A BETTER IDEA (Genesis 6:1-9:16)

We all know the story of Noah and the Ark because for some reason someone decided it was the perfect topic for children’s bedtime books. I suppose it’s the lovely animal illustrations, but it’s still pretty ghastly. God get’s the animals together two by two. – In the original a few actually came in sevens. – They enter the Ark with Noah and his family. The rain comes down, the flood comes up, and all the people, animals, insects and birds on earth, except those in the ark, are drowned. I’m surprised we ever got any sleep when I was a kid.

If we take this story too literally it all seems a bit far-fetched. If every species were reduced to one mated pair how could they possibly recover? Surely the lions and tigers would eat the puppies and lambs. And the subsequent genealogy has Abraham leaving the city of Haran, going to Egypt, and dealing with a Pharaoh 368 years after all civilizations, indeed almost all human and animal life on earth had been destroyed.

But there is something more here than facts of human history. These texts are grand, poetic reflections on the human condition: man, woman, birth, death, pride, humility, stewardship, and the unity of creation. They are concerned with questions of meaning and purpose. How should we relate to one another, and to creation in general? What are the consequences of unbridled human arrogance? Is there an overall plan and purpose into which we, who have such a God-like impact everywhere we go, must fit? And how do we properly relate to the ONE whose story this really is, and who, consequently, is the context in which what we do matters?

God chose Noah, as he had created Adam, to serve the creation. Adam was created to bless the garden, and Noah is called to bless the earth. And, as the direct descendants of both, we are created, not for ourselves but for others. This is how we find meaning in life.

After the flood God sets his bow in the clouds as a kind of peace memorial. (Genesis 9:11-13) He lays aside his weapon with a pledge that he will not make war of the earth like this again. Of course, the problem of pride and violence is not solved. Noah has barely left the ark when he is gets drunk and curses one of his children with a multi-generational curse. (Genesis 9:20-25) And soon the people are building a tower to proclaim their greatness. (Genesis 11:1-9) But destroying them is not the solution. God will confound their languages and scatter them over the face of the earth. And then, very quickly, he will begin a new project of care and redemption that will become the story of the Bible right down to Jesus and beyond.

God will choose one man and begin to develop a personal relationship with him. Through him he will establish a people, and the purpose of that people will be to bless all people everywhere. (Genesis 12:1-3)

Of course, they will continually fall prey to the arrogant assumption that they are the only ones God really cares about, loves, or deals with. But God will work with them patiently, as a parent works with children. He will take them as they are and teach them to walk and talk, love and forgive. As one of their teachers will remind them: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with... God. Micah 6:8

But why would God bother with all this? Considering all the terrible things we do, why keep us around? Well, I think the answer is so simple we’re inclined to miss it. God is our father and mother. He keeps us for the same reason any good parents keep a wayward child. He loves us.

Love is the greatest mystery of all, and the story of the Bible is the story of the lengths to which love will go. And besides, in spite of all that’s wrong with us, when we are just being ourselves, there really is something wonderful about human beings. Check out the link below and see what I mean.

North Point’s iBand -- Christmas

Next... USEFULNESS

LOVE FINDS A WAY (Genesis 4:17 – 6:8)

Cain went out and found a wife, or perhaps took her with him, and they had children. And Adam and Eve continued having children who went out and did the same. And on it went until there were lots of people everywhere, doing the things that people do.

God had said they’d be like him, and they certainly were like little gods. Lording it over the earth and one another, but not to serve and bless, as God did. Like Adam and Eve they were snatching whatever they desired and hiding from God and one another. And, like Cain, they were slaying their siblings.

Jabal, we’re told, was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother, Jubal (think “jubilee”) was the father of all who play the harp and flute. And Tubal-Cain was the first to forge tools out of bronze and iron. (Genesis 4:20-21)

If this sounds to us like a naive oversimplification it surely is. But this is how we deal with mysteries. Your daughter plays music just like the grandfather she never knew and you say, “She inherited that.” Your son or sister has a knack for building, hunting, painting, or just being funny and we observe, “It runs in the family.” Though naive and over simple, this is a profound insight. Those who do these things are part of a lineage (genetic, cultural, whatever), and they share a great heritage that reaches back to a beginning in the dark and distant past. But there is more. Lest we imagine that this is a guarantee of human progress, we are also told that the father of these three great innovators was Lamech, a vain and violent man who boasted of killing a young man (perhaps a child) for injuring him, and arrogantly declared that for him vengeance would be limitless.

The ability to accumulate knowledge and skill from generation to generation is a great human distinctive. In fact it has been said that human beings have moved beyond evolution, replacing it with innovation. But this story is a warning that all things human are cumulative. If the benign accumulates, so also the malignant. If not excised, like cancer, eventually the malignant will destroy everything. The earth is a little place, an oasis of order in a sea of chaos. If we do not fulfil our purpose as stewards of the earth, the havoc we wreak will eventually sink us. How contemporary is that?

And there is yet another question. How long can a loving God stand by and see his creation pillaged and raped, tortured and slain by those he created to love and nurture it? Are there limits beyond which mercy is not mercy, but negligence and even complicity? And is there a point at which death ceases to be the problem and becomes the solution?

... the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." Genesis 6: 7

How can God be grieved or even disappointed? Did he not see this coming all the time? Was it not planned out step by step? But here you have it just the same. God, at his wits’ end.

Can mercy stay God’s hand of judgement when only judgement can end the suffering of creation? So judgement becomes mercy, and mercy is at war within itself. There are no good choices here. This is a predicament, a quandary, a dilemma. But this was a chancy project from the beginning. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, if we should practice to conceive.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:8

In the end God will not utterly destroy the earth. Love finds a way through one faithful servant. But if this is mercy, it is a severe mercy.

Next... A BETTER IDEA

GONNA GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER (Genesis 3:23 – 4:17)

As they fled the garden and the presence of the Lord, everything became colder, darker, sharper, duller. The world became a hostile place. Oh, it was still full of joys and beauties, but things were not so simple, so transparent now. What lay behind the joys they could not know; and beauty camouflages many things. They had each other for warmth and comfort and reassurance, but now uneasily.

Adam looks away incessantly, she thought. His eyes flit here and there. How long before he finds another to comfort him? And will I know?

We logically object, “There are no others, what are you afraid of?” But fear has little to do with logic, and maybe she knows something we don’t know.

She’s beautiful! he exclaimed, but he said this in his mind. Somehow he was reluctant to proclaim it to her now. What if she laughs at me, or sees she has me at a disadvantage?

In love and fear they cling to one another. He enters into her and she to him. Again, though only fleetingly, they are two-in-one and one-in-two; like God, a oneness and a manyness. And from this precarious, blighted unity there issues forth another mystery; the two of them in one.

“God has given me a man-child!” Eve cried in anguish, and she thought, This must be what he meant when he warned me that my children would bring pain. And she called him Cain, which means “my possession”. A dubious beginning I’m afraid, but this was the first child; how could she know? – And Adam sighed and saw another hungry mouth to feed. – The second time it happened she called her child Abel, which means “transitory vapour”. We learn so much from our children. – And Adam sighed again.

Adam and Eve had many more children, so they must have been getting along tolerably well. The boys, however, were another story. Abel went into shepherding and Cain into farming, And, like herders and farmers forever, they never got along. They were brothers but that didn’t help. And one being called, to paraphrase “my very own”, and the other “passing through” probably didn’t help much either. And eventually that many-headed beast, religion, reared an ugly head. Cain brought grain to offer God and Abel brought a lamb. Somehow Cain felt his offering wasn’t good enough and, given the conflict he was having with his brother, he was surely right. So he murdered Abel. It must have seemed a good idea at the time, but it only made things worse. – Eve wept, and realized that this is what he meant.

Strange, but this is the prototypical murder, even today: usually domestic or among “loved ones”, generally male, and often territorial (economic, religious, political). Perhaps this is really what this story is about. This is what murder is, and how it works. And what happens next is also very instructive.

God showed up quite unexpectedly and asked Cain, “Where is your brother?” Cain retorted famously, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

This is a witty response; Abel was the keeper of flocks, not Cain. But it’s not a serious reply; it’s an evasion. God doesn’t take it seriously and neither should we. Cain had not failed to be his brother’s keeper, but his brother’s brother. And now Cain was “on the run” not just from God, from everyone.

But God set Cain apart, and somehow indicated that this murderer should not be executed for his crime. – God has always been full of surprises. – And he commanded Cain to flee from society and wander forever. But, instead, Cain went out and began to build the first city. – People have always been full of surprises.

If we just take this story at face value it’s very confusing. This is the first family on earth and, even if Adam and Eve had had a hundred kids, how could the first child be a farmer and the second a herder? Who were these people Cain would fear wherever he went? And how could he build a city? Obviously there is something more going on here than history. This is a reflection on the mystery of human life; its wonder and its brokenness. It’s a poetic discourse about the damage we do when, in our sin, we run and hide from God and one another. And it’s a prophetic declaration of the faithfulness of the one who follows us and just keeps showing up in the midst of our dysfunctional, beautiful, tragic, magnificent lives.

And he does keep showing up. And often uses dysfunctional, beautiful people just like us, to do it. Check out this link Messiah in the Mall. I think you’ll love it!!!

Next... love finds a way

SO, WHAT ON EARTH HAVE WE DONE?

The man and the woman (Adam and Eve) were brand new, mysteriously alive and aware in a world in which all their needs were met. They had God to watch over them like a mother, each other for company, good food to eat, and permission to do almost anything they could do. At this point they were more like brother and sister than husband and wife, because they were rather like children. In fact they remind us of ourselves when we were just starting out, before we had ever imagined that anything could go wrong, when we were yet innocent.

Now, many people ask, “Is this story true?”, and by this they mean, “Is it about something that actually happened to the first people God made thousands of years ago?” Obviously we could have a long discussion about this but, personally, I think it’s the wrong question. Adam and Eve are you and me, and the challenges they face are the challenges we face. Whatever this story might tell us about them, the important thing is what it tells us about us. And this goes for all the Bible stories, the ones that happened in history, and the ones that maybe didn’t. What we need to know is not the facts about how this or that took place or got started, but the truths about what things are and how they work in our lives. Mother, father, wife, husband, family, work, earth, plants, animals, sun, moon, stars, death and sin; these are the things you and I need to know about; that is, what they are and how to relate to them. And God, that great “Other” who is above and beyond it all? What am I to him, her or them, and he, she or they to me?

Well, I don’t know how long Adam and Eve managed to live in this world of innocence, this Paradise, but eventually they found themselves alone, gazing at the food they weren’t supposed to eat. It looked good, maybe even better than the food they were allowed to have.

God puts us in charge and then tells us what to do and not do. This hardly seems fair. God does whatever he wants, so if we do what we want we’ll be more like him. Perhaps he doesn’t want that. Perhaps he doesn’t really want what’s best for us. Maybe he doesn’t even know what’s best. Does he want to keep us small and inexperienced? Is he all about control and having everything for himself?

It was all kind of a blur. This was their chance so they reached out and grabbed it. No one was watching so they just took it. Nobody stopped them so they ate it. She went for it first, but he was close behind. Just a little thing really, but stolen. Just a quick look around, a sudden snatch, a greedy gulp, and it was over. Then, just as suddenly, they realized what they’d done; grabbing and taking, stealing and eating, not because they should but because they could.

Eve looked at herself and saw Adam looking. What if he grabbed me?, she thought. What if he took me just because he can?

Adam looked at himself as Eve stepped away. What does she say about me when I’m not there? Is she just pretending to love me, trying to control me?

So they took leaves and covered themselves, and they fled away and hid from each other. And the world was changed, no longer to be trusted, always and everywhere to be feared.

When God found them hiding he asked them what they’d done. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed a snake. The snake just sighed, and if he’d had shoulders I’m sure he’d have shrugged.

God felt sick about it all, but it was too late, the damage was done. “Your work will no longer be a game for you, Adam, but a trial. And, Eve, your children, the dolls that you dream of, will be pain. And the snake will be an enemy, and the whole natural world no longer a garden. It will be wonderful, but a wild place, and dying will be on your mind, and growing old, and going down to dust.”

And God made them proper clothes and sent them out of the garden. “There is no coming back for you now”, he said, “but the whole earth is set before you. Go, and fill it with your children.”

And, as they fled from his presence, they said to themselves, “Surely he will pursue us wherever we go. Oh, why do we fear him so?”

And, as God watched them go, he said to himself, “Surely I will pursue them wherever they go. Oh, why do I love them so?”

Next... gonna get worse before it gets better

THE CHANCIEST THING OF ALL (Genesis 1:26 – 2:25)

After God had made all of the plants and animals, birds and insects, he made a garden, a kind of outdoor laboratory where some of them could live together, learn to get along and behave in ways that bless one another. And then he said to himself, “We need a gardener to work with us and watch over everything. Someone who can make decisions and take responsibility for what happens here.”

People have always wondered why God said “we”. Some think he was talking to angels, but I don’t think so because they haven’t been introduced to the story yet. Others have wondered if he was talking to the things he’d created. I rather like that idea because it’s nice to think of God talking to his creatures, but it doesn’t really seem to me that this is something they were going to do together. No, I think it’s something we can sort of understand but not quite. I think there is only one God, so to say that God is more than one is too much. But – and this is just a guess of course – God is so great and magnificent that one isn’t really quite enough. There is a definite oneness about God, but there is a manyness too. This may be why most people have always thought that there are many gods. And it’s a funny thing, but the Hebrew word for God, the Old Testament word, is Elohim, a plural word. It really means Gods, even though the Bible always insists that he’s only one. More mystery.

Anyway, God made a man. He made him out of the soil, just as he had the animals and plants, and put him in charge of the garden. “Take care of it”, he told him, “and it will take care of you.”

God could see that the man was the kind of creature that needs someone to work with and share his life; the kind who shouldn’t be too much alone. So he made a partner for the man, a woman, and he made her out of the man because the man and woman were essentially and mysteriously one thing. He set some boundaries for the man and woman: told them to stay in the garden, to do their work together, and he told them what to eat and what not to eat.

Well, if we thought the sun and moon and stars seemed a little iffy, or if we were concerned about what might go wrong with the birds and plants and animals, we needn’t have bothered; it’s this new creature, this man/woman thing, that causes all the trouble. And, as we will see, even God eventually begins to have serious doubts about whether mankind was a good idea.

Of course, we need to be honest here. When we talk as though human beings might not have been worth the trouble, we’re sort of pretending. We can’t really imagine a world without us, but we have to admit that we have been a serious problem to God and the world and ourselves. It’s a kind of confession, like when we admit that we’ve caused a lot of grief to our parents, or friends, or spouse. It’s a way of saying that we’re grateful that they didn’t throw us our with the trash last Tuesday, and that we wouldn’t fault them if they had.

Confessions of this sort are a good thing, but they’re a bit dangerous in a way. If they’re real they invite an examination of how much trouble we’ve really been. It’s like opening a conversation with your mom and dad about your teen years and how much suffering you caused to those who love you. But, painful as it might be, it can help us understand how precious we actually are and how much we’re really worth, not just because of all the good things about us, but because we cost so much.

The Bible is the story of this conversation with our Father. It talks of the awful things we’ve done, and some pretty awesome things too. It talks of the mistakes we’ve made, and even some mistakes God may have made. – It’s a hard conversation for everyone. – But it also tells of how much God loves us, and what he’s done and suffered to stay connected. There’s a lot of bad news in this story, but good parents make good children, and if Shakespeare was right when he said “All’s well that ends well”, it’s good news in the end.

Next... so, what on earth have we done!