Day Thirty-Four, Saturday
Today’s song is not one I would choose to listen to devotionally.
It is not a worship song. It is not a happy song. But it is an important song, a powerful song.
Tomorrow we will begin Holy Week with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is called “triumphal” for a couple of different reasons: it’s triumphal in the eyes of the crowd, many of whom mistakenly think Jesus has arrived to reclaim Jerusalem from Roman oppression. But the real triumph of the moment is only seen in retrospect: we know why Jesus has come to the city. We know he is there to lay down his life for the sins of the world, and that is the real victory.
But in order for us to fully grasp that victory, it is important to first consider the depth of the defeat. What we watch unfold during Holy Week is an undoing of a curse that has existed since the very beginning of time. We tend to think of sin’s defeat in terms of our own experience of it, and that is certainly the heart of the gospel, but to understand the magnitude of what happens on the cross we should first remember the magnitude of what happened in the garden.
Some people don’t like stories or lyrics that put words into biblical characters’ mouths that don’t appear in the original texts, but today’s song offers us a deeply significant perspective that is worth the creative license. It’s the heart’s cry of the first woman following the fall, lamenting the choices that led to humanity’s separation from God. They are words that echo all of us who have given in to the temptation to live our lives outside the boundaries God has set:
Did He really say it? Why is He keeping you down?
Don’t you want to taste it? Freedom without Him around?
Don’t you want to know? Don’t you want to choose?
You want it, don’t you? Don’t you?
That voice speaks to all of us at one time or another. For some of us it can seem a constant presence. And yet we all know the dark side of the invitation: the freedom offered is never the freedom experienced. It has been that way since the beginning:
Shame the venom running through my veins
A curse, a cancer and my death
That death first experienced in the garden is humanity’s burden, and this lament reminds us that the weight of that would not have been lost on the first humans:
And every child of mine, will feel the serpent’s bite
The Apostle Paul spoke to this truth in 1 Corinthians when he reminds us that “Adam brought death to all of us” (1 Cor. 15:22a, CEV). But just as the garden makes death our burden, the cross makes life our gift. Paul goes on to say “Christ will bring life to all of us.” (1 Cor. 15:22b, CEV). This promise of victory over sin and death was there from the very beginning:
And every child of mine, will feel the serpent’s bite
But one will crush his head (Gen. 3:15)
The songwriter makes this promise a plea from Eve:
Oh come and crush his head
Oh come and crush his head!
Crush his head!
That is our cry as we approach Calvary with Jesus. We are watching the unfolding of a promise that has existed since the fall: that God would not let sin and death have the final word over humanity. The death that Jesus accepts as God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane is the fulfillment of a prophecy spoken in the Garden of Eden: the serpent’s head is being crushed, and the shame felt so deeply in Eve’s Lament is finally lifted after countless generations of waiting.
As we prepare for what the coming days hold, we’re invited today to consider the full weight of what is happening. We do that by entering into the full weight of the fall. Only then can we appreciate the full victory of the cross.
Read the rest of the lyrics here.
Questions for Reflection:
1) As you consider your own sin and need for repentance during Lent, do you ever find yourself also feeling the weight of sin in the larger world? How might we bring that awareness to God, lamenting and yet hoping?
2) The questions of temptation asked in the song speak to the root of sin. Do you find temptation coming to you with similar questions? Bring any of these that resonate with your own journey of temptation to God in prayer.
Did He really say it? Why is He keeping you down?
Don’t you want to taste it? Freedom without Him around?
Don’t you want to know? Don’t you want to choose?
You want it, don’t you? Don’t you?
3) The serpent begins his temptation by causing the woman to doubt God’s word to them. How have you found God’s word a buffer against temptation? Spend some time in prayer asking God to ‘hide it in your heart” (Psalm 119:11) more deeply and richly so that you might, as Jesus did, answer the tempter’s false promises with the unfailing promises of God.
4) How might you best prepare for the journey of Holy Week? Is there a specific practice or marker you can use to set this week apart from others?
5) Read and reflect on these verses. Let them lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:
“So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”—Romans 5:18-19 (CSB)