Divine Mercy Sunday

I've been sick with a nasty cold - you name it, it included it. Due to this, my head is a bit fuzzy. So I am only going to share a brief reflection on the Divine Mercy.

Adam and Eve disobey God and eat from the forbidden tree and then, shamed, hide themselves and are rebuked and punished for thier sin. (Genesis 3)

Then the LORD God said: "See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever." The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken. When he expelled the man, he settled him east of the garden of Eden; and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen 3:22-24)

I remember reading and rereading the creation, the creation, the fall, etc. until I was sick of it. But something caught my attention anew about this part not long ago I would like to share.

I had always read Gen 3:22 as though God was upset that man might climb the heights of immortality and be in some way equal to God. It always came across in the translation to me as though God were jealously guarding his special status as knowledgable AND immortal. And hence God banishes the man and the woman. But here is the thing... Adam and Eve at this point are in a fallen, sinful state. IF they had eaten from the tree of life at that moment they would not go to heaven or be eternally happy but be damned to hell for their immortality would have been solidified in a fallen state. So it is actually not jealousy but MERCY that provokes God to exile his disobedient children and great care and concern for them that he places the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword to save them from immediate damnation. By NOT eating from the tree of life, they may yet be redeemed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.