Art Reading Scripture

Tree of Knowledge, Kvarnen (Restaurant) Stockholm Sweden

Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9

One can find art in many places, not just in museums. Much of it is simply decorative. Often it highlights a local artist. I did not expect to find religious art at a restaurant dedicated to a Swedish soccer star, but on the walls of Kvarnen in Stockholm were two images of the trees of the Garden of Eden.

The picture of the man and the woman exudes innocence and simplicity. Their cartoonish nakedness is natural and sweet. In the evening as stars shone in the sky they sat on a rock beneath the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree is good, full of fruit, and pleasant to sight. In the tree there was no hint of evil or temptation. God planted the tree, and in God alone was this knowledge to be trusted. Both the knowledge of good, which one might expect from God, and the knowledge of evil that one must entrust to God. In the prior account of creation in Genesis 1 all things were created good and very good. Genesis 1 admits to nothing created evil once chaos and a kind of darkness an have been controlled. The earth and the seas, the plants yielding seed and fruit trees, God saw as good. The lights in the sky and the seasons of the earth God saw as good. The living creatures that swarm the seas and fly across the sky God created good and blessed with creativity, reproduction and flourishing. The animals of the earth of all kinds, including the ones created in the image of God to represent God's love and care in this world God created good and blessed to be fruitful and multiply. Not one thing in creation that the man and the woman knew and dwelt in was not good. The only not good thing in all creation, "that the man should be alone," God had rectified by creating woman so there would be community, help and partnership.

The only thing the man and the woman did not know was, "What is evil?" From below the knowledge of evil creeps between them in the form of the serpent. Typically images of this tree place the serpent intwined in the tree branches or wrapped around the trunk gazing down on the man and woman. Here the serpent slithers up from below, crawling between their feet. In the direction it is going it will separate the goodness of their being together, undoing the one thing God had seen that was not good. Already, barely separated the man and the woman exchange fruit of our demise, the knowledge of evil. Once this has been accomplished, separating the man from the woman the actual eating of fruit may be simply the conclusion of evil already at work. Many things created good become used for evil. The inner workings of the atom have the potential for supplying all the energy we need, and yet contain unbelievable destructive power at our command. AI is a tool that potentially can bring goodness, helping us develop medicine, understanding of our environment, widening our sense of place in the universe, even as it can potentially undermine our very humanity, ability to think, and be used to maliciously deceive and paint untruths. Alfred Nobel created dynamite not realizing how quickly it would become a weapon of massive destruction and death. The Wright brothers after taking their first flight believed that the ability to fly would make war obsolete. As much as we can learn and imagine the good, we have equally if not more gained the knowledge of evil.

At the base of our knowledge of evil is the separation of relationship, the division of community. It is encapsulated in the instance of the man and the woman, but it extrapolates to divisions of family, language, nations, races, wealth and poverty, politics, and competition. Once we are divided we fall. Once we fall we need healing, the remembering of goodness, to restore community and lift each other up again. I return again and again to the wisdom of the preacher of Ecclesiastes. "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help." Eccl. 4:9-10 Lift one another up. This is good. Shun division of any kind and seek the well being of others. This is good. Recognize the creeping evil that seeks to divide. This is evil. Do not be educated or tempted by this.

Keep the faith. Say your prayers. Love like Jesus.

Pastor Tim Bauer