Genesis: Calling, Trust, Uncertainty

As Maronite Catholic Christians, how do we read the Sacred Scriptures, indeed how do we experience them as the “living” Word of God.  First, we must remember they are “books”; Ta Biblia in Greek means, “the books”.  Secondly, being that they were complied over many centuries, the original languages of Hebrew and Greek developed over time.  From the archaic Hebrew of Job, to the almost classical Greek of the Epistle to the Hebrews.  Thirdly, and most importantly they are the “inspired Word of God”.  The Word of God that inspired a Chosen People, who over-time were given law, ritual, and written text by inspired writers; and the “Word became Flesh”!

Calling:  “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” [Genesis,1:26, 27]

Our calling as human beings is rooted in the uniqueness of being created in the image and likeness of God.  Also, we were given dominion over the rest of God’s creation; meaning if God is a “Just Ruler” over us, we must act in a just way in our administration over God’s creation.  What does this further mean? It means that God in creating us, gave us the capacity to be “moral beings”, to be God’s living images to creation, to be beings of “love”.   

Trust: “Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” [Genesis 2:23,24]

Love involves trust, at possibly the most highest level.  The Genesis story of the creation of man and woman; Adam and Eve is a revelation that love is realized in trust. 

God trusted Adam enough to give him dominion over his creation; God trusted that his love for Adam would be realized in his stewardship over the rest of his creation.  Ultimately, his love and trust for Adam became embodied, indeed, in-fleshed in Eve; one who was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.  

The loving trust between the Man and the Woman; Adam and Eve, would allow them to love like their Creator, and not only have dominion over Creation, but actually to participate in the creation of other human beings.          

Uncertainty: But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” [Genesis 3:9-11]

The Fall of Adam and Eve is a revelation of the nature of sin.  That in is core, sin arises from disobedience toward God, a disobedience that is rooted in the temptation to be god-like, to the point of seeking to be the author of what is right and wrong, instead of trusting in God’s word of truth, justice, and what is morally right.  

Due to this disobedience human beings must live in the midst of the rest of creation, therefore, making their divine intended mastering of creation a difficulty and a challenge.  

This Fall is given even deeper meaning in the story of Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve.  

“The LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’ Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?’ And the LORD said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground!  And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.  When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’” [Genesis 4:6-12]

Fratricide (fratricidium, the act of killing a brother), exposes the depth of the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  The disobedience of the parents, leading them to be exiled into the world, therefore, their children come to behave like other animals, to the point of killing the brother for one’s own selfish motives.  

Conclusion: “When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God.” [Genesis 5:1] 

We know even in the midst of our sometime uncertainty, that the promises of God are irrevocable.  We human beings are still and will always be “images and likenesses of God”, meaning we have the capacity to “love one another” as God has loved us.  This is our calling, to be images of God, people of love.  This is why we exalt those who most closely mirror our Lord Jesus, the “Word made Flesh”.  Why we exhault the Most Holy (Theotokos) Mother of God, the martyrs, and the saints.  

- Rev. David A. Fisher