Today we read from another creation story in the Book of Genesis, sometimes erroneously called the “second” creation story. In actuality, it is much older than the story that appears in chapter one of Genesis. While that story places the creation of the human being at the end of a series of creative acts, this story shows us that man was created before all the other creatures, both animal and vegetable, were created. The intent of this story is to accentuate the creation of man and woman and to distinguish them from the other creatures. In other words, all of the rest of creation was brought into being FOR man rather than BEFORE man. God creates a garden for man and woman and invites them to cultivate rather than dominate that garden, to be, as it were, co-creators with God.
This story presents us with a two-fold lesson. First of all, the universe and everything in it is a gift from God to us, the central element of God’s creative activity. The wonders of nature with all its beauty and all of its power are gifts of God to his beloved humanity.
Secondly, as is the case with any gift, a responsibility comes with it. We are given the responsibility to cultivate the garden, to care for it, to nurture it. In living up to this responsibility we not only provide for ourselves, but we protect our natural habitat. We are told that we can eat of all the produce of the garden with one exception. Yes, God places a limit on our activity. We are to leave the tree of the knowledge of good and evil alone. We are not to eat of its fruit.
Look at the little children that are part of your lives. The endearing thing about little ones is their innocence. While they misbehave from time to time, they don’t know what it is to be evil until we teach them. Sadly, every time we misbehave, we pass on the effects of sin to our innocent children. Every time we steal, we teach them need for locks and keys. Every time we place our needs about those of others, we teach them to take care of number one first. Every time we curse or swear, we teach them the hurtful effects of language. Every time we kill, we teach them that life is cheap. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil still sows its seeds in our culture today.
Jesus has made it possible for us to set all that aside. Through his dying and rising, he has made it possible for us to leave sin behind. We struggle with this reality every day.
Cultivating the garden means more than protecting our environment although that is a very real part of it. However, we need to pay attention to that other tree, the tree of life. We are called to protect life in all its forms, to foster and nurture all living things. These gifts were given to us by God for our welfare. Sadly, we have turned away from the tree of life and seem to have embraced the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
I will end by sharing with you the lyrics from the last scene in Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide.” I think they capture some of what I am trying to say today:
You've been a fool and so have I
But come I'll be your wife
And let us try before we die
To make some sense of life
We're neither pure nor wise nor good
We'll do the best we know
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow
And make our garden grow.
I thought the world was sugar cake
For so our master said
But now I'll teach my hands to bake
Our loaf of daily bread
We're neither pure nor wise nor good
We'll do the best we know
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow
And make our garden grow.
Let dreamers dream what worlds they please
Those edens can't be found
The sweetest flowers
The fairest trees
Are grown in solid ground
We're neither pure nor wise nor good
We'll do the best we know
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow
And make our garden grow.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator