Brief synopsis of the readings: We begin in Genesis with the man and woman that God created. They found themselves in a garden in Eden where they were surrounded by trees that were beautiful and bore delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The serpent asked the woman about this tree and the woman told the serpent God commanded that they must not eat or even touch the fruit of that tree because they will die. But the serpent told her she wouldn’t die and indeed “your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.” She ate the fruit and shared with with the man. “Then they eyes of both were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.” Matthew’s Gospel describes the events just before the Gospels from the past few weeks. Here Jesus was led by the Spirit “into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” After fasting for 40 days “the tempter” suggested that he command the stones to become loaves of bread but Jesus declined. He then took Jesus to the high wall of the Temple and suggested he throw himself down knowing the angels would rescue him. Finally the tempter told him that if he (Jesus) worshiped him, Jesus would be given all the kingdoms of the world. But Jesus told him to go away and the angels came and ministered to him.

Can I begin by saying something controversial? In our first reading the serpent was right. When they ate the “forbidden fruit” the man and woman didn’t die, their eyes were opened and they recognized they were naked. So many of us were told as children that Adam and Eve ruined it for the rest of us and it took Jesus’ coming to fix everything. It was even hinted that the Gospel shows us that Jesus withstood the temptation that Adam and Eve succumbed to.

So what’s the problem with this? It may not be a bad story to tell children, particularly if the focus of most things is obedience. But I think if we still have that belief as adults we’re not looking deep enough. If the purpose of the incarnation, if the reason for Jesus’ life among us, is simply to fix the choice made in the Garden of Eden, I think that’s unsatisfying. Any parent will tell you that if you line up 10 cookies for a child and tell him that he can eat any (or all) of the first 9 but not the 10th you’re really setting him up. The 10th cookie only looks tempting because it’s forbidden. Did God really put this one tree in the middle of the Garden in the hopes that the man and woman would not eat that fruit? Did God guess wrong about us?

Obviously not. We believe that since God is timeless, he knows ahead of time what will happen and nothing surprises him. Genesis begins with the formation of the world, and then the creation of creatures, culminating with the first humans. But before eating this fruit they were no different from the rest of the creatures who ate, mated and raised their young according to instinct without no awareness of themselves or God. God created all of them and proclaimed them good but when he created man and woman perhaps he had bigger plans.

By placing the fruit in the garden for the man and woman to eat, God gave them (and us) a tremendous gift. Because of this gift we are able to love God and each other. As I spoke about last week we are invited into the participate in the gift of creating life and we are aware of it. We are also able to choose between good and evil and that fact tells us not only how much God loves us, but also how much God trusts us.

Sometimes we think of temptation as a bad thing, something to avoid. But we can be tempted toward the good also. In the Gospel the tempter promised Jesus dominion over “all the kingdoms of the world” and Jesus refused this because he was also tempted with the salvation of the world and that’s what he chose. Perhaps instead of thinking of our lives as a series to temptations to avoid we can think of our lives as a series of discernments and choices and we have the ability to choose well. We can be tempted toward evil but we can also be tempted toward good.

Everyone who is given power or authority over others has the ability to desire more and more of it. But we hold a special reverence for those who choose to return that power. Think of George Washington and Nelson Mandela. Given their level of popularity and adulation when they led their respective nations we find inspiration in their discernments to “pass the baton” and move on. They moved out of the spotlight and went home.

Today begins our Lenten journey that will take us to Easter. For many it’s been a time to give up something we enjoy or pay closer attention to those things that tempt us. But Lent can also be a time to recognize anew that God loves us so much he gave us an awareness of his presence and the ability to choose between good and evil. I remember reading about someone who pledged to pick up one piece of litter every day as a meditation of God’s command to care for the earth. Another promised to end every conversation with some word of encouragement (“good to see you” or “praying for you” or something like that) as a recognition that even that can brighten someone’s day.

God knew that the fruit could lead us to choose evil and in our history we’ve seen countless examples of this. But if the arc of history bends toward justice it also bends toward good, toward love and toward faithfulness in God and each other.

And to think it all began with a piece of fruit in the middle of a garden.