Voices of Brokenness

The Story of the Fall

I initially assumed that everyone had heard this story before, or could at least recognize the story that this comes from. But as I thought about it, I can’t really remember the last time that I’ve heard this read in church or come across it in a devotional book. So I’d like to set the scene quick and give us a refresher.

God creates the world and everything in it. Plants, animals, sun, moon, starts, oceans, land, etc. It’s all great. He creates Adam and Eve, everything continues to be all great. He gives them one rule, don’t eat from a particular tree, everything continues to be all great.

The serpent comes into the picture, starts to whisper in Eve’s ear about how much better things would be if she ate from the tree. Adam doesn’t do anything to step in as she gives in, everything is instantly less great. As God walks through the garden, Adam and Eve try to hide from Him, everything continues to be less great. God convicts the serpent, Adam, and Eve and things are no longer great at all. And that’s where we join in with our reading for today. What I want to do now is to think a little bit about what each of four entities involved in this situation might feel and say about the situation.

Eve’s Take

First we have Eve, and God says this to Eve. He says “I will make childbearing a painful experience for you and your relationship with your husband won’t be what it should be.” God tells Eve that her relationships with her children and the people she loves are irreparably broken.

I imagine that Eve might’ve thought about saying something in response.

Maybe she wanted to say, “is it really that bad? It was just a one time thing.” To which God might reply, “I gave you one rule and you broke it, and encouraged Adam to follow suit. So the relationship between man and women is going to always have to deal with the consequences of that reality.”

Maybe she wanted to say, “it wasn’t really my fault because the serpent made me do it.” To which God might reply, “your children and their children will inherit that same weakness, that same desire to put themselves in my place, to rebel against my rules, to fail to resist temptation when it comes your way.”

Maybe she wanted to say, “can you really blame me? I was just tricked, I didn’t really know what was going on. You can’t make all of the relationships I have in this world hurt because of it.” To which God might reply, “you knew the rule, you knew that was the one tree you should’ve avoided, and you chose to eat from it anyway. Nothing can dismiss that fact of the matter. Your punishment stands.”

And so our relationships with each other are marked by those same sins. Our friendships, our families, our loved ones are all broken because of sins we commit against each other and sins we encourage each other to commit.

Adam’s Take

Next we have Adam, and God says this to Adam. He says “you will have to work for everything you get in life, nothing will come without its struggles, and you will ultimately die for this sin.”

Because in this story, Adam reveals part of his character. He was unable to step in and stop Eve from giving in to temptation. Whether he was too lazy or too cowardly or too weak - Adam did not step in to lead Eve in the right way to do things. Then he follows her lead, he gives in to the temptation that now comes from her. And from Adam’s perspective, this might seem really unfair. From his point of view, it’s not his fault that Eve gave in to temptation. And then it’s ultimately her fault for leading him in the same direction. His ego, his sense of self-righteousness maybe starts to speak up, to dismiss his responsibility to take care of and protect eve, to dismiss his responsibility to avoid temptation no matter where it comes from. But the reality is, he failed. He failed to take care of Eve and he failed to resist the temptation of the tree he shouldn’t be eating from. So God punishes him, he was too weak or too cowardly or too lazy to fight before, and now he will have to fight for everything.

And so our reality is marked by those same consequences. We have to struggle and work to survive and exist, our lives never seem to be free of struggle and temptation and pain, and each of us will eventually die.

Creation’s New Reality

And next, we have the perspective of creation itself, I know maybe you were expecting the serpent’s perspective but I don’t really want to try and put myself or any of you into the mind or perspective of Satan. God declares that “the ground itself is cursed and will produce nothing but trouble for man.”

And it reminds me of a car wreck that Chris and I witnessed a few years ago. We were walking on the sidewalk around the block we lived on. But this wasn’t a rectangular block, it curved outward pretty aggressively. So we were walking along and suddenly this ugly purple car jumps up on the curb, because despite the dozen yellow signs with arrows on them pointing out the curve to the left, apparently the driver thought that was a great place to try and turn right. And her tire popped, well exploded might be a better word, when it hit the curb. But that didn’t stop her, no sir. She continued to drive. And as we walked by the spot where she had gone up the curb, you could see the exact spot that tire tracks turned into a harsh trench from the rim of the wheel itself. Following it down the road, there was a serious burn mark in the asphalt tracing where her car had driven. Around the right turn about 100 ft later, her car had stopped working entirely. And to this day my next interaction still boggles my mind, I lean down to ask if she’s alright and she straight-faced asked me “is my car messed up?” Now, I was able to swallow my mental reaction that was something to the effect of “are you kidding me, you just shredded sparks for the length of a football field while your car was screaming like a banshee because you tried to turn right into a place that has never had a road - and you didn’t even get out and check on your vehicle?” Instead, I paused, I looked approvingly at the vehicle and said “yeah, it looks pretty messed up to me.”

So we hear this story of Adam and Eve’s fall, and maybe that’s a little bit like jumping the curb. It was just one little rule they broke right? How much damage could it really do? But Adam and Eve were part of a perfect, interconnected system, and one break in the system will impact the rest. That curb hopping busted the tire, which damaged the rim, which almost certainly ruined her axle and anything else attached to it. Adam and Eve’s sin busted their relationship, and the curse didn’t just impact them. So when we see fires, earthquakes, disease, and other natural disasters, it’s all coming from this initial breaking of God’s perfect creation.

God’s Promise

So that’s what we get from this text. Our relationships are broken, our lives are doomed to pain and death, and the entire world is suffering from the same thing. But even in this Fall, God does not abandon Eve, He does not abandon Adam, He does not abandon creation, and He does not abandon us. Even here, even in the story of the Fall, even as God is explaining the punishment for sin, He promises that He won’t leave it that way. In verse 15 He promises to put enmity between Satan and humanity, to bruise his head. He is promising that a Son of Eve will eventually fix this problem. And He followed through on that promise. He sent Jesus, the Son of Man, to bruise the head of the devil, to conquer sin and death and the brokenness of our relationships, of our lives, and of His creation. Christ came and He took all of that brokenness, all of those consequences with Him to the cross. He declared “it is finished.” This promise in Genesis 3 is finished on the cross. And we look forward to the day that Jesus comes again, to finish His work and put an end to death, to struggle, to brokenness, to pain forever. So the prayer on our lips when we face the brokenness of the world is this - come quickly Lord Jesus. Amen.