The Things of Life
The Seventh Sunday after Trinity – 7/14/2024
Genesis 2:7-17
Rev. Christopher W. Brademeyer
That portion of God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our Old Testament lesson from Genesis in the second chapter with special emphasis on verses seven through nine which read as follows:
“(T)hen the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” [1]
Thus far the Scriptures.
Life is kind of a big deal. I mean, where would we be without the gift of life? Indeed, life is so basic to our daily lives that it is something that we often take for granted. Maybe I am alone in this, but I do not often sit and contemplate the fact that I am alive. I suppose that this is something I should do. Its something I think that is good for everyone to do from time to time. Such is the lavish excess of the gifts that God bestows on us day by day that we often become so used to them that we forget to appreciate them as we ought.
Now the Catechism reminds us that there are different categories into which we can put God’s gifts. That is to say, there are things that God gives us as our Creator, our Redeemer, and as our Sanctifier. Life is something that straddles all three of these categories. That is to say, we not only have the life given to us by God by virtue of the fact that we exist, we also as Christians have been given new life, eternal life, which leads to sanctification and the glory of the things to come.
And as you might have put together by now, life is a main point of our Old Testament reading today. In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, he not only made Adam and Eve, our first parents, but He also made a sheltered place, a garden, for them to dwell in called Eden. In this garden God planted two trees. There is the famous tree, the one which when it was eaten of led to all of our woes and problems that come from sin, that is, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And there is another tree, one that often gets overlooked due to the significance of the first tree and its effects on us concerning sin and death: the Tree of Life.
The significance of the Tree of Life is rather apparent: it is a source of life and those who eat of its fruit live. This tree shows up again in Scripture, namely in Revelation chapter twenty-two where this tree is seen growing in the New Jerusalem next to the river of the water of life. In this passage it grows twelve fruits, one for each month, constantly ensuring a supply of its life-giving sustenance for the people of God. In other words, in both Genesis and in Revelation, this tree is attached to life. Not just rudimentary biological life like we have now, but the everlasting, blessed life that comes from God for His people.
And in between these two books, we see another tree of life, the tree of the Cross. Now it is true the phrase “tree of life” is not used of the cross in a literal way. If you do a word search in your Bible to find the blessed cross upon which Jesus died called that, you will come up short. And yet in Christian history this identification has often been made. The basic logic is this: the tree of life gives life. The Cross, made of a tree, is the instrument that our Savior Jesus Christ used to die for the sins of the world and thereby earn for us forgiveness and life and salvation. By doing this, this hunk of wood became the very instrument of granting us life. And the trees in Genesis and Revelation are similar to this in that their power comes not from their biology or the sugar content in the fruit, but from the Word of God that attaches itself to these trees by way of promise. In other words, just as God attaches a promise of life and salvation to things like the water used in holy Baptism and the bread and wine used in the Lord’s Supper to give us forgiveness and life, so too God used the tree in Genesis and reveals this same image in Revelation. As with all means of grace, the emphasis is not on the thing itself, but on the Word which attaches to the thing in order to grant us healing and life and salvation.
So, then, you dear Christians have been given life. You were born into this world as a gift. And this biological life that you possess is yours as a gift from God. And because this life is given to you by God it is not for others to take it away by unjust or illegitimate means, such as murder or abortion. It is yours and it is the duty of governing authorities to protect this most primary of gifts. Speaking of the political arena, one of the confusing things about life is this idea of rights. We must remember that what we claim as a right before the government and other human beings exists between us and God as a gift. So, we have a right to life before each other, the government, and so forth, but we do not have a right to life before God, we have a gift that He bestows for as many or few days as He deems fit.
This is a hard thing to understand, but we are not entitled to a certain length of days. I run into this at deathbeds and funerals from time to time. There is anger and outrage when someone dies prematurely in our estimation. But this assumes that we have an entitlement to a certain length of time here on earth. Instead, it is better for us to think of each day not as something owed to us by God, but as a precious gift that we should steward well for good and godly things. And since each day is a precious gift, we ought not begrudge how many or few those days might be for ourselves or others. There is a fine line between being a good steward of my life and body and self and using health and healthy habits as a means to try and ward off death. I’m all for each of us doing good and healthy things, but we Christians pursue health and wellness for the sake of being good stewards of our lives and so that we might have the energy and strength to serve others in Christian love, not for the sake of our own selfish goals such as trying to put off death or any other thing. Certainly, there is much evil in either of these two extremes that I implied earlier: living a life as if preoccupation with the self can put off death or refusing to live at all and instead spending all of one’s time pursuing pleasure, idleness, recreation, and the like. It is not a sin to sit and doom scroll one’s favorite social media, but it is sinful to waste one’s life doing so.
But even more than the life we have by virtue of our birth, we have a greater life in Christ Jesus. The problem with our biological, earthly life is that is brought about and sustained in a world tainted by sin. Because of this, it inevitably leads to death. But the life that Christ gives lasts unto eternity because it is without sin, it is pure and spotless and eternal. It does not succumb to corruption, decay, infirmity, weariness, or any other ailment. It endures in pure blessed joy and righteousness forever. We have been given this life. Even though our old flesh, that is our sinful self, made in the image and likeness of Adam our first father, will die someday, the new self, made in the image and likeness of Christ, will not. It lasts through the grave and leads to our place in heaven first, then in the resurrection of our bodies to come. This last point is important. Life is not centered on the idea that we are souls trapped in bodies. Scripture, specifically here in Genesis chapter two, teaches us that we are both souls and bodies. Each of these is as much us as the other. This is why we traditionally bury our dead, in order to show reverence and honor to who God made us to be and to anticipate the raising again of our bodies on the last day when Jesus comes back. This is also the part of the logic behind having a Christian funeral: laying the body of our deceased loved ones to rest should be accompanied with prayer, Scripture, and comfort preached from that Word of God. Which is to say, as an aside, that funerals are not about the deceased, not really. They are first and foremost about the Savior of the deceased, Jesus Christ, the giver and bringer of life.
Life is a great gift, and we should not take it for granted. But even greater than this life, this existence here in this world that inevitably brings hardship, suffering, and death, is the eternal life won for us by Jesus Christ our Lord on the tree of life that is His cross. And, through Him, we not only have remission and forgiveness of our sins, but also the promise of an eternal, deathless, blessed, and joyful life in both body and soul that is guaranteed by our Lord and His work.
In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] Genesis 2:7-9 English Standard Version
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