The First Sunday of Lent A, February 26, 2023
The First Sunday of Lent A, February 26, 2023
Death stalks the garden. God’s Word and the serpent’s word directly confront one another. God has promised Adam sure death if the forbidden fruit is eaten (Ge. 2:17). The serpent contradicts God’s Word with a word of his own, “You will not surely die.” The contention between these two words… one from God and the other from the serpent… in the contention between them, Adam and Eve—the original sinners—came to be sequestered from the Tree of Life… expelled from the Garden of Eden… consigned to a mortal existence. The serpent was proven a liar (they did, indeed, die) while God’s Word was proven true.
The contention between these two words plays out in the days of your life, too. God’s Word brings that ancient curse—“You shall surely die”—directly to bear upon you every time you choose… thinking that your mortality is overcome by your choosing the good. However, you are bound in your choosing: you cannot help but choose badly. God’s death sentence rings constantly in your ears. It is an unwelcome word for it holds before you your mortality. The serpent’s word… Satan’s word… “You shall not surely die,” is a more comfortable word… a word that you in your sin prefer to have in your ears.
Many times, in Scripture the people are commanded to choose. They are commanded to choose life (Dt. 30:19). They are commanded to choose the god they will worship (Jos. 24:15). Like Luther would tell Erasmus regarding the commandments: just because they were commanded, doesn’t mean obedience is possible. So, too, are these commands to choose from. Even though the choice is commanded, it doesn’t mean the people can choose well. This means you… in your bondage to sin, you cannot choose well. Your choices condemn you. Only the God who chooses you remains (Ex. 20:2). He is your faithful God even as the serpent’s word sounds in your ears. Jesus is the Word your God speaks. Listen to him! (Mk. 9:7)
Table Talk: Discuss why the serpent’s word sounds sweeter than God’s Word.
Pray: Heavenly Father, give me a preacher who speaks your Word, Jesus Christ, into my ears and pushes out the serpent’s word. Amen
Genesis 3:1-21 English Standard Version
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.