As Jesus gripped a young olive tree for strength and prayed, he was rolling back a curse that started in another garden many years before. This first Garden had been planted and designed by the Lord for Adam and Eve to enjoy. Trees of perfect symmetry stretched to the sky. Bushes lush with berries lined the paths that marched straight from the center to the wide world. In the middle two fantastic trees reached closer to heaven than all the rest, the tree of life, transplanted from a heavenly tree, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Adam had been warned by God about the latter tree. No one was to eat of its fruit on pains of death. He wasn't sure what death was, but it sounded nasty. He, in turn, warned Eve, though his explanation of death was even weaker than the Lord's. The Lord, their Master, Creator and Friend came to them when they were resting in the evenings. His presence always brought celebration. He seemed to them like crackling lightning in a being shaped bottle, Yet his voice and manner was as gentle as a Father with newborns. He enquired about their activities and suggested new places to explore for the upcoming day. He seemed entranced by their doings and kept asking about children.
"Father, if there is any other way" Jesus begged and pleaded, "please, please let me do it."
Tired of exploring, Adam and Eve decided to stay close to home base. "Let's go down and get some fruit off the tree of life for lunch." Adam suggested.
"Ok." Eve agreed. This would give her another chance to look over both those lovely trees. After another hour of working the soil and planting some seedlings God had provided, the couple drank from a stream then meandered down the grassy boulevard toward the tree of life. "Race you!" Eve shouted as she took off hair flowing in the breeze.
"Hey, no fair!" Adam kicked hard after her. Eve touched the tree of life just a half second before Adam. Winded the pair slid to the bottom of the tree laughing and breathing hard. After catching his breath, Adam rose and plucked two golden orbs from the nearest branch. "Here's the bigger one for the winner." He proclaimed as he handed Eve her meal. No peeling was necessary, and the two delighted their bodies as they ate the fruit of life.
Jesus wanted to scream as a vision of the cup of His father's piled and distilled anger floated before him. His senses were assaulted with the vile odors of sin and the sulfurous response of God's anger. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't swallow all that puss covered, writhing, boiling, steaming and chunky brew. His stomach turned over and over and fear crawled down all his nerves.
As the first couple finished their lunch, a beautiful animal lithely entered the grove. Green iridescent scales covered a curvy body and wrapped around two very intelligent eyes. The pair stood. "Father Adam and Mother Eve" the creature addressed them. "Now that you have enjoyed the main course of your meal, I invite you to try this fruit for your just dessert."
"What is a dessert?" Eve wondered in response.
"Oh, our Lord hasn't told you about dessert?" The snake wondered amazed. "It is the crown of the meal, the best part, the sweetest part."
"I need no dessert, creature. I am satisfied with what the Lord has provided."
"I am sure, Father Adam." The reptile bowed. "What about you, Mother Eve, would you care to learn about something our Lord neglected to tell you about?" During this exchange Adam and paced off after a deer or another creature. Eve and the tempter stood alone in the Garden.
"Snake, your offer of dessert is interesting, but we are not to eat from this tree you suggest. The Lord told us it is dangerous to us. We shouldn't even touch it."
"I can't believe it. Why would our Lord say something like that about this lovely tree, I wonder?" As he questioned the snake wrapped himself around the trunk and slithered up to the first branch seeming deep in thought and unaware that he just touched the forbidden tree. "Let me see, Mother Eve, first you don't know about dessert, the best part of the meal, because God hasn't told you. And you can't eat from the best tree of the garden, because he has forbidden you. Why would the Lord treat you so, I wonder?" As the snake wondered Eve studied the tree of good and evil. It seemed strong and straight and its fruit looked bigger and juicier than what she had just eaten. "Mother Eve could it be that God is jealous of you? I think he keeps you from the fruit of this tree so you will never know evil, something he knows. He doesn't want you to gain this knowledge for then you would be so much more like him. Instead of planting his seeds, you could give him things to do as well with this knowledge that he withholds from you, the knowledge of evil.
Jesus struggled to get a hold of himself, of his thoughts and feelings and will. There in the dark he made a decision, "Not my will, but yours be done." The ghastly images fell away and Jesus retreated to the comfort of his friends.
Eve plucked a fruit and studied it. It seemed little different than what she had eaten just minutes before. Yet as she held the fruit in defiance of the Lord's and Adam's order, new feelings stirred in her. She, Mother Eve, would chart a new and better course for her people. Generations would thank her for daring the ban and eating the forbidden and gaining knowledge of evil. She looked at Adam as simple and saw the snake as wise. She brought the fruit to her nose. It smelled sweet. Why would the Lord keep such sweetness from them? "If he has kept this from you, what other delights might he be keeping only for himself, Mother Eve?" The snake whispered from overhead. She would know evil. With a swift fierce bite it was done. sunny sweetness and full bodies sourness exploded on her taste buds. She almost gagged. "Chew my dear, chew." Her jaws worked and cleared the first bite of evil from her mouth. She wanted more.
Jesus' retreat was short lived. All those who had come with him were asleep. In almost panic she shook Peter awake. "What's the matter with you? You couldn't watch one lousy hour with me." Peter's face fell under the weight of sadness. "Pray Peter. I see you are willing, but your body is weak." Jesus stalked back to his own grove. Once again the cup appeared and was set in his hands. "I can hold it, if I must, but do I have to drink it? Do I have to take this vileness into my soul? Do I have to be crushed under Your judgment? Will you even be there, my Father?" Once again fear and despair sped through his body like chains on a prisoner. As Jesus continued to argue and plead his sweat mingled with the blood of his capillaries bursting under the strain.
Eve did NOT like the way Adam was looking at her. No sooner had he finished his dessert than he started chasing her and not in fun. No he was desperate to possess her and she wanted none of it. Finally she got far enough ahead of him to put some large leaves over the parts of her body that he wanted the most. That slowed him down. Adam decided to do the same. They spent the rest of the day in uncomfortable silence, eating from the tree and sleeping. No more seeds got planted.
They woke with a start. The trumpet from the sky was announcing the Lord's arrival. "Quick, Eve, we have to hide!" They scrambled away and climbed into a tight grove of olive trees. Soon they heard God's voice calling for them, searching.
"Good" Eve thought, "maybe there are some facts God doesn't know." Yet within minutes God stood before them and their world fell apart. Adam turned on Eve, Eve blamed the snake. God explained evil and death in terms they could understand as He handed out curses and drove them from His presence. The joyous Garden of Eden disappeared, blocked by two ominous angels. Adam and Eve now knew evil.
Jesus' prayers received no answers. There was no other answer to the cup, than to drink it. He walked away a second time and found his crew still asleep. He returned once more to see if the Father had found any other way. No. Drenched in sweat and shaking from the emotional effort Jesus stood and declared, "Not my will, but Yours Father God be done." In that declaration of obedient love Jesus began to roll back the curses initiated with Adam and Eve.
