Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Previous posts in this series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14a, 14b, 15

Genesis 3:6-8

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. 

I was visiting with members of the church and playing with their two-year-old on the floor when her two-year-old cousin arrived.  Amy swiftly swept together all the toys in front of her and bent over to protect them all so that her cousin couldn’t have any.  Of course, it ruined the fun for her – and for me, too.  Something has happened to the human heart since our first parents were conceived in the heart of God.

The word “take” in this text is a common word, but it carries some weight here.  When the tribes of Israel come to Samuel clamoring for a king “like other nations” around them, Samuel provides a stunning warning about kingship that repeatedly uses this word “take”:

11He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots…13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers.16He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. (1 Samuel 8:11-17)

The word is used again when King David betrays God and country with the “taking” of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah.  

“So David sent messengers to get [Hebrew and Greek = take] her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.” (2 Samuel 11:14)

David tried to cover his crime of “taking” by bringing Uriah home from the front assuming he would sleep with his wife and cover the pregnancy.  But Uriah was too honorable and refused the comforts that were not afforded his soldiers (even after David got him drunk).  So David had him killed.

Nathan’s speech when confronting David with his crime was brilliant and brutal.  God gave David everything, but David took.

Queen Jezebel will arrange the murder of Naboth so King Ahab can take his vineyard.  Naboth had dared to refuse to sell his family land to the king who wanted it for a vegetable garden.  

When Adam and Eve reach out to take the fruit of the tree, they seize what God has forbidden.  Such taking defines much of the sorrows of our world.  The taking of land, the taking of life, the taking of goods, the taking of innocence, the taking of dignity, the taking of pleasures at the expense of others.  It stands in profound contrast to this God who gives life and land and dignity and all the bounty of the earth – a Good Shepherd who leads us beside still waters and lays down his life for the sake of the world.

The serpent promised humanity they would be “like God”.  In contrast to human taking, we hear in what appears to be an early Christian hymn that Jesus didn’t reach out to take equality with God.

5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, [Greek = seized or stolen] 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)

Jesus, the truly human one, lives with his hands open. He does not grasp at equality with God.  He does not try to be “like God”.  He dispenses the gifts of God.  He remains faithful, trusting God’s word.  (This is the point of the temptation narratives in Matthew and Luke – and notice how the devil manipulates God’s word!).

In the garden of Gethsemane, in the night of his betrayal, facing the impending brutal torture of the cross, Jesus prays for the cup to pass by him, but nevertheless says “Not my will but yours be done.”

Jesus doesn’t “take”; he gives.  God doesn’t “take”; God gives.  Adam and Eve take.  And humanity follows in their footsteps.  But there are other footsteps for us to follow.

Breath of Life, 
Open Arms,
help us follow your way.

+       +       +

Photo: dkbonde
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
© David K Bonde, 2024, All rights reserved.