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Previous posts in this series: 1, 2, 3, 4

So far we have talked about the creation as a beginning of God’s gracious work (1).  We have noted the desolation into which the creation story was told proclaiming a God who calls forth a good and gracious world from just such desolation (2).  We have seen that the creation without violence is God’s ongoing and promised work (3), and that the sun, moon, and stars go nameless: they are lights in the sky not deities to be feared and served (4).  

Genesis 1:26

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.”

Technically, I have dominion over my dogs, although I wouldn’t normally use that word.  I feed them.  I give them water.  I take them on walks.  I bathe them when necessary and take them to the vet for their vaccinations, their checkups, and if I should see anything wrong.  I’m responsible for them, and therefore I give of my time, my energy, my resources.  I sacrifice for them.  

Dominion is an entirely different thing than domination.  They are not mine to plunder for my wealth or pleasure.  They are in my care.

When my friend leaves her dog with me when she travels, I have dominion over her pup, too.  I am responsible for all those things I’ve mentioned about my own animals – and there’s an even greater sense of responsibility because it’s not my dog.

The birds in my back yard aren’t my birds.  Neither are the bees who visit my flowers.

If I owned property in the mountains, the forest wouldn’t be my my forest.  I did not call forth these ancient and majestic living things.  The forest would have been entrusted to my care. 

Members of our parish used to go up to the church camp in Michigan each fall and cut down trees for the camp to use as firewood.  But the trees they cut down were ones that had been marked for thinning to help strengthen and preserve the forest.  Managing a forest takes knowledge and skill – and we called upon people with just such knowledge and skill. 

Managing my puppies takes knowledge and skill – and thankfully there are people with such knowledge.

The dominion given to humanity is the dominion of shepherds watching over a flock that belongs to someone else.  It is a dominion given to us by a “dominus” – a lord – to whom the world belongs.    And the “dominus” has been revealed in the Law and the Prophets and above all in Jesus as a good shepherd, a noble shepherd, one who lays down his life for the flock.

When this text, through which, we confess, the eternal encounters us, says that we are made in the image of God it means we are made to be good shepherds – good shepherds of our lives, our families, our neighbors, our world.  

Loving our neighbors is here in the very beginning.  And the next chapter of Genesis will describe us as God’s gardeners.  We bear the image of the divine.  And we have work to do.

Breath of Life, 
Eternal Shepherd,
let your image in us shine.

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New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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