- I wrote this post a few years back and it is probably one of my own favorite posts. I, personally, come back to it at least once a year. It is mainly because the image (I have yet to find who to credit) grabbed my attention and the connections between Eve (the first woman) and Mary (the first mother) began to connect in my mind and heart. I hope that you, too, can appreciate the story told in that beautiful picture of two women, used so by God, to tell his story of eternal hope and redemption.
The image, above, tells the story of the Fall of humanity, Christmas and Easter in such a way that I am simply captivated.
Eve and Mary are characters essential to understanding the entrance of sin into the human condition, the coming of the Messiah and the redemption the world.
Eve, the mother of creation, the woman through whom God spread the seed of humankind, the taster of the fruit from the forbidden tree.
Mary, the young virgin mother of the Messiah. Through her was birthed the saving grace that would erase the the aftertaste of the fruit of the forbidden tree, forever.
They both said yes …
Eve (Genesis 3:6) was offered fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and she took it, because it looked good, and because she desired what God had, wisdom. She was the only woman.
Mary was not offered the opportunity to accept or reject her virgin conception through the Holy Spirit, for she was chosen (“you are chosen from among many women” v.28) yet she did accept it and, with that acceptance, whatever it meant for her life (“I am willing to be used of the Lord. Let it happen to me as you have said” v.38).
They both shared their tasks with their significant other …
It is interesting to me that it was not until Adam also ate of the fruit that “then the eyes of both of them were opened” (v.7).
Again a significant other was part of Mary’s story, as Joseph also had a job to do in the story, “and you are to give him the name Jesus” Matthew 1:21.
They both shared with all humanity …
Sadly, Eve’s desire for that lovely-looking fruit that would give her wisdom, only led to the fall of herself, and all who came after her. The seed of sin that she ingested, through the disobedience of she and Adam, has been birthed in every human since, except …
Jesus. All man, all God, the seed of Salvation of all humanity, birthed into life from the womb of Mary. The seed she carried was the only cure for the genetic predisposition to sin that we all are born with.
They both shared in the gift of life …
“Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). Though she symbolized the beginnings of human life, she was also a vessel through whom death entered our human experience.
Mary was a vessel as well, and through her son, life eternal was redeemed. She has been called the Ark (vessel) of the New Covenant, for she carried, not the law, but the fulfillment of it.
They shared the serpent …
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). For Eve, the serpent was a tempter, whose lies led her to destruction.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Though the serpent has been biting at our human heels for all time, the fruit of Mary’s womb, Jesus, came to crush it’s head and death itself … “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:22
They shared maternal heartache …
Eve suffered the heartache of the murder of her one son, at the hands of the other (in a sense, her own sin led his death).
Mary suffered the heartache of the murder of her son, by those he came to save (in a sense, her own obedience led to his death).
They shared something with each other that is shared with us all …
If Eve felt the heavy weight of the sin of the world, it is the weight in Mary’s womb that took it away. In this they, and we are redeemed people.
Merry Christmas to all!
itsawonderfilledlife 