Ash Wednesday services at all Resurrection locations will be held on schedule today.
Scheduled programming has resumed for Thursday, February 13 at all Resurrection locations.
1 The snake was the most intelligent of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from any tree in the garden?”
2 The woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees 3 but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it, or you will die.’”
4 The snake said to the woman, “You won’t die! 5 God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then they both saw clearly and knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made garments for themselves.
8 During that day’s cool evening breeze, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. 9 The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 The man [Or he] replied, “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree, which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”
13 The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?!”
And the woman said, “The snake tricked me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the snake,
“Because you did this,
you are the one cursed
out of all the farm animals,
out of all the wild animals.
On your belly you will crawl,
and dust you will eat
every day of your life.
15 I will put contempt
between you and the woman,
between your offspring and hers.
They will strike your head,
but you will strike at their heels.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pregnancy very painful;
in pain you will bear children.
You will desire your husband,
but he will rule over you.”
17 To the man he said, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’
cursed is the fertile land because of you;
in pain you will eat from it|
every day of your life.
18 Weeds and thistles will grow for you,
even as you eat the field’s plants;
19 by the sweat of your face you will eat bread—
until you return to the fertile land,
since from it you were taken;
you are soil,
to the soil you will return.”
20 The man named his wife Eve [Hebrew sounds like live] because she is the mother of everyone who lives. 21 The Lord God made the man and his wife leather clothes and dressed them. 22 The Lord God said, “The human being [Or man (Hebrew adam)] has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” Now, so he doesn’t stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever, 23 the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to farm the fertile land from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the human. To the east of the garden of Eden, he stationed winged creatures wielding flaming swords to guard the way to the tree of life.
In Genesis 3, the archetypal nature of the story is even clearer. “[Adam and Eve] hear a talking serpent whisper to them all the reasons why they should disobey Yahweh’s command. This is not ancient history. This is your story. It is my story. Which of us has not heard the serpent’s whisper in our ears, beckoning us to do what we know is wrong?” * The vivid image of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” showed that God gave us the freedom and responsibility of making moral choices.
Loving God, remind me to focus on and apply the Bible’s big principles to my life. Let me learn not just fragments, but the Bible’s overall message to empower me to choose your way of life. Amen.
Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as Human Resources Lead Director. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.
* Hamilton, Adam, Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today (pp. 191-192). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
** Theodore Hiebert, study note on Genesis 3:12-13 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 9 OT.
*** Hamilton, Adam, Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today (p. 194). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.