Eve
“Mary and Eve” by Sr. Grace Remington, reprinted with permission.
Genesis 3:8-24
“Eve, my sister
The one who took the fall
Eve, my sister
Mother of us all
Lift up your head
Don’t hide your blushing face
The promised One
Is finally on His way”
(“Mary Consoles Eve” by Rain for Roots)
Advent is often described as a season of waiting, anticipating, looking ahead. Our hoping and our longing must be informed by the past, by those who have waited in faith before us. These people are companions in our celebration of Advent. And, in fact, Advent begins in the garden. Our hope, our longing begins in paradise. Our celebration of Jesus’ arrival at Christmas ought to begin with Eve.
The story of creation is probably somewhat familiar to most of us. God fashions everything out of nothing. Man and woman are gloriously created in God’s image to demonstrate God’s gracious love and care for all that he has made. When God creates Eve, the Hebrew word ezer is used to describe her as “strong helper;” ezer is used to describe God as our helper in trouble, a warrior in battle. And yet, in spite of all of this fullness and joy, sin and Satan enter in. Adam and Eve chose to listen to the words of the deceiving snake and disobey God’s command.
In the midst of their sin and shame, God seeks and finds Adam and Eve. God pronounces words of judgement against the serpent, but also describes words of comfort and hope for Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:15 states,“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”This verse is known as the protoevangelion, literally, “the first gospel”. Martin Luther beautifully describes this promise of hope this way: “Here grace and mercy begin to shine forth… Here in the midst of most serious threats, the Father reveals his heart.”
God makes a promise that he has a plan for deliverance while still demonstrating that the gravity of sin requires cursing and judgment. God goes on to describe the realities of breakdown that mankind will experience because of sin. Life will not be easy—we will experience pain, toil, and frustration in the world, our work, and our relationships. To the woman, God particularly addresses the pain of childbirth even when his promise is connected to the arrival of her offspring. God will bring his redemption even through our pain.
It is after these verses in Genesis 3, that we finally discover that the woman is called Eve. After the fall of humanity, after the breakdown of sin, after the judgment, after the promise, but before she is the mother of anybody, Eve is called the “mother of all living.” She faithfully embraces this identity because God will fulfill his promise.
She believed that she would be the “mother of all the living” even hoping that her first son Cain would be the promised one. At the birth of Cain, Eve is delighted when she exclaims“I have gotten the man with the help of the LORD” (Genesis 4:1). But this child Cain, this seed of the woman, was not the one that God would send. And still, Eve waited on the promise.
Eve is our champion in waiting. She did not see the full deliverance of the crushing of the serpent's head, but her eyes were fixed in faith on God who would bring forth her seed. The painting of Mary and Eve by Sister Grace Remington gives us a beautiful image of Eve’s waiting and longing for God’s rescue. Rain for Roots sings, “Eve, my sister, Mother of us all, Lift up your head, don’t hide your blushing face. The promised One is finally on His way.”
Much like Eve, we live in age of waiting. Advent helps us connect with the fact that our rescue has come in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus Christ has crushed the head of the serpent—but there is more. Mankind waits for the second coming of Christ, the offspring of Eve, who will fully and finally crush the head of the serpent. We wait knowing the heart of the loving Father who always keeps his promises.