Origin Story #19 of 21:

The Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden…

At the east side of the Garden,

God stationed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every which way,

to guard the path to the tree of life. (Gn 3:23-24)

I’m told all cultures have some version of this story. We carry some deep down memory that once upon a time, there was a Garden; and, if we could only get back there, life would be good and beautiful, just and right, eternal and youthful. Maybe, like the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon searching for the Fountain of Youth, we will someday discover the path that leads to the tree of life.

Like the Philosopher’s Stone, we live with a vague hope that maybe science can discover the elixir of life. Modern times are marked by powerful attempts to force man’s utopian schemes into reality. Communism and Nazism come to mind. Whenever we seek to crash the gates of Paradise on our own terms, we run into the cherubim with the flaming sword cutting us up every which way and throwing us back onto the cursed ground from which we came.

We long for a place we can’t get to of ourselves. “God has placed eternity into our hearts,” as the wisest of all mortals puts it, “yet so that we can’t figure out the beginning or the end” (Ecc 3). We can’t go back to the beginning. The arrow of time points only forward. Nor, can we claim the end. The tree of life eludes us.

Yet, we best not become cynical. If we were to deny this longing, we would lose our humanity. This inexplicable longing is the stuff wonder and imagination, art and science. Maybe we do best by following the path Solomon suggest: “God has made everything beautiful in its time; …there is nothing better for humanity than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; it is God's gift to all that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil” (Ecc 3). God still spreads his gifts of seed time and harvest: “Turn to the Living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. …giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy” (Ac 14:15-17),

On this side of Easter Morning, we gaze upon this “One put to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him up on the third day” (Ac 10:39-40). What a strange tree of life this tree planted on Mount Calvary.