Sermon For Ordinary Time 2 – Genesis 1:26-2:4

Genesis 1:26-2:4

I have been filling out summer camp paperwork lately. Lots of information about the kids, what they like, waivers for if they are injured, information about dietary restrictions, etc. But one that always sticks out to me, mainly because I have to look phone numbers up, is the emergency contacts. After me and Holland, who else can represent us? Who can speak for our child? This is especially important when it comes to medications that may need to be distributed at camp; can the camp nurse give aspirin, benadryl, or sudafed? Essentially, what we are being asked is, who is empowered to steward our children for us, and in what ways? We all do this with other things as well: teachers are empowered by parents to teach their kids and prevent misbehavior; a housesitter is empowered to care for a property and pets; someone who is granted a lease on a property is empowered to care for it and prevent wanton destruction.

Within such ideas we can see an echo of the true, intended purpose of humanity, what it means that we are made in the image of God, and what the call to “take dominion” over creation means. Genesis 1 presents humanity as unique in the creation, created to steward the world that God has created. Today, I shall argue that the creation was made as a gift for humanity to nurture as God’s representatives.

Emil Brunner once said, “The most powerful of all spiritual forces is man’s view of himself, the way in which he understands his nature and his destiny, indeed it is the one force which determines all the others which influence human life.” We are prompted to note the significance of humanity’s creation in Genesis 1 by the fact that we are the only part of the narrative where God’s intent is declared beforehand: “let us make humankind in our image.” In the original context, the “us” would have been understood as the heavenly court, angels surrounding God. The early church, of course, took it further to see it as a reflection of the Triune God acting in a unified will. What is key is that we possess something that nothing else in the creation does, the “image.” 

In the ancient world, this could mean many things. The “image” of a God was said to be various things, but primarily the images of idols, where the divine person of a god could be called down to inhabit the form. The word for image literally means in the majority of cases a crafted, shaped, physical form. The only other use is of kings, rulers with immense power who were said to be like the gods. In other words, this identity was restricted to a very specific, very narrow selection of objects or people. It is regal, sacred, and deeply profound, as it signified the representation of a god in the world. And thus we see the profound, gracious significance of what it means that we are the “image of God.” We are, essentially, priest-regents of God on earth. We are designed, crafted to be that which can worship God where animals cannot. We have the same basic urges as animals, for food or sex; but we also desire and pursue God, contact with the transcendent that lies beyond the reach of our senses. We are made to worship.

A few more thoughts on the image of God. First, what in every other ancient case is restricted to a narrow set, is democratized, applied to all humanity, without reservation or distinction. All humans, individually, are God’s image, and in the repeated phrase “bara” in the poem of vs. 26, are three times said to be created this way.

Secondly, it is for rulership over the creation that this is bestowed. In ancient myths, humans were created to serve the gods, an afterthought, but in Genesis, the creation is made for us, and we to rule it as representatives of God, the true images making God’s rulership present in the world. We are to “have dominion” and “subdue” the creation, and to “be fruitful and multiply” in it in order to do so.

There is a lot to unpack on this second point. “Dominion” and “subduing” need to be understood as the kind of control over creation that is expected out of those who do not own the thing controlled. The creation is not ours, but God’s, and our rule over it is as those who have someone to answer to. In the next chapter we will see it has more to do with “tending and keeping”, the type of care that is careful, nurturing, moving it towards a more beautiful and orderly end. Abuse of the creation through polluting it and ravaging the land for crops is out of the question. Our rape of the earth’s resources is shameful, and frankly we will get to live on the earth we deserve in the years to come. 

As for “being fruitful,” we must say a couple of things. On one level, this is a basic command that makes straightforward sense: species need to procreate to survive and spread, and thus the male/female design is basic to creation in order to produce the necessary propagation of the human race. Marriage and children is a blessing and fulfills an important calling in the image-bearing species of humanity.

However, let’s return to the concept of “image-bearing” and our third point, that the image-bearing of humanity does not distinguish between male and female. We are, individually, both fully autonomous image-bearing creations, whether man or woman. Each of us carries the dignity, honor, and grace of being God’s representative rulers on earth. And this does not rely on the basic relation of husband and wife alone. As St. Paul puts it in 1 Cor. 7, many of us are called to be single and that is honored and sanctified as well. A mother or father by birth may be good, but they may be terrible too. But in the Church, we, who are all made in God’s image and those who embrace that identity as the body of Christ, are empowered to be the family of all whom God brings. All may be spiritual mothers or fathers, brothers and sisters, able to guide and direct and nurture and help and bless the “found family” that God has brought into our lives. Most of all, we are made to be communal, to not be alone, but this is only in some cases solved by the marriage relationship; in the New Age of Christ, we are all to be a source of community, of deep understanding and meaning, of family to one another. And that image moves us to create, to craft, to take what God has made of nothing and craft it into something that makes the truth, goodness, and beauty of the world, more apparent to all, producing artifacts of humanity that reflect the stewardship God has bestowed upon us to take dominion and craft all that which we encounter. 

We, each and every one of us, is an image-bearing creature, a priest-regent that God has called to make his rule present on earth. And we do this in so many ways, our efforts as humans, God’s image-bearers, having the deepest dignity and honor. It is beautiful to see the ways in which God has blessed our work, the elevation of the arts and sciences that God has established by his own craftsmanship, we then producing the artifacts of humanity that reflect God’s image in us: when we write a lesson plan or article, we shape the world in a way that causes others to see it differently; when we build or restore something, we channel the crafting energy of God; when we paint or draw, we bring a new artifact into the world, a new thing that shows that we too are like God in our desire to beautify the world; when we homemake, or prune a tree, or cook, or sew, or garden, or use our imaginations to create games or worlds, we do what humans were made to do, if we do it unto God: take what God has created and offer it back up to him as what he is owed, our worship and praise. Whatever your life is, you are made in God’s image, you have the dignity and honor as God’s representative on earth. You, male or female, together or individually, are called and empowered to bless the world through your work, to bring newness into it, and even if few ever see it, you are fulfilling the vocation that God has called you to. The creation was made as a gift for humanity to nurture as God’s representatives. Receive and embrace the gift, see the wondrous beauty of your fellow humans around you, and do whatever God has called you to do to craft and beautify the world we have been given as stewards. And may our efforts, our loves, our work result in the blessing of many, the further fulfillment of what we are called to in Christ to shape this world into the temple of his worship, for ever and ever. Amen.