In the two Sundays leading to the Resurrection Sunday, let me speak on a two-part series I called, “The Long Road to Redemption.”
I titled the first part “The Good, the Bad, and the Life,” which sounds like the famous 1960s movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. However, ours is a real-life version that doesn’t get ugly but results in a beautiful life.
Before discussing the “Good” part, do you know why chickens scratch the ground?
I heard this folk story from my parents when I was a kid and, later, read it from a book of Philippine myths and legends during my primary years.
One day, a hawk flying about in the sky decided that he would like to marry a hen whom he often saw on earth. He flew down and searched until he found her and asked her to become his wife.
She consented that he would wait until she could grow wings like his so she might fly high. The hawk agreed to this and flew away, giving her a ring as an engagement present and telling her to take good care of it.
The hen was proud of the ring and placed it around her neck. The next day, however, she met the cock who looked at her in astonishment and said:
“Where did you get that ring? Do you not know that you promised to be my wife? You must not wear anyone else’s ring. Throw it away.”
And the hen threw away the beautiful ring.
Not long after this, the hawk came down, bringing beautiful feathers to dress the hen. When she saw him coming, she was frightened and ran to hide behind the door, but the hawk called her to see the beautiful dress he had brought her.
The hen came out, and the hawk immediately saw that the ring was gone.
“Where is the ring I gave you?” he asked. “Why do you not wear it?”
The hen was frightened and ashamed to tell the truth, so she answered:
“Oh, sir, yesterday when I was walking in the garden, I met a large snake, and he frightened me so that I ran as fast as I could to the house. Then I missed the ring and searched everywhere but couldn’t find it.
The hawk looked sharply at the hen, and he knew that she was deceiving him. Then he said to her:
“I did not believe that you could misbehave. When you have found the ring, I will come down again and make you my wife. But you must always scratch the ground to look for the ring as a punishment for breaking your promise. And every chicken of yours that I find, I shall snatch away.”
Then he flew away, and ever since, all the hens worldwide have been scratching to find the hawk’s ring.
Source: The story was taken from “The Hawk and the Hen,” a Visayan folktale compiled by Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales; Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co., 1916.
God created man and woman to be very GOOD (Genesis 1:26-27; 31)
The notion of being created in the “likeness” of God beautifully emphasizes the profound dignity and immeasurable worth of every human being.
The two critical trees in the middle of the garden (Genesis 2:8-9)
Genesis 2:8-9 says:
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In most illustrations and depictions of the creation in our Sunday schools or church presentations, we see only one tree with red fruits, often labelled as “apples” to simplify things.
The trees in God’s garden were pleasing to the eye and good for food. And yes, there were two trees in the middle of the plantation.
The BAD Fall
How the serpent tempted the women
- It casts doubt on the woman (3:1)
- It gave a dishonest affirmation (3:4-5).
MAN AND WOMAN – How the woman and man fell (3:6)
- By her senses, eyes and taste (3:6)
- By their ambition to be “like God” (3:6)
- By sharing the fruit of the forbidden tree (3:6)
How God responds to the bad fall
- Confronts them (3:9-13): Where are you?
- Stipulates the consequences (3:14-20)
The LIFE – “Redemption 101”
The Lord God is our Almighty Creator, and He cannot destroy what He created in His image.
So, God made garments of skin to clothe Adam and his wife. He affirmed that “the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil,” but He took away the privilege of eternal life.
Rediscovering the “LIFE” we lost
We are on a quest to rediscover and regain the “life” we lost because of Adam and Eve’s bad fall in the Garden of Eden.
Returning to our chicken story, we have had a similar experience to the chickens. In nature, chickens diligently scratch the ground to uncover nourishment for themselves and their young.
Isn’t this a reflection of most people today? They labor tirelessly, striving to carve out a living, yet many find themselves falling short of the rich, fulfilling life that God intended for them.
In contrast to chickens, which a lurking and preying hawk may hunt, we are embraced by the Almighty God, who longs to redeem us.
Ever since we fell from the garden, we have been engrossed in dealing with the good and evil of this world. Many are happy to be stuck believing life is about knowing what is good and bad for them.
The true meaning of life is not merely about identifying what is good and evil and choosing the good, but rather about being empowered to “reach out our hands, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”
Let us not neglect our need to focus on finding true life. We will conclude this series next Sunday.
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