Mar
18
Written by:
Joe.Albright
3/18/2009 5:09 PM
Martin Luther, once made the claim that God writes the gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, "Earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees takes off his shoes."
In the heart of the Bible, Psalm 8 echoes Genesis 1 by making a pretty stunning claim about the role of humanity in God's beautiful vast creation.
The poet says, "You have made human beings a little lower than angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands." This is language usually reserved for a
king - glory, honor, dominion.
In the ancient near east it was widely believed that kings - and only kings were made in the image of the gods they served. And that this image meant that they would do just as their god would do - that they would
act just as their god would act. But in Hebrew and Christian understanding all human beings are created in the image of God - not just kings.
That divine image is somehow reflected in all of us (maybe in our ability to love, in our ability to show compassion, in our ability to forgive, in our ability to create). And with that ability is the responsibility to do as God does.
The key word here is dominion - not a word we use a lot, is it?
But we know what it means. It means to have or authority over or to rule.
But our scripture doesn't understand dominion as domination - do whatever you want. It understands dominion - as stewardship/ care-taking / management.
We are to rule in the same way God would rule. We are to care and serve in the same way God would.
Our model for this of course is Jesus. Jesus shows us what God is like. Once, when talking to his disciples he said, "Among the gentiles (the Romans) their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants; But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to be
great among you must be your servant." Because we follow Jesus, we carry out our dominion, or our rule as servants, as care-takers.
On the other side of this, we need to recognize that these passages of scripture, where God has given us dominion over creation, have been used in a negative way. They have been used to justify exploitation.
The mentality has been, "God's given us the earth to do whatever we please. It's ours."
But that's missing something huge. Even though God has
given us dominion, the land, the earth, the creation still belongs to God. Our scriptures go a long way never to let us forget that.
Psalm 24 says "The earth is the Lord's and all that is
in it." The book of Leviticus (chapter 25:23) says, "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants.
Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land." God even commands us to give the land a rest - just as we are commanded to rest.
It's like God is saying - you get to stay here. Care for it as I would care for it. Delight in it as I would delight in it.
As people who are trying to follow Jesus, we don't care for the earth because we think we are going to solve the problem. We don't care for the earth because of the latest scientific studies or because it's become hip.
We care for the earth because God said to. We care for the earth because the way of Jesus is not apathy - but service and passion.
Jesus is passionate about this world. And as those who follow Jesus we are passionate about this world too.
Sometimes it feels like little things don't matter. But what if all of us, who follow Jesus cared? (According to the latest count there are 2.1 billion of us). ). What if we all became more aware, more thankful for all that we have? What if we all made conscious decisions to consider others who may need the resources? What if we all made conscious decisions to take small steps to care for this beautiful creation of which we are simply a part? What if..?
May you come to see that God has entrusted this beautiful, diverse, intricate creation to our care. It all belongs to God: the trees, the wind, the birds, the people, the animals, the mountains, the stars, the universe. In the book of Genesis we read that God spoke all of this into being and God said it is pleasing, it is beautiful, it is good! And here you go. take care of it for me.