As a student of the Hebrew Bible, I feel obligated to begin by asserting that Genesis 3 is not a story about how a woman, Eve, brought about the fall of humankind. After all, J’s creation story (Gen 2:4-3:24) identifies the woman as the culmination —the absolute best — of God’s creation by placing Eve last as the pinnacle of the known universe. Rather, Genesis 3 and the fall of humankind is a story about how the natural world, symbolized by the talking serpent, is at odds with humankind’s supernatural relationship with God. The serpent, jealous at having earlier been presented to Adam but judged to be an unworthy companion, seeks revenge against the man and his eventual partner by tricking them both into eating the forbidden fruit.

As the story unfolds and the world’s first inhabitants break relationships with God and with one another, what is exceptional about the story is that God is faithful to redeem what has been severed. We see this truth in the Psalms where God promises to never forsake God’s relationship with Israel (Ps 98:3). We see it in the epistle to the Ephesians where God chooses humankind even before Creation (Eph 1:4). Then we see it most strikingly in the Gospel of Luke where God intervenes in human history as a human baby for the sake of the relationship between the Creator and the created (Lk 1:31).

This Advent Season, I am thinking of all the things that threaten to break or have broken my relationship with God. I am thinking about how studying for final exams, writing term papers, and submitting applications cause me to lose sight of the One for whom I do all this work. But then I go to the Divinity School and cannot get to class without being stopped in the halls and being hugged. I go to STM and cannot study for one uninterrupted hour without being asked how I can be prayed for that day. I cannot even go back to my own apartment after closing the library late at night and expect to not have friends there who want to debrief my long day. I am extremely blessed that God continues to intervene in my human history through my friends and family. God continually affirms and reifies my relationship with my Creator through them. On this 9th day of Advent, let us remember to take stock of how God is faithful in God’s relationship with us and how the Creator has already intervened, is intervening, and will continue to intervene in our human history.