阅读经文 

起初神创造祂的新天地时，祂造了一个园子，供祂与人类一起在爱中生活。神希望人类兴旺，祂希望被创造的世界也会因他们的治理得以兴旺。住在伊甸园的人类与其他受造物和谐地一起生活、一起侍奉神和与神相交。

人类可以随意吃任何树上的果子——惟有分别善恶树上的果子不可吃。你大概已经知道这个故事的下文了——人类背叛了神、吃了不应吃的果子，结果使神创造的美好世界陷入大混乱中。（参创 3）

神既吩咐他们不可吃这果子，他们为什么仍要吃呢？因为，一切都是从试探和欲望开始的；他们受到试探，以为那果子能令他们像神那样分别善恶，他们便开始渴望去做神禁止他们做的事了。他们受到试探，误以为神不让他们得到最好的事物。

在主餐中，神实际上在说：“我并非不让你们得到好的东西。你们看，像古时一样，我赐你们上好的美物、来医治和喂养你们。因着我手中所赐的美物，惟愿你们明白，若离开我的爱，你们是无法兴旺的。”

In the beginning, as God developed his new world, he formed a garden in which he could live in loving partnership with human beings. God wanted humans to flourish, and he wanted creation to flourish through their care for it. In the Garden of Eden human beings lived together in harmony with the rest of creation, serving and communing with God.

There humans were free to eat from any tree they wanted—except one called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Maybe you know how this story goes—humans disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, bringing chaos into God's good world (Genesis 3).

Why did they eat the fruit when they were told not to? Well, it all began with temptation and desire. They were tempted to think that the fruit would make them like God, knowing good and evil, and they began desiring what was forbidden. They were tempted to think that God was keeping good things from them.

In the Lord's Supper, God is saying, essentially, "No, I am not keeping good things from you. See, just as I did long ago, I give you good things to eat, to heal you and to nourish you. By this gift from my hand, may you realize that you cannot flourish apart from my love."