Lent 1 Year A 2026: Genesis 2:15-17;3:1-7

20th century theologian Karl Barth was once at a party where he was asked if the snake in the garden did indeed talk, to which he responded, “Madam, it does not matter whether or not the serpent really spoke; what matters is what the serpent said.” No text in Genesis (or likely the entire Bible) has been more used, interpreted, and misunderstood than the story of the snake and Eve. This applies to careless, popular theology as well as to the doctrine of the church. (Brueggemann, 41)

It has been assumed that today’s text from Genesis is a decisive text for the Bible and that it states the premise for all that follows. In fact, this is an exceedingly marginal text. No clear subsequent reference to it is made in the Old Testament. And even in the New Testament the linkage developed in the Augustinian tradition of anthropology regarding original sin and human nature is based on the argument of Paul in the early chapters of Romans. Even Paul does not make general appeal to this text. (41)

Frequently, this text is treated as though it were the decisive explanation of how evil came into the world. But the Old Testament is never interested in such an abstract issue. In fact, the narrative gives no explanation for evil. There is no hint that the serpent is the embodiment of the principle of evil. The Old Testament characteristically is more existential. It is not concerned with origins but with faithful responses and effective coping. The Bible offers no theoretical statement about the origin of evil. (41)

There was a poem that was popular on social media a while back that suggested that Eve was somehow a prisoner in Eden. While there are plenty of problematic ways that women have been treated as a result of this text, Eve was not a prisoner. The snake was not her savior. There are better, and more accurate, ways of dealing with patriarchy than reimagining Eden as a prison.

Nor is this text about the origin of death. While certain forms of death throughout scripture may very well be punishment, death in and of itself belongs properly to the human life God wills for humankind. As we say in our funeral liturgy, “for so you ordained when you created me saying, ‘you are dust, and to dust you shall return’. It is especially worth noting that no one dies in this text. This is not a reflection on death but on troubled, anxiety-ridden life. A life in which we grasp for control. Humankind in the garden had everything they could need but decided that they wanted to be like the heavenly beings. Being a beloved creature made in the image of God was not enough. That is a greater problem than death, both in our own context and in the world of this narrative. (42)

From the Hebrew word ah-room we learn that the serpent (or snake) is more crafty than the other animals, which, by the way, indicates that he too is an animal, not a demon or a devil - the serpent is not the satan or diablos, as the tempter is in today’s Gospel. The snake is a trickster figure who is more clever than the other animals, can speak (like humans), and knows about divine things. He bridges the boundaries between animals, humans, and God and effectively elicits the woman’s desire to break the boundary between humans and God, to be like God. The exchange between the snake and the woman is a masterpiece of ambiguity and half-truths.

Ancient Near Eastern literature often applauded cunning heroes; Scripture, however, filters cunning through covenantal ethics. Deceptive subtlety is condemned, while foresight anchored in reverence for God is praised. The Bible contains exalted trickster figures, like later in Genesis when Jacob and Rebekah trick Esau out of his birthright.

But that word, ah-room, doesn’t have the negative connotations we tend to give it as a result of this story. It is used 11 times in the Old Testament. The word can also mean subtle, prudent, or shrewd. The nuance is driven by context and oscillates between sinful “craftiness” and godly “prudence.” The word’s placement at watershed passages—beginning with the serpent in Genesis and recurring through Job’s dialogues and the Proverbs—creates a literary thread that contrasts deceptive self-reliance with discerning reliance on the Lord.

Genesis introduces a counterfeit wisdom that alienates humanity from God. Proverbs then redeems the term by portraying prudence as a facet of divine wisdom available through submission to the Lord. The pattern anticipates the New Testament call to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16), urging believers to exercise sanctified discernment without deceit.

Ah-room traverses Scripture as both warning and invitation: warning against the destructive craftiness that rebels against God, and invitation to embrace prudent wisdom that flows from the fear of the Lord. In Christ, believers are empowered to reject deceptive subtlety and to walk in discerning, humble, and faithful prudence.

The Bible is more practical than we oftentimes give it the credit of being. Because we look to it to answer some of life’s biggest and most philosophical questions, we assume that it will directly give us those answers. But this text is not interested in theoretical or abstract questions of sin, death, evil, or a “fall”. Such abstract questions of the world are no part of the biblical testimony. The real issues of the text may not be posed by seeking theoretical origins. Of many of those questions, we must, along with the Bible, be prepared to say, “We don’t know”. (43) The Bible functions more like a rabbi. You ask it a question, and its response will either be another question or a story. Not quite what you expected, not quite what you wanted, but if we look at the Bible as a teacher instead of a rule book we are far more likely to find the help we are looking for.

So back to Genesis through this lens. What are the practical messages from Eve and the Snake? What do we take away when we worry less about whether the snake spoke and more about what the snake said? Less about the origin of evil and more about what we are to do to combat the real evils in our lives? The tactile temptations like what Jesus faced in today’s Gospel. The devil didn’t come to Jesus for a theoretical discussion about evil, but rather with concrete practicalities just like with Adam and Eve in the Garden. Jesus as well as Adam and Eve are offered things that it would be nice to have if only they would break their covenants with God. We are given two examples of how we can respond when temptation comes to call. But the choice is ours whose example we will follow. Amen.