It was a thought that tickled me too. The assertion of Genesis seems to be that Adam was never an owner whether in or out of Eden. The perpetual steward perhaps, but one thing that definitely changes is that instead of not having to worry about where the next meal will come from, Adam has been cast out into an ecosystem where he will have to compete for food even with thorny scrubs!

I see this understanding of ‘ownership vs. stewardship’ as issues that were alive and implicit still at the time of Jesus, with Jesus consistently pointing back to the original situation in Genesis as the ideal. But that’s being diachronic again.

For ancient agrarian civilisations, the king’s garden is a familiar theme, a place where no one else is allowed except for the favoured caretaker. The king will take his leisure there as and when he pleases. This in no way diminishes the fact that he anyway owns everything else in the kingdom too. 

Live to serve : Serve to live