The Neighborhood Podcast
This is a podcast of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina featuring guests from both inside the church and the surrounding community. Hosted by Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing, Head of Staff.
The Neighborhood Podcast
"Eve" (June 22, 2025 Sermon)
Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing
What if everything we thought we knew about Adam and Eve was wrong? The familiar Garden of Eden narrative has been so heavily filtered through centuries of interpretation that we often miss its original meaning entirely. Like a biblical version of the Mandela Effect, we collectively misremember key details – there was no apple, the serpent wasn't explicitly evil, and the word "sin" never appears in the text.
Most significantly, this story has been weaponized throughout history to suggest women's inferiority, despite the Hebrew text suggesting something entirely different. The word used for Eve as Adam's "helper" is the same word used to describe God's divine power – hardly indicating subservience! And though artistic representations often show Eve alone with the serpent, the biblical text clearly states Adam was present throughout the entire encounter.
When we strip away these misconceptions, what emerges is breathtaking – a poetic vision of God's original intention for humanity. Eden represents relationships of mutuality rather than domination, a world without shame, accusation, or blame games. The breakdown occurs not when Eve eats the fruit, but when Adam responds to God with "I" instead of "we" – revealing our continued struggle with individualism over community.
In a world torn by conflict, this ancient text offers profound wisdom. "We cannot bomb our way back to Eden, but we can love our way back." The kingdom of heaven Jesus proclaimed is Eden by another name – a place where finger-pointing ceases, where shame disappears, and where we delight in God as God delights in us. Will you join in rediscovering this vision of mutual relationship, moving from a theology of "me" to a theology of "us"?
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Please bow your heads and join me in the prayer for illumination. Holy, holy, holy one, your words feed us, the word freezes and the spirit gives us life. Grant our ears an appetite for hearing and our spirit strength for loving you, amen. Amen. Spirit strength for loving you, amen. The first scripture lesson this morning is from Genesis, chapter 2, verses 15 through 25.
Speaker 1:It's probably one of the most familiar stories in the Bible other than the nativity. Listen to the word of God. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, you may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die. Then the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper as his partner. So, out of the ground, the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field.
Speaker 1:But for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a great sleep to fall upon the man and he slept. Then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called woman, for out of man this one was taken. Therefore, a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God.
Speaker 2:Friends, let's listen again for what God is saying to God's church. From using the words of the third chapter, we continue right where we left off with Ed. Let us listen again for what God is saying to God's church. Now.
Speaker 2:The serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman did God say, you shall not eat from any tree in the garden. The woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it or you shall die. But the serpent said to the woman you will not die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil delights to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her say those four words with me out loud who was with her. Very important, very important we'll get back to that in just a second and he ate.
Speaker 2:Then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord called out to the man and said to him when are you? He said I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. I hid myself. God said who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat? The man said the woman who you gave to be with me. She gave me fruit from the tree and I ate.
Speaker 2:Then the Lord God said to the woman what is this that you have done? The woman said the serpent tricked me and I ate. The Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures. Upon your belly you shall go and dust. You shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers, and he will strike your head and you will strike his heel. To the woman, god said I will make your pangs and childbirth exceedingly great In pain. You shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husbandangs and childbirth exceedingly great In pain. You shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule with you. And to the man, he said Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you In toil. You shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. You are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Speaker 2:The man named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living, and the Lord God made garments of the skins for the man and for his wife, and God clothed them. And the Lord God said See, the humans have become one of us, knowing good and evil, and now they might reach out their hands and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent them forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which they were taken. He drove out the humans and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life. Friends, holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God. Let us pray, lord, may the words of all of our mouths and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing. God in your sight, our Lord and our Redeemer, amen. All right, let's unpack this a little bit, shall we?
Speaker 2:There's a phenomenon called the Mandela Effect. Has anybody ever heard of the Mandela Effect? It is also another word for collective false memory. Simply put, it's when large groups of people get together and believe incorrect information about something so well-known that it's just assumed to be true, about something so well known that it's just assumed to be true. There's really no better way to describe the Mandela effect than to share with you all some popular examples.
Speaker 2:Many of us are old enough to remember the famous Berenstain Bears children's books. Anybody read the Berenstain Bears growing up. There's only one problem it's not the Berenstein Bears. It never was. It's the Berenstain Bears S-T-A-I-N. You can look it up. I am not lying.
Speaker 2:And I suspect all of us also remember some iconic movie lines that actually never happened, such as when Darth Vader says to Luke Skywalker what, luke, I am your father? He never says Luke, I am your father. He says no, I am your father. Sorry to ruin that for you, but it's true. Another example is in is it Snow White with the magic mirror? Is that right? We often think that the queen says mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the fairest of them all? She never actually says that. She says magic mirror, who is the fairest one of all? And if you ask the average person if Mr Monopoly wears a monocle, most people would say of course, mr Monopoly has a monocle. He doesn't have a monocle, he never has ever had a monocle. And a final example of this Anybody know what movie this is from? Casablanca, where we just assume that Humphrey Bogart says play it again, sam. He never says that line in Casablanca.
Speaker 2:All of these are examples of the Mandela effect, where, throughout the years, the decades, we just collectively assume something to be true because it's in there right, when it's actually not. I mention the Mandela effect because, with really well-known portions of the Bible, like the text that Ed and I read today, we often, in ways that we may not be aware of, project our own baggage onto the text, given that this text has been interpreted and, frankly, misinterpreted for thousands of years. I think something similar to the Mandela effect has happened to us when we recall the stories of creation and of Adam and of Eve. So, for example, we'll start off with this relatively harmless mistake. A lot of times we talk about the apple that Eve and Adam ate, but the text never uses the word apple, just merely says fruit. Another somewhat harmless misunderstanding of this text is that the serpent represents what Satan? Yeah, satan or evil. But notice, nowhere in the text does it say that the serpent is evil, calls the serpent crafty, but that's about it. Later on in the book of Genesis, we call Jacob crafty, but that's never regarded as a character flaw of his. In fact, in the ancient world, serpents and snakes were actually regarded as symbols of wisdom and of intelligence and, in some cases, healing. There's a reason that the Blue Cross Blue Shield emblem for health insurance has a pole with what on it, a snake on it right Next.
Speaker 2:This passage has been interpreted by many as the beginning of sin. Sometimes we refer to it as the fall or original sin, but the word sin actually does not appear once in Genesis 2 or 3. Sin isn't mentioned explicitly until the next chapter with the Cain and Abel brouhaha. Genesis 2 and 3, this is more harmful have been used to suggest that women are inferior to men. The argument holds that because God created Adam first and Eve second, that this implies that men are superior.
Speaker 2:Additionally, it's argued that because God called Eve Adam's helper, that this designated her and by extension all women, as the help, as subservient to men. There's a really big problem with that perspective is that, while the word helper in most of our language, in English, may conjure an image of a servant or a slave. The Hebrew word for helper carries no such connotation. In fact it's kind of the opposite In Hebrew. The Hebrew word for helper that's used to describe Eve is only ever used one other time in the entirety of the Old Testament, and it's in Psalm 124, verse 8, used to describe God's divine power and providence, god's mighty helper. So that really doesn't make the argument that women are subservient.
Speaker 2:And finally, many artistic depictions of this encounter with the serpent include Eve and the snake, but Adam is noticeably absent or conveniently standing far off in the distance, creating a bit of a metaphorical buffer. But as we all said aloud, the text clearly states that Adam was there the whole stinking time. All this is to say that these misconceptions often reveal more about us and the baggage we carry than they do about the text. This is why it's crucial to listen to a diverse range of scholarly voices when engaging in these texts, because if we only depend on the scholarly contributions of men for interpretative work, it's no wonder that these misconceptions have persisted over the millennia Together. I think it's important that we listen to various voices to approach these stories and these characters, like Hagar last week and Eve this week with the complexity and the nuance that they deserve. But then that leaves us with an important question. If this text doesn't say that women are inferior, if this text doesn't say that women are the source of sin, well, okay, what does it say?
Speaker 2:We wrestled with this together as a group a bit last Wednesday when I gathered with about 10 of you all for our deeper dive Bible study to explore these texts beyond the moment of the sermon that we're in right now, and I was particularly moved by one of our participants' thoughts on this passage in Genesis. They said something to this effect. They said if you put yourself in the mindset of an ancient Israelite as best as you can, the way they thought of what God wanted for us is really beautiful. Eden was God's ideal, so far as they understood it, when these texts were first imagined into existence. Eden was a place where there was no shame, where there was no pointing fingers at one another, where there were no accusations or blame games or fighting over resources. If you and I, eden was a place of peace, this person went on to say, of harmony and of mutual relationship with one another. So I think that if you and I stop projecting gender politics onto an ancient text that was never meant to be weaponized in such a way. We might just find a beautiful, poetic love song of what God's intentions for humanity were and still are to this day, and you and I need not look far for examples of how we have fallen short of God's intentions for peace and cooperation and coexistence.
Speaker 2:You know, as I was putting the final touches on this sermon last night, our country entered into Israel's war with Iran in what will most certainly not be the end of our involvement in yet another war in the Middle East. So as I wrestled with what to say or not to say, as we gathered this morning, I just kept on returning to this thought, and this thought is this we cannot bomb our way back to Eden. God knows. We've tried, whether it's a 30,000-pound bunker-busting bomb or a simple rock to the head, like Cain does with his brother Abel in the next chapter. We've tried and it doesn't work. We've made violence our muse instead of the garden that God so lovingly knit and fashioned together for us. We cannot bomb our way back to Eden, but we can love our way back to it. I'm fully aware that that sounds terribly naive, which is probably why it's best that I'm a pastor and not the president of the United States. But such is often the response when calls for peace echo in a world that's preoccupied with bombs and stroking the egos of the mostly men who willed them.
Speaker 2:What if we stopped laying the blame on Eve and the women and the girls that have followed her in this passage and instead listened to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Which is this? Jesus Christ, which is this? The kingdom of heaven is the garden of Eden by another name. The kingdom of heaven is a place where we don't need to point fingers at one another, as Adam did with Eve and Eve did with the serpent. The kingdom of heaven is a place where there's no need to hide from each other. The kingdom of heaven is a place where God walks with us or takes a leisurely stroll with us, as this text suggests, simply because God delights in us and we delight in God. The kingdom of heaven is a place where there's no need to blame others for our problems, for their gender, their ethnicity, their sexuality, their immigration status. When we focus on these things, we lose the interconnectedness that God intended for all of us, because we're all in this together.
Speaker 2:One of the most telling parts of the story is how Adam first responds to God. After God discovers Adam and Eve after their tragic decision, god is taking that carefree stroll in the garden and calls out where are you? And Adam replies I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. No, we, no us, just I. You and I have to find a way as a church, as a community, as a nation, to leave I and me behind and get back to us. Get back to we. That's how we get back to Eden, that's how we accept Jesus's invitation to be a part of the kingdom of heaven here and now not just when we die, but here and now.
Speaker 2:These ancient texts, when liberated from centuries of patriarchal projection, reveal something revolutionary Relationships of mutuality rather than domination were God's original design. The Eden narrative isn't primarily about blame or punishment, but about explaining humanity's condition while pointing towards God's ideal of an open, shameless, mutual relationship with one another. Not just romantic relationships, all kinds of relationships, and I think that's a beautiful, beautiful thing of relationships, and I think that's a beautiful, beautiful thing. And so I suppose we could continue to use this story as a weapon, just as any part of scripture can be used as a cudgel. Or, instead of wielding it as a weapon, we can treat it as an invitation to stop our tendency to blame others, women and girls or immigrants.
Speaker 2:Conservatives, liberals fill in the blank with whoever we want to throw under the bus. What if we looked at each other not as potential collateral damage of our outsourced blame, but instead saw each other as how God sees us, as glimpses of that garden's goodness, a goodness that's still there, bent, damaged maybe, but not beyond repair? And if we trust in that, it's because god's providence didn't remain behind in the garden. God's providence accompanied adam and eve as they left it, even as they ventured out into the wilderness of their own choosing. The text provides a glimpse of god's providence when it reminds us that, even after adam and eve messed up, god nevertheless lovingly crafted clothes for them to wear.
Speaker 2:And I think that's a small but really important part of this story, because it's another beautiful example of God's divine nevertheless. So yes, we may still be searching for Eden. We may still be pointing fingers at each other, lobbing bombs at one another, we may still be stuck in the I, I, I and the me, me, me, when God calls us to a theology of us, but God is still crafting us garments to welcome us back. I don't know when we're going to get there. That moral arc of the universe is painfully long, but Eden still exists, and I, for one, believe that God is still leaving the light on for us. In the name of God, the creator, redeemer and sustainer, may all of us, god's beloved children, say amen.