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15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 NIV)
I was the smartest person in the world. There, I said it. I knew more than anyone. Of course I was going through my teenaged years and that was the common litmus test. I even better than my Dad! I didn't need a curfew and many times I thought I did not need permission for anything! I was my own man; though legally I was not of age. What a painful memory now. How I miss my Dad and having my regular talks with him. But at the time I remember disagreeing strongly with him about things that I know now he was right. I was wrong.
Today's passage is all about that. God is Creator. God is Father. We are not. We are introduced to how things came to be according to this story. These things are important to know and to follow. The first part, from chapter two, God is shown as taking the first man, Adam was his name, and placing him in a garden. It is a paradise setting. What I came to realize in my later years is that paradise was not so much the foliage or setting, as it is the RELATIONSHIP. God created the man and placed in where He needed to be and began a RELATIONSHIP with the man. The basis of that relationship was love. And a foundational tenet of love is trust. In all relationships there are guidelines and expectations. The first thing God expects from this relationship is that the man will "work and take care of it." Stewardship is introduced. The man would be the one responsbile for the upkeep and care of the garden.
The second is also important, and here we see that God tells the man that he is free to eat from any tree in the garden. It is a positive command; it begins with permission from God to eat from ANY TREE. Except one. There was a certain tree which was off-limits. Its name gives it away; THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. Bam! If you eat from this tree, you will have the ability to know the difference between the good and evil. God does not have to say that, but what God does say impliles the seriousness of this act. God says, "For when you eat from it you will certainly die." I've always found it interesting that the man would know what "die" means; there is no record of such a conversation with God and the man in the previous pages. To die is meant, again, to stress the seriousness of the consequences of doing what you should not be doing.
As the chapter ends and the new one begins, we see the presence of a second creature, the woman, whom we know later as Eve. This chapter begins with a talking snake. We also konw it was a walking snake, but we find that out later. I laugh everytime I read this passage because in my household growing up when age was referenced to an old person, it was said, "But she's from the era when snakes walked upright!" This snake was also "more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made." And we see how crafty when we hear its first question: "Did God really say, 'You mjst not eat from any tree in the garden'?" See? God didn't say that. God had given the man the freedom to eat from any tree in the garden. The woman replies with the right answer but adds that the restriction was on one tree, with an added but revealing condition, "And you must not touch it, or you will die." Where did God add the no-touch restriction? He didn't. But it says a lot. Adam and Eve had explored the garden and like little children, gone directly to where they shouldn't; the tree. And it could have been that one of the two of them may have stretched out their hand and the other may have said, "Don't touch it!" But the serpent is aware of all that and so it goes right to the temptation. "You will not certainly die. God knows that when you eat from that tree your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
The serpent's strategy in Genesis 3 is worth studying carefully, because it hasn't changed in thousands of years. He didn't approach Eve with an outright lie at first. He began with a question designed to plant doubt: "Did God really say...?" Four words that have echoed through every human temptation since. He subtly twisted God's generous command—God had said they could eat from any tree except one—into something that sounded restrictive and suspicious. Before Eve took a single bite, the serpent had already gotten her to question God's character.
Then came the direct contradiction: "You will not certainly die." God's clear warning was reframed as fear-mongering, as if God were keeping something good from them rather than protecting them from something devastating. The fruit was recast not as forbidden danger but as desirable wisdom—something that would make them like God. The temptation wasn't merely about fruit. It was about autonomy. About being their own authority. About deciding for themselves what is good and what is evil.
And they ate.
Notice what followed immediately. Not the godlike wisdom they were promised, but shame. Their eyes were opened, yes—but what they saw was their own nakedness and vulnerability. The intimacy they once enjoyed without self-consciousness suddenly felt exposed and unsafe. So they covered themselves with fig leaves—history's first attempt to manage the consequences of sin through human effort. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now. Sandpaper underwear is never comfortable.
This is the Lenten reality we must sit with. The fig leaves we sew today look different—busyness, achievement, perfectionism, people-pleasing, religious performance—but the impulse is identical. We sense our brokenness and reach for something to cover it rather than turning to the only One who can actually heal it.
Lent calls us to stop. To put down the fig leaves. To stand honestly before God in our need and remember why Jesus had to come. The garden of Eden was lost through one act of disobedience rooted in pride and distrust. The road back runs through a different garden—Gethsemane—where another man knelt in the dirt and said not "I will decide for myself," but "Not my will, but yours be done." C. S. Lewis wrote that hell was filled with those who said, "My will be done," while Heave is filled with those who prayed, "Thy will be done."
What Adam and Eve grasped for, Jesus willingly surrendered. Where they chose autonomy, He chose obedience. Where they hid, He was exposed on a cross—naked, shamed, bearing every consequence of that first bite and every sin that followed. The fig leaves were never enough. But His sacrifice is.
PRAYER: Loving Father, forgive us for the ways we have echoed Adam and Eve—doubting Your goodness, trusting our own judgment over Yours, and reaching for fig leaves to hide what only You can heal. This Lenten season, give us the courage to stop hiding and to stand before You honestly, trusting that the cross of Christ is sufficient to cover us completely. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: This week, identify one "fig leaf" in your life — a habit, achievement, or distraction you use to avoid facing your need for God. Set it aside intentionally, even for a day, and bring that vulnerable place honestly before Him in prayer.
I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me! Share love and wisdom today!
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
