The mystery of good and evil.

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Genesis: 3: 1-8

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
“Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?”
The woman answered the serpent:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'”
But the serpent said to the woman:
“You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.

When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden
at the breezy time of the day,
the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden.

The Word of the Lord.

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In our first reading from the Book of Genesis, evil is introduced into the world.

Satan appears in the form of a snake and convinces Eve to disobey a command given directly by God. “It is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die,” Eve confesses to the serpent. 

Mysteriously, Satan convinces Eve to eat it anyway. Then she shares it with Adam. This act of disobedience ruptures humanity’s communion with God. 

Ashamed, Adam and Eve run off and hide.

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This simple story does not explain why evil exists, or how the serpent entered the garden. But it does tell us something:

That good and evil exist. 

And both sides believe we’re worth fighting for.

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In the Gospel, a man is brought before Jesus who is deaf and mute. Seeing the depths of his suffering causes Jesus to “groan.” Jesus then takes the man away by himself and heals him.

In doing so, Jesus fulfills the great prophecy of Isaiah, who proclaimed that the Lord would make the “deaf hear” and the “mute speak,” which has not only a physical but also a spiritual significance.

Jesus’ ministry stands in direct contrast to the evil caused by Satan in the Garden of Eden. Whereas Satan ruptured humanity’s ability to “see” and “hear” the Lord, Jesus has come to restore it.

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Image credits: (1) Ary Sheffer, The Temptation of Christ, Wikipedia (2) Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, National Gallery of Art (3) Slideshare, Mystery of Good and Evil