Have you had those moments when you hear a song we haven’t heard in 20 years and suddenly we’re back in high school? What about when you drive through an old neighborhood and slow down to look at the house where we grew up? We love nostalgia!

We love to pull out pictures from when our children were little and wonder where all the time went. There are things we say like, “Those were the good old days!” Or, we somehow look back on those days and only remember the sweet moments? There is something strange about the way human beings think about going back to a time when life was simpler.

What is it about home or a previous time in life that pulls on us? Surely, our longing for home is about more than a house or a city. Doesn’t it feel like somewhere deep within the human experience is a longing to return to a time where everything was familiar?

WE WERE CREATED WITH A HOME

The opening chapters of Genesis describe humanity at home. Adam and Eve are in a garden created by God. It’s in those pages we see meaningful work. They have everything they need. In fact, Scripture says they were “naked and unashamed.” Sounds like a good time!

We don’t see people worrying about bills or making up stories to impress their friends. There’s nobody visiting the hospital or counting calories. In fact, we don’t even see conversations about those things because everything is perfect. They are home.

But then Genesis 3 happens. Humanity decides we want God’s creation without God’s authority. Adam and Eve reject God, and sin fractures everything God created to be good. By the end of Genesis 3, God sends Adam and Eve out of the garden. Genesis says:

“Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden…”

And then the language gets even stronger:

“He drove out the man…”

God places cherubim and a flaming sword at the entrance, guarding the way to the tree of life. Adam and Eve can’t just turn around and go back, so that from that point forward humanity has lost its home.

WE KEEP TRYING TO GO BACK

I am sure there are some people who will be dismissive to those words in Genesis because the Bible is supposed to be outdated, archaic, and unable to relate to the challenges of modern people today, but we can’t deny the inner desire we have to go back. 

We love movies like Back to the Future. They resonate with our souls, because we love the possibility of being to go back. We love the idea of watching movies about history, and we love thinking about our friends from childhood and wondering, “What ever happened to so and so?”

Twenty-One Pilots has a hit song called “Stressed Out” and in the song there is a lyric that says:

Wish we could turn back time to the good old days
When our mama sang us to sleep, but now we’re stressed out
Used to play pretend, give each other different names
We would build a rocket ship, and then we’d fly it far away
Used to dream of outer space, but now they’re laughin’ at our face
Sayin’, “Wake up, you need to make money, ” yeah

Is it just people overwhelmed by stress? Maybe? But all those moments will allow us to remember a part of our story, but those memories never actually take us home. Maybe it’s because what we’re longing for isn’t really the old house, the old neighborhood, or the simpler season? Maybe we’re longing for what those things represent?

Skyler Grey wrote a song called, “Coming Home.”  In the song there are lyrics of wanting to go home to a place that was familiar and safe. It was a part of life where one would find rest and belonging.

A place where everything and everyone we love is finally where they’re supposed to be. And no matter how hard we try, we can’t quite get there, but Genesis 3 tells us why. It’s because we’re all living east of Eden.

HOME ISN’T JUST A PLACE

There’s also another problem. Even if we could somehow recreate everything exactly the way it used to be, it still wouldn’t completely satisfy us. Because the deepest loss in Genesis 3 wasn’t a garden or a location. Our deepest loss is the presence of God.

Adam and Eve didn’t merely lose beautiful scenery. They were driven away from the place where they had experienced unhindered life with their Creator. That’s the exile underneath all our other exiles. And humanity has been trying to find its way home ever since.

We begin by chasing after that best friend, and for a season a best friend can be incredibly meaningful. But inevitably there’s going to be cracks and fractures in those friendships that leave us in a place of loss.  As we get older we will try to replicate those pursuits with romantic relationships, goals and career objectives, but again, each of those will be met with different challenges.

Studies show that millennials love experiences. They coined the phrase FOMO because they didn’t want to miss out anything life has to offer. There’s nothing wrong with chasing after experiences, but inevitably those experiences will always leave us chasing after another experience. Because if our deepest problem is separation from God, changing our address won’t solve it. 

AND THEN JESUS SHOWS UP

This is what makes the words of Jesus so interesting. In John 14, Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to prepare a place for them. Thomas responds with the question humanity has been asking since Genesis 3: “How can we know the way?” And Jesus answers: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

Think about that. Humanity has been driven from the garden. The way back is guarded. We can’t become moral, successful, or religious enough to get back. And then Jesus says: “I am the way.” He doesn’t simply give us directions home.

Jesus becomes the way home. Genesis 3 ends with humanity being sent away because of our sin. At the cross, Jesus takes our sin upon Himself. He experiences rejection, suffering, death, and cries out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” In that moment, Jesus enters our exile so that exiles like us can be brought home.

The Way Home

The home we’re looking for isn’t our childhood house, or a memory of an easier part of life. We were created for life with God, and ever since Genesis 3 humanity has been trying to find its way home.

The next time an old song takes you back, or you drive through the old neighborhood and wish you could have that moment one more time, don’t be surprised by the ache. Maybe it’s a reminder that we were made to be at home with God? That’s the surprising hope of Jesus. We spend so much of our lives wishing we could go back, but Jesus doesn’t promise to take us backward. He promises to bring us home to the Father.