One of the ironies of a modern Christmas is that gifts around a tree are at the center of our celebration of an ancient story… a story that begins and ends with a tree-centered gift of immortality (Genesis 1-3; Revelation 22:1-3)
Continued from, In the Beginning…
Freedom to Choose
Hiding in the shadows, a rebel watched the caretakers and envied their happiness. In the innocence of another time and place, he too had known the king’s favor.
Disguising himself as a beast of paradise, the rebel surprised the woman first by speaking, and then by claiming to know the answer to the riddle of the trees.
Why was one tree off limits? According to the most street-wise of creatures, the king was holding out on them. There were secrets he didn’t want the couple to know.
A fatal mix of freedom, curiosity, and distrust got the best of the couple. Tasting the forbidden fruit was like taking a mind-altering drug. In the rush of lost innocence, the caretakers suddenly felt afraid and vulnerable. Grabbing leaves to cover themselves, they ran to hide from the king. (Pause)
For Conversation: Do you agree that there is irony in the way this Christmas story begins and ends with trees?
1. One for life.
2. One for death
3. Two for freedom of choice.
4. Who could have imagined that someday we would put up a tree… to celebrate the birth of a king… who died on a tree… to pay for our life… and our freedom of choice.
5. Is it possible that it is no accident or coincidence that the king whose birth we celebrate on Christmas died on a tree? Does his death on a tree show that he himself was willing to pay the ultimate price… for the gifts of life and freedom he didn’t just give us…but bought for us?
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