Year 1, Day 2: Genesis 2

Creation, Revisited

Today we get to read the second account of creation.  Well, technically it isn’t a second account of creation.  This account is specifically focused on the creation of mankind (and to some extent the animals) whereas the account we read yesterday is focused on the creative process as a whole.

I expected to find in this passage something that I hinted at yesterday.  But today I just don’t find it.  I thought I would find a much more hierarchic order of the creation of mankind.  I thought I would find a “Man was created first/greater” and “Woman was created second/lesser” approach to the story.  You see, in my preparation for being a pastor I’ve been doing a ton of reading on the ordination of women.  One of the comments I keep coming across was that those people who read the Apostle Paul as forbidding women to be ordained believe that Paul gets his hierarchy out of this second Genesis story.  That argument may be true, but I personally don't see the order of man/woman to be the point of this story.

I think people that see this story that way are selling this story all-too-short.  While I'm on this rabbit trail, let me officially say that I don’t read Paul as forbidding the ordination of women as a general practice.  Rather, I find more evidence in Paul encouraging the inclusion of women and only excluding them in a case where such inclusion would cause other Christians to stumble.  But, that is a whole other argument for a whole other blog entry.

So, back on topic of Genesis 2 and the creation of man/woman.  What I found here in this passage is a reading that supports the unity that I spoke of in yesterday’s blog.  Look at what Genesis 2:18 says.  “It is not good for man to be alone.  I shall make a helper fit for him.”  Yes, the man was created first.  I get that.  But God recognizes that in creation man is not complete.  Mankind is only complete when God has also made woman. 

For the record, the same would be true had God created woman first.  Mankind would not be complete if only woman was created, either.  What is important in this chapter is not the order of the creation of man or woman.  What is important is to note that God only saw the creative process as being competed when both man and woman are made.

Now, this isn’t to say that a person can only find true fulfillment in marriage. Absolutely not!  While I personally enjoy my marriage and can say that I do feel more complete when I am spiritually in sync with my wife, I also know that Paul’s teaching on marriage is that those who are strong enough to not succumb to temptation are better off not being married!  Of course, this is largely because as soon as you get into a marital relationship with someone now you cannot be solely devoted to God’s will 24/7. 

But, again I have diverted this blog from the topic of Genesis.  Just remember this.  While I do think and believe that creation is only complete with the inclusion of man and woman, I do not teach that people find their ultimate fulfillment in marriage.  Some people do; others find living single every bit as much fulfilling.

God Rested

I seem to be looking at this passage in reverse today as well as being prone to rabbit trails.  I discover in writing this that I have completely ignored the beginning of this chapter.  I've ignored the fact that God rested on the seventh day.  Of course, here we have the pattern for the divine institution of Sabbath.  Yet, if we read this passage in light of Christ’s teachings we can avoid a common pitfall.  We know Jesus heals on the Sabbath and the Pharisees and Sadducees get upset about it.  The question then becomes – what are we supposed to do on the Sabbath? 

Is the Sabbath complete and utter rest as what seems to be portrayed in Genesis?  Or as Jesus intimates in the Gospel letters is it alright to get your oxen out of the ditch on the Sabbath?  Is it okay to heal the sick and comfort the inconsolable on the Sabbath?  Is some work okay and other work foul?  How are we to understand this concept of Sabbath?

I think the important part in Genesis is that we see God doing work every day - including the seventh.  However, on the day that God "rested" we see God doing a different – or separate – kind of work (one might remember that the word “holy” really only means “separate”).  God still works on the Sabbath (even if the work is rest).  The Bible does not say that God did nothing on the seventh day.  Rather, it says that God rested from the work of the other days.  The Sabbath is holy not because the other days are unholy.  Rather, the Sabbath is holy because the work God did on the Sabbath is different and separate from the work of the other days. 

In this understanding I think we can see Jesus’ teaching giving us the true meaning of Genesis.  Jesus is saying that there are 6 days to do the work of this world.  On the Sabbath, we must remember to do work that is separate from the world.  On the Sabbath, we do God’s work. 

So if that means working in the yard – or even (gasp!) mowing the lawn – do it in such a way that makes it God’s work and not the work of the world.  If it means visiting the sick, don’t just visit to get it checked off the list – do it in such a way to remind yourself and others that it is God’s work you are doing.  For me, that is the true meaning of Sabbath.  Yes, it is rest from the ways of this world.  But it is even more a holiness that comes from doing God’s work – a work that is separate from the work of this world.