Longing For Eden?
Text: Mark 8:1-9
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
If you open any history book, you will read about countless political, social, and economic revolutions that have happened around the world on every continent and in every century. These political, social, and economic revolutions are ways in which people work to suddenly change governments, cultures, and economies. The revolutions are ‘revolts’ of the people to change things and make things better.
Now, this brings up a very good question, why would a person go through the troubles of a revolution, especially when revolutions can be such difficult times of uncertainty, unrest, loss, and pain? The answer is quite simple. Every generation and all people are trying to get back to the Garden – the Garden of Eden, that is to say.
As we consider the Old Testament reading from Genesis, we are given a glimpse of goodness, tranquility, peace, and comfort. Very briefly, while in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve did not have any suffering and were not in need. There was no war. No disease. No natural disasters. No fear. No guilt. No shame. No death. No inequality. No tyrants. No taxes. And certainly no shortage of food. Again, Adam and Eve had it good – it was perfect. It was paradise. To paraphrase an old band, “The grass was green and Eve was pretty.”
Sure they were called to work and keep the Garden; however, the work in the Garden of Eden was not a punishment or difficult. It was the kind of work that one has joy in doing, the kind of work that you do, which results in something to show but without body aches and pains. Simply stated, there was no distress and no lack in the Garden of Eden.
But that all changed, as you and I know. That which was originally good became cursed. That which was easy became difficult. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin and disobedience in the Garden against God, judgment fell upon Adam and Eve and the entire world. From that point forward, everything in life became more difficult for humanity; for the first time, death was introduced, along with suffering and a curse upon the food supply.
So, ever since that tragic day in the Garden of Eden, mankind has had to wrestle with that curse. The ground that once generously provided an abundance of food to Adam and Eve without backbreaking work, now only produces food through sweat and exhaustion in the fields from dawn to dusk.
Now, immediately after Adam and Eve messed everything up with their sin, we see how this curse worked itself out with their two sons, Cain and Abel. Instead of working in the Garden of Eden without suffering and hardships, we find Cain and Abel overcome by jealousy, hatred, and murder. It is very clear with Cain and Abel that the new normal in this cursed world is “every man for himself.”
And so, this is why things are the way that they are for you and me. Everything that we do, to get ahead in life, comes into direct conflict with that curse. Even when we look around, we can see the effects of the curse - people and nations are continually grinding out food and material goods through tiresome and strenuous work. But because of the curse, there never seems to be enough for everyone. As a result, everyone is in this battle in life where there is a constant fight to get food, drink, land, and homes. And when we are not fighting to get these things, we are constantly comparing our clothing, shoes, and material goods to each other because deep down, we are insecure. We think to ourselves, if we have more than our neighbors, we will outlast our neighbors with the battle against the curse.
And there is more difficult news. Because we know that we are up against the curse in this life, we hoard things in storage units. We protect valuables with vaults and safes. And we insure our property through insurance policies.
Dear friends, it is so evident that we long to be in that Garden of Eden. It is so very clear that we are all doing everything in our power to protect ourselves from suffering, disasters, and death. We so badly want to be in the bliss of Eden.
Now, at the very beginning of the sermon, I briefly mentioned all of the revolutions that have occurred throughout the history of human civilization. While there are many times that revolutions are needed to either change from one way of doing things to another, or to modify how things have been done, what we must realize is that with any revolution there is a temptation to imagine that through a revolution, we can get back to the Garden of Eden.
Let me explain this just a bit more.
As already mentioned, in all of us, there is a great desire to escape the curse. We do not like the suffering, toil, and limitations in this life under the sun. And so, since we cannot spend thousands of dollars to continually vacation in Hawaii and Cancún Mexico Resorts (where we get tiny little glimpses of Eden), well… we then naively imagine that there is a perfect political, economic, and social utopia on the other side of a revolution. Because there is such a great desire to get back to the Garden of Eden in all of us, we create idealized visions of a perfect society in our mind. And then we say,
“If we put certain things into practice and adjust other things, we can obtain a perfect society. We can recreate the Garden of Eden.”Ah, but dear friends, the word utopia itself actually means, ‘no place.’ It means ‘no place’ because utopias do not exist. When imperfect human beings attempt to make perfect societies, we always fail. Just as there is no pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, there is no perfect utopia at the end of a revolution. We are stuck with the curse as long as we shall live in this life under the sun. This is God’s judgment upon the sin of the world.
…
But we heard something profound in our reading from the Gospel of Mark that cannot be overlooked. In our reading, Jesus had compassion on a crowd of 4000 people who had nothing to eat. And instead of dismissing them on their way into this cursed wilderness world to fend for themselves, He freely fed them. In other words, He neither told them to stand and break their back with exhausting work nor did he say, “every man for himself,” but instead He told them to sit on the ground so that they could freely receive. And so, after giving thanks, Jesus fed 4000 individuals. He did not feed them just a little but fed them the kind of meal where food is devoured and crammed into one’s stomach - the kind of meal that makes you pat your belly and smile with contentment knowing that you are satisfied and full. But here’s the catch, even though these 4,000 people were full, there were still seven baskets of food leftover.
Baptized Saints, yes indeed, we live in a cursed world because of humanity’s sin in Adam and Eve. However, into this cursed world, Jesus came. And He did not come to condemn this world – to double down on the curse – but instead, He came to restore the Paradise of Eden and feed us freely.
In the reading from the Gospel of Mark, we see Jesus renewing the abundant bounty of Eden – freely giving an abundance of bread to the 4,000 people. The reason why this happens with Jesus is that, in Christ, the curse upon Adam and Eve - all of humanity - finds its end.
Baptized Saints, do you realize that in Christ and His second coming, the curse will be completely undone? Do you realize that in Christ, Paradise will be restored to you? Jesus Christ has endured the burden of the curse and was raised on the third day to bring you back to Paradise and Paradise back to you.
So what this means is that in Jesus, you receive the comfort of the Garden of Eden. In Jesus’ new heaven and earth, there will be no more war, no more disease, no more disasters, no more fear, no more guilt, no more shame, no more death, no more tyrants, no more inequality, no more taxes, and no more shortage of daily bread! Just as Adam and Eve had it good in the beginning, it will be good for you and me as well in the end with Christ.
As you wait for Christ’s glorious return to bring you back to Paradise, you do not need to hang yourself on empty utopic dreams that find their end in disappointment and not Christ. You do not need to fear the curse, for it has its end in Christ. You do not have to long to get back to Eden, for Jesus now gives you a foretaste of Paradise by giving you His unlimited and unearned gifts of His Word and Sacrament.
Baptized Saints, with Christ’s grace, there is no sweat off your brow, no suffering, and toil with your hands, but instead you are called to sit in the pew and kneel at the altar to receive grace upon grace for the complete forgiveness of sins. Grace without work on your behalf.
And when you find yourself ensnared in sin again this next week, come again and again and again to Christ’s church where there is more grace in Christ than there is sin in you – there is grace upon grace for you, no limits and no competition to receive. Christ is the end of the curse and the end of your sin. He restores Paradise to you because He cares for you.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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