tree, Eve's words reveal that other than that one tree, everything else was "on the table", so to speak. All the other trees were there for their use and enjoyment. God is not stingy, but generous in his provision. How often do human beings complain that they do not have this or that because they have forgotten to think about and be grateful for what they do have? Let us be grateful in our hearts for the abundance of what we have. Even in a lean year, most of us have far more than many folks in other parts of the world. Let us express our thanks to God. Eve's words also reveal what I call a "confession of limitation, a confession of proscription." This one is critical whether for one's own life or for the child or children a mother is raising. It is essential to not miss the point that God indeed set down one limitation, one thing and only one thing that was proscribed, forbidden. One of the things that I've witnessed this past year is how Alicia tells Cora that there are some things she may not touch. Understandably, this includes the electric fence wires that encircle our garden. In case you might wonder, the fence charger may be turned off with the simple flip of a switch whenever Cora is in the yard. But the over all point is that mothers and fathers cannot raise a child without teaching their children that some things are off limits. Some things are strictly forbidden. There are things that may injure or hurt our

3 children or others. There are things that simply are not ours to have - for example the commandment, "Thou shall not steal." God was not being stingy in proscribing that one tree but setting out what real life is all about. This of course unavoidably lends itself to the next part of Eve's statement, which I refer to as her "confession of consequences." "...you must not touch it, or you will die." It is sad, in one sense, that we don't have stories involving Eve raising her children. I cannot but believe that she taught them about consequences. It is interesting that the setting of the present verse is prior to her disobedience and the receiving of consequences. She has not yet eaten the forbidden fruit. From her own lips she utters the truth that disobedience has consequences. It is obvious that not every instance of disobedience leads to death, but the point is unavoidable and still made - there will be consequences. Like all parents have to do at some point, Alicia has warned Cora to not touch hot things such as the stove. It would be interesting to know the percentage of children that learn this lesson the easy way versus the hard way. From the time we are born till the day of our death we repeatedly have to be reminded of or suffer the consequences of disobedience. It is as interesting as it is ironic that the very confession of this truth didn't keep Eve from being disobedient and receiving those harsh consequences. Seemingly not understanding the implications of what she said, Eve nonetheless takes some of the forbidden fruit and then shares some with Adam. In response, "...the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" to which Eve replies, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." (Genesis 3:13, NIV) I have to confess that I have preached on this passage before, but I also have to confess that I have followed a line of thinking that is ages old and which may not be all that fair to Eve. What I mean is that this passage is often used as an illustration of "the blame game", the game whereby a person seeks to deflect responsibility and culpability by putting the blame somewhere else or on someone else. In my sermon some years back I used the illustration of Flip Wilson's drag character, Jeraldine, with Flip's famous falsettovoice proclaiming, "The Devil made me do it." The point is to deflect one's personal responsibility for the crime committed. If I may put Eve's words in Wilson-speak it is, "It's not my fault. The serpent made me do it!" That would be fine except that Satan did NOT make her do it. Satan tempted her but didn't make her. Eve's words are less about escaping responsibility than noting where a great danger lay. While there is a subtle sense of deflection in her words "the serpent deceived me", that's not exactly the same as saying "the serpent MADE me [do it]". Just because we have been deceived doesn't automatically mean that we were forced to act on the deception. We've all been deceived before but that doesn't mean we were forced to act on the deception. It occurred to me that Eve's words were more a confession about the source of deception - the serpent. This may be important to bear in mind for at least several reasons. At the very least, isn't it true that in raising our children we should be quick to warn them about those people and/or things that are deceptive, things that may be charming but also deadly? What kind of parent would we be, or, for that matter, what kind

4 of a citizen of our church or nation would we be if we didn't bring to the light of day any given source of deception? If this reading of Eve's words is accurate, it appears to be less about blame-shifting and more about giving warning against a great hazard. Eve's words also seem to carry an inference of guilt. It is difficult to read this brief confession and not sense some sense of guilt and regret. It is a widely debated issue whether guilt has any positive role in such matters. Guilt can be terribly destructive. However, at the right time, in the appropriate amount, and for the appropriate period of time it last, guilt can be a helpful, although very difficult, thing. One critical role guilt can play is to help turn our hearts to the source of healing and find a new lease on life. Young people are more ready to believe your own life lessons and admonitions when they know you learned something the hard way yourself. And related to this sense of guilt is the apparent confession of acceptance of responsibility. "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Lest we miss it from the text, Eve did not follow these words with finger pointing at Adam. It is interesting to note that Adam was closer to finger-pointing and playing the blame-game than Eve. In response to the LORD's question to Adam "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?", Adam replies, "The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate." It is telling that Adam places the blame, in the first position, on God - "...the woman YOU put here with me..." Adam could have done the same as Eve and simply said, "The woman gave me the fruit and I ate." But Adam took a lower road and placed at least some blame on God. Thus, Eve avoided putting some of the blame on God. Thus, Eve utters a confession of acceptance of responsibility. Isn't that what we want from our children and one another? When we've sinned, or when someone has sinned against us, isn't confession and acceptance of responsibility the thing that can make all the difference? As you might guess by now, we are not going to make it through all of the words of Eve. When I first put together my brief sermon outline, I wondered if I had enough for a full sermon. As it turns out there's enough for two. As a move towards closing this one, I want to restate something I said earlier. "A unique, and very helpful, way of understanding the words of Eve is by the concept of "confession", not as in confession of sin but in confessing what one believes to be true or simply needs to be said. I want us to think in terms of confession that honors God." Was Eve as hopeless as she historically has been portrayed, or is there another valid view by which there seems to be a little hope for her? (a rhetorical question of course) While God is not honored by our sin, on the other hand God is honored when we speak publicly about God's generosity and provision, whether spiritually or in terms of material things. God is honored when we publicly acknowledge the limitations and proscriptions he has set in place for his own purposes and for our good however we are able to understand it or accept it or not. God is honored when we not only acknowledge and respect those boundaries and proscriptions but pass on the knowledge of them to this generation and the next. God is

5 honored when we acknowledge there are and will be consequences. God is honored when we make known the sources of deception that others are thus fore-warned. God is honored in all this because his Son, Jesus, has stepped in to take away whatever initial guilt is rightfully ours and rightly incurred. But guilt should never be the final word. "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5, NIV) Though Eve has traditionally been portrayed more or less as more or less hopeless, I think the former view was not entirely correct and definitely less helpful than is desired. I find a great deal of hope in the words of Eve. Do you? Amen.

3:1a Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that Yahweh Elohim had made.

Genesis 3 The Fall 3:1a Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that Yahweh Elohim had made. The Devil is God s Devil. Dr. Martin Luther 3:1b He said to the woman, Did Elohim