Today is the celebration of Trinity Sunday. It is often a Sunday of complete and utter pulpit boredom as the preacher tries to explain the inexplicable; as the preacher tries to tie down a God who refuses to be bound by the chains of a human wordsmith. So, I am not going to bore you with that sort of thing. The only thing that I am going to say about God as the Trinity is what is already apparent to us in the Holy Scriptures: that creation is a group effort within God.
Scriptures paint a picture of God the Father creating the heavens and the earth. Scriptures further puts details into that painting by talking about God’s Spirit, God’s breath, God wind, blowing over the chaotic waters to make order. And, the Gospel of John lets us know that the Word the Spirit breathes over the chaos waters to make order is indeed the one that we would later see as Jesus Christ, God’s Son. As I said, the actions of God are a group effort by the Father, the Word, who we experience as the Son, and Holy Spirit…the holy breath of God. When we say that God is the Trinity, we are saying that God’s work is a group effort of love.
That is just the base understanding though. There is something fun poking through the scriptures today and it is found in Genesis 1:26. For those of you who do not have your Bibles out, so that you can cheat, Genesis 1:26 comes after the light is made. It comes after the dome of sky above and sea below is established. It comes after the land and plants are called forth. It comes after sun, moon, and stars are created to take charge of everything above. It comes after the sea creatures and the birds are told to multiply. And, it comes after all of the animals are given the breath of life. The thing that woke me up as I read through these words of scripture comes from the following:
“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).
There is so much fun stuff to be explored in just these two
verses, but what specifically woke me up and caused me to pay attention were
the words, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and
let them have dominion” (Genesis 1:26).
God’s group effort to create life in the world includes one more
element: us. Humankind, male to female,
was created in God’s image. We were made
to be God’s extended presence on this earth, tasked to continue what God had
started: creating life and reducing the chaos.
I am going to stop right there, because I threw a lot of Bible at
you, and I just want to make sure that we are on the same page. You know that God has a long history in the
Bible of not liking idols. The idea that
God would come and possesses a piece of pottery that has been fashioned into a
bird or bull or some other animal is completely absurd to God. It is absurd because God has already
fashioned an idol in which God’s image is going to dwell: people. It is tragic that we would create an idol in
which God can dwell when God has already created one: us.
For years and years I was taught by some very meaningful Sunday
School teachers that humans are fundamentally flawed. There is so much wrong with us, I was taught,
that we have no hope. They also taught
us not to eat crayons, which is true.
Though it is true that we are flawed, the Bible seems to indicate
that God does have hope for us. God
created us to be like God. God created
us to continue God’s work of creating and peacemaking. With such a negative understanding of
humankind in my background, it honestly just blows me away that God chooses to
imprint God’s image in humankind; male to female. We are the image of God in which God’s Spirit
dwells. We are the ones who have been
given the task to make sure that life thrives and that the chaos of this world
is put into order.
So, it is no surprise that when Genesis envisions humankind as joining
God’s holy task we are asked to tend and expand a garden. Currently, it is spring when everyone is
finishing putting in their gardens, so this will all make a lot of sense. God’s sermon illustration of what our creative
task is all about looks like helping in God’s garden. Fundamentally, God has given us the ability
to find creative ways to plant things in gardens so that life and food can
flourish even more than they could out in the wild. We plant flowers to bring in the pollinators. We clear weeds so that vegetable plants can
grow and give food. And, we multiply
ourselves, as God commanded, so that more life, and more food, and more order
in this chaotic world can expand.
I just want to take a second to point out why I think Jesus cared
so much about the lowest people in society.
The lowest people in society, the peasants, are almost always the very
people who are getting their hands dirty and doing the tasks that God created
us to do. They are the ones planting our
fields. They are the ones caring for the
creatures, helping them to thrive. They
are the ones feeding and giving life to the world. We so often forget.
So often these workers of the soil are seen as grunt labor. So often our farmers are not given an
economic benefit that reflects their worth.
Our food workers are paid the lowest of wages, yet they are the ones who
reflect the image of God stated in the Bible.
Of course, Jesus is going to care about them! They are kindred spirits. They help to give life, and so does
Jesus. They are a holy image of the
divine.
As images of the Divine, we were made to preserve and help create
life, just as God does in creating the world.
We were made to bring order out of chaos, just as God does in this world. This partnership is the life that God desire
for us.
Though my Sunday School teachers failed to see humanity’s
potential in this positive way, they did see another truth about us: even
though we are images of God, we continually choose death over life. We choose chaos over peace. It did not take long before God’s created
images chose death rather than life.
Adam and Eve were shown two trees in the center of the garden; the tree
of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating of the first tree leads to life, and
eating of the second leads to death. You
tell me, which one did they choose? Just
as many children choose a cookie over cauliflower, or just as a certain pastor chooses
a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup over carrot sticks, Adam and Eve took and ate of
the tree that led to death.
The serpent told them that eating of the tree would make them like
God. The irony is that they already were
like God. It was after eating that they
were less so. And, after eating, people
would continue to choose death.
This is an extreme example, but I had a friend in college who
offered to share with me a really awesome substance that would open up my world
and open up my eyes. You had to smoke
it. I refused, of course, but this
friend was certain that their use of the substance was increasing their insight
and wisdom. They were certain that the
substance was giving them a type of life that no one else was able to
experience without the substance. And, I
am certain that they thought that was absolutely true…from their experience on
the inside.
But, I was not in their head.
I was not on the inside. I was on
the outside, and what I saw on the outside was their body literally losing
muscle mass, and their bank account being drained so that all they had to eat
was tomato soup, made with handfuls of free ketchup packets from the
convenience store mixed with warm water.
They were made in God’s image, but they were tricked into choosing death
instead of life.
We see that very thing happening as we go through the book of
Genesis; images of God who look nothing like God as they choose sin and
death. We see murder and deception. We see abuse of women and mistreatment of the
stranger. We see all of this death until
we finally get to Joseph. Finally, in
the last pages of Joseph’s story we get to see someone who stands as an image
of the divine. Facing a famine in the
land, Joseph oversees the gathering of food for seven years so that life can
thrive for the next seven. It is an
image of someone who is finally acting as an image of God. God has empowered Joseph to provide
food. God’s image burns within him, and
Joseph creates order in a time of great famine and chaos. Finally, we have an example of what it looks
like to live as the image of God.
Until…yes, there is always an “until.” I almost hate to point it out to you because
you will just become depressed. But, I
think that God desperately needs us to understand what is contrary to living as
an image of God. Here it is: Joseph
charges people to get the food that would save them. These people helped build up the stockpile,
yet they are charged in order to benefit from it. Not only that, when the people run out of
wealth to pay for food the Bible tells us that “Joseph bought all the land of Egypt [all of the land of the people] for
Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe
upon them; and the land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he made
slaves of them from one end of Egypt to the other” (Genesis 47:20-21).
Did you know that it was Joseph who brought
slavery to Egypt? This once harshly
enslaved individual is the one who brings slavery to Egypt. Joseph’s own people will eventually suffer
from this move, as they are enslaved by Egypt!
This image bearer of God throws dirt on God’s image.
Did God enslave those who God created? Did God charge to eat from the tree of life?
Of course not!
God made humanity to be beloved partners, not slaves. God planted a tree to give them life, not
strip their life away. We were created
to be a part of God’s group effort to create life and make order out of chaos.
Why do I bring this up?
First, I am certain that you can point out the Josephs who are out there
today. Who has the ability to create
life and make things good, but they cloud that goodness with greed or
selfishness? Maybe, those of us who are
capable of being honest with ourselves can even see the reflection of Joseph
within ourselves?
Do you want a better image?
Do you want to see an image of God that does not disappoint? Do you want to see an image of God worth
following, one that saves us instead of enslaving us; one that bleeds for us, and
leads us to life?
I know the story of someone who was able to walk on the waters of
chaos, and with a word still a furious, watery storm. I know the story of someone who was faced
with a sea of over 5,000 hungry people, who provided food…who provided the gift
of life…without asking for a cent. “And all ate
and were filled” (Matthew 14:20). I know the story of someone in whom God’s image
burned so clearly that when they were touched by him people fell down and
worshiped. I know the story of Jesus Christ,
who, when overcome by death on a tree, stretched out his arms and gave life to
the world. I know the story of Jesus
Christ who stretched his arms out to be the tree of life.
I kind of want to be like that guy! If I ever wonder exactly what it looks like
to be the image of God, I look to Jesus.
Since the Adams and Eves and Josephs in my life are a mixed bag, I look
to Jesus. I look to his image. And, I pray that when I do, his Spirit will
fill me and create at least a slight glimmer of an image of someone who is
invited into God’s group effort to create and preserve life; to create more
peace and less chaos.
A group of students in Argentina once came up to me while I was
visiting and said that they hoped we Americans could teach them how to be more
like Jesus. I looked at those students
who worked hard to fix up some rooms in the back of the church to house some
refugee students from Peru, who grew flowers and cut them to adorn the altar
and brighten the day of the poor on the streets, who cooked food from their
garden and invited everyone to eat; I looked at those students and said, “I
can’t teach you anything. You are the
image of Jesus. You are the image of
God. Be more like you.”
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