Today's Reading: Genesis 3:1-21
Daily Lectionary: Genesis 6:1-7:5; Mark 3:1-19
“I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall crush your head and you shall crush His heel.” (Genesis 3:19)
Happy Lent! In the name of Jesus. Amen. Adam and Eve had eternal life. They had a perfect relationship with God. He was their God. They were His people. They blew it. Completely. Epic fail.
They wanted more. They wanted to be like God. They wanted what God had—all of it. Yes, God said do not eat of that fruit and that we’d die, but we like the preaching of this serpent. He tells us how we can have our best life now and besides, this fruit looks tasty!
They didn’t read the fine print. They became like God—right to the point of knowing good and evil. When the Law had its way with them, they saw which side of the good—evil fence they were on. They were evil.
“Where are you?” asks the Lord as He walks through the garden during the cool of the day. He knows where they are. He knows what they did. But, He wants them to confess their sins. He wants to forgive them, save them.
They’ll have none of that. The man blames God. “That woman, the one yougave me, she gave me the fruit and I ate.” He could have stopped her! He was right there. He did nothing. She points to the serpent. The serpent doesn’t need to point to anyone—he came in the Garden to tempt God’s creation from its creator.
“Dust you are, Adam, and to dust you shall return.” Death comes from the sin of Adam and Eve. Death for you, death for me, death for all the sons of Adam. And if it stopped there, with judgment and death, we’d be lost. Lost in our sins, lost in our wanna-be-like-God, lost in our epic fails.
But, in the midst of His judgment, the Lord makes our Lenten fast happy again! If you blink, you’ll miss it—you’ll miss Him!
There’s the coming One, One to stand between the serpent and God’s creation. One who will crush the serpent, but who will be killed when the serpent strikes Him.
Jesus. He’s the enmity between the Serpent and the Father’s creation. He is the One who crushes all our enemies, but in the midst of the crushing is Himself struck. He dies. The Lord dies for Adam, for Eve, and for all children of Adam. He dies for you.
The Lord turns the epic defeat of the Cross into your victory. He takes on your death, your sin, and your judgment. The devil nips Him, but misses the fine print–the Son of Man is the very Son of God.
He rose. You rose in your Baptism and all your sins, even the most Adam-Eve-epic-fail ones are forgiven. That’s what makes Lent so happy! In the name of Jesus. Amen.