Scotch College

Want to do God’s will?Chaplain’s Reflection

The scheduled Bible reading was from Genesis 3, about an angelwielding a fiery sword, turning every way, to keep humanity from the Tree of Life. So I was reading Nahum Sarna’s commentary on the trees of Genesis 3 and discovered a subtle but important insight. Namely, the two trees in the Garden of God are unequally treated in terms of both space and time – for a specific reason.

In the ancient world, both literature and archaeology expose the enduring preoccupation of humanity with the Tree of Life. We see it writ large in the Epic of Gilgamesh and set in stone in the pyramids of Egypt, but it is as contemporary as the Internet and the iPhone. Like the ancients we are concerned with vitality, youthfulness, life-style, quality of life and longevity. These ‘Tree of Life’ issues expose our concerns relating to mortality.

Sarna’s observation is that the Hebrew story of creation intentionally puts the emphasis on the other tree, the Tree of Knowledge! Here we have the resolution of issues relating to good and evil; questions of wisdom and morality are highlighted. Morality must come before immortality. We must first know how to live before we can discover enduring life.

The narrative tells us that our priorities have been corrupted and our relationships ruined. We seek life in all the wrong ways. The angel with the fiery sword prevents us from accessing cheap immortality. There are no special deals, no bargain basement offers, we must access the morality that mirrors Israel’s holy God if we are to attain our destiny.

In Christian theology it is not until the final visions of Revelation that the Tree of Life re-emerges. In this scene redemption is accomplished and evil is vanquished with healthy relationships restored. Humanity at last is flourishing as God intended and the healing of the Nations is begun.

The damages bill is both huge and ugly. In John’s final vision there is on the throne a slain lamb. St Paul speaks of it graphically in ‘tree’ terms in Galatians 3.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

So it is that the Spirit of God, promised to Abraham, can be our inheritance too, the Spirit valuing morality above mortality. The Presidency of Barack Obama reminds me of how Martin Luther King made Spirit-filled moral priorities his concern in his last speech:

“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I am not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!”

May we have the courage to demonstrate the same Spirit-guided morality.