From the desk of the pastor for September 6, 2026

The Lord be with you! After being discovered by God in a state of sin, our first parents were punished. God did not discipline them to hurt them but to prevent them - and all humanity - from being overcome by evil.

The first to be punished is the Devil. Notice that God never even asks why Satan did it. He immediately curses the snake, tells him he shall crawl on his belly, and eat dirt. This punishment is obviously symbolic since snakes do not have legs and do not eat dirt. In effect Genesis 3:14 is a metaphor for the Fall of the Demons from grace. In this metaphor the earth represents Hell such that crawling upon it and eating it is their punishment for not obeying God. More importantly for us, this symbol tells us to interpret the next punishments as metaphors as well.

God then gives Eve her sentence: labor pains and disharmony with her husband. “Childbearing” can certainly mean simply the pains and extreme discomfort of bearing children, but it can also mean the heartache and worry that motherhood involves. No longer will Eve enjoy every moment of being a mother; now the highest part of her human life will inevitably afflict her with pain. Likewise, instead of Eve being a partner to Adam, “Flesh of my flesh,” she finds herself in a compromised position. The curse here is not just that men and women will have desires for each other that go unfilled or get exploited. The curse is that all human relationships can become poisoned by sin. Men and women will both find their feelings misshaped and misguided at points.

God then punishes Adam with labor and death. Just as the punishment directed at Eve was for all people, so is Adam’s. Instead of tending the earth like a garden and enjoying all work as prayer, every human being will now experience much work as merely painful toil. Life is now officially hard. Moreover, after many years of pain and discord will come death. Adam, Eve, and all their descendants will go back to the dust from which God raised them.

Having punished them for sinning, God then banishes them from the Garden. This expulsion symbolizes that the whole Earth is no longer united to Heaven as it was at first. Most importantly the story emphasizes that God is intentionally separating humanity from eternal life. Why? Genesis 3:22 gives us the answer, “Now, what if he also reaches out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, and eats of it and lives forever?” In order to limit the damage of sin, God must limit the life of humanity.

Sin has driven humanity apart. Feelings set against the will. Man set against woman. All people set apart from God and heavenly life. Yet, God has promised a savior. Hidden in the punishment of the serpent is the first Gospel proclamation, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel” (Gen 3:15). The seed of the New Eden, Jesus Christ, will strike Satan. The rest of the Old Testament is God readying Israel for that arrival.

In His Sacred Heart,

Fr. John