Being, For the World, Pt. 1

Have you ever looked at the first four narratives of Genesis? I mean really read, really engaged the text. Have you looked at them as more than just stories that we teach our children and thought of them as setting the foundation and trajectory of the entire canon? Scripture begins relationally; it paints the picture of God and humanity in relationship. God got his hands dirty and planted a garden; then he asked Adam to help care for it. God knew Adam. He understood his needs, that it was ‘not good that the man should be alone.’ God, the creator, shared in an intimate relationship with his creation. You might even say that being was about communion, about relationship with God and with all of God’s creation. God walked through the garden, fellowshipping with Adam and Eve. Then, in a tragic turn of events, humanity broke that relationship, turning their backs on God. Their being was no longer about relationship, but about their own self-centered and prideful desires.

I would imagine that could have been the end. The story could have ended with the swift impending judgment of God. After all, God did tell them, you eat the fruit, you even touch it, and you will surely die. But suddenly, an unexpected twist shocks our imaginations. God not only allows Adam and Eve to live, but in an astounding act of grace, God weaves them clothes of animal skins to cover their nakedness. God, longing to mend the severed relationship between himself and creation, emerges as the giver of grace.

It is just the beginning. Next is the first case of fratricide. After Cain kills his brother Abel, the grace of God breaks into the narrative, as God protects Cain by giving him a protective mark. God’s grace comes to creation through Noah as life continues through his family and the other creatures that are saved in the ark. Finally, at Babel, humanity once again turned to its own ways, exploiting its being for its own sake, trying to ‘make a name for ourselves.’ God confused their language and scattered the people over the face of all the earth. We desperately search through the narrative, trying to find the sign of grace from God, but all we find is another genealogy, another list of ‘begats.’ Where is the grace of God? Has he given up hope of having a relationship with humanity?

As we keep reading the narrative, we hear a voice crying out with a resounding “NO! I have not given up!” The blurry image of hopelessness from the last scene begins to shift as the camera focuses in on a new scene, a new chapter of grace in the story. Out of the murky quagmire of Babel, God calls Abram. Through him, through his descendants, ‘all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It is grace, pure, unexpected grace.

What is the purpose of our being? God called Israel into being, not just to be God’s chosen people. God called Israel to be his people for the world, for the sake of all peoples and all nations. God called Israel to be a living reality of the presence of God in the world and to help God in the process of restoring God’s communion with all the families of the earth. He did not call Israel into being for Israel’s own sake; God called them into being for a broken world. What does that say to us about our calling as a church, as those called to be the people of God?