You
will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground,
for
you were taken out of it.
For
you are dust,
and
you shall return to dust.”
Yahweh
God made garments of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
Genesis 3:19, 21
We
are reminded of this passage in today’s liturgy, which marks the beginning of
the holiest season in Christianity, as a cross of ashes is traced on our
foreheads.
This
is part of God’s curse of Adam and Eve after they ate from the Tree at the
center of the Garden against His instructions.
It is perhaps the most critical moment in all of Scripture, but not for
the reason we usually assume.
I
explore all the momentous implications of this passage in my book, Faith on a Stone Foundation: Free Will, Morality
and the God of Abraham. But for
purposes of this post, I will limit myself to one obtuse observation:
Adam
and Eve hide from God after they eat from the Tree. They expressly did not do this because they
feared God’s wrath, but rather because they realized they were naked for the
first time. As today’s passage closes,
God works to cover their nakedness. God
does not impose punishment, but rather points out that something about the decision
they just made will inevitably make life harder than it needs to be. Then He sets to work making clothing, starting
the process of picking up the pieces.
Image: El Rio de Luz by Edwin Church, courtesy the U.S. National Gallery of Art
