“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.”

— Genesis 3:17

As we noted yesterday, God placed human beings in a gar­den sanctuary where God could live and work with them to bring about the flourishing of his world.

But through the deceit of the serpent, humans were tempted to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. They desired to be “like God, knowing good and evil.” But the hidden reality was that, unlike God, human beings could only know good and evil by becoming a mingled mess of good and evil. As they ingested the fruit, brokenness moved into every part of their being.

Genesis describes the broken­ness that followed as a “curse,” especially in relationships. Humans’ relationships with themselves, with one another, with nature, and with God became damaged. At the same time, though, God pronounced that someday the serpent, along with the curse of sin and death, would be defeated.

And in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and by his resurrection, all of that became true. Now the curse is being undone. And when we eat the Jesus-meal, the Lord’s Supper, our damaged relationships can begin to mend. We receive God’s restoring nourishment in our own lives, and we share the meal with one another. In addition, from the cursed ground we can still grow good food by which God communicates his love and care for us.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the love by which you gave yourself for us, and for the grace that restores all things. Amen.