GENESIS 2:18-24

THE BACKGROUND

The first book of the bible begins with two creation stories.  In many ways, they contradict one another.  But that doesn’t matter, as long as you are looking for the God lesson in each.  The second creation story begins with Genesis 2:4.  This is the beginning of the story of Adam and Eve.  We join this story in progress.  In the first part of this story, God first creates the earth, then Adam. Then, He creates plants and trees, including the tree of knowledge and evil.   God tells Adam not to eat the fruit of this tree.

THE DETAIL

  • God realizes that Adam is alone, and needs companionship.  He needs a helper.  (v. 18)
  • So, God creates the animals, including birds, cattle, etc.  Interestingly, God brought each to the man for him to name.  Naming signifies a certain degree of dominance. It’s like how we name a pet when we bring it into our home, to make it our own.  (vv. 19-20a)
  • But there’s a problem. None of these is an adequate partner for the man.  (v. 20b)
  • God’s solution is to perform surgery on the man.  He anesthetizes the man, removes something from him, and uses it to make a woman. We all say that this thing God removes from the man is a rib.  But the translation is not clear on that.  Since tradition has chosen the rib as the body part, we’ll stick with that. (vv. 21-22)
  • The man likes what he sees!  He says “Finally, someone like me” (sort of, but a little different).  He names her “Woman”.  (v. 23)
  • The concluding verse is the key link to today’s gospel lesson.  The above story explains why a man and woman leave their parental homes, and become “one flesh”.  That expression has an obvious and intentional sexual insinuation.  (v. 24)

THE TAKEAWAY

For those of us who have had a good married relationship, we know the truth in verse 18.  It is not good for us to live alone.  Within the framework of a committed relationship, love grows.  We become a team.  We become one flesh, not only in bed, but in our daily lives.  This is what God wills for everyone—to live together as a loving, married couple.

 

HEBREWS 1:1-4, 2:5-12

THE BACKGROUND

Have you ever experienced something remarkable or unexplainable that took you a while to figure out?  This is what happened after Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  It was like they said “Wow!  What was that?”  People’s reactions and understanding varied.  The apostle Paul wrote many letters, in part to explain the significance of Jesus’ life.  The writer of Hebrews does the same.  But in this case he is writing to the Jewish community.  He is explaining the meaning of Jesus’ life from a Hebrew perspective. We will be studying this book for several weeks.  During this time, we will learn a little about Jesus’ impact on the Jewish-Christian community.  In order to do this, we’ll need a little “Hebrews 101” lesson, but not today. Today’s selection is of a sort of an introduction.  Please note that reading the book of Hebrews takes a lot of concentration.  I will do my best to navigate us through this.

THE DETAIL

  • The book begins with a “once upon a time” statement.  Once upon a time, God spoke to us through the prophets… (v. 1)
  • But NOW (2,000 years ago), God has spoken to us through his very Son.  This Son is the heir of all things, and was there at the beginning of creation.  (v. 2)
  • Verse three is a biggie, and needs to be broken down.  Jesus is:
    • The reflection of God’s glory
    • The exact imprint of God’s very being
    • He sustains (gives life) to all things through his word
    • He sat down beside the Father, once his mission was complete
  • Jesus’ position in the heavenly hierarchy places him above the angels, second only to God the Father.  (v. 4)
  • Next, we learn that the angels do not have control of our world, we humans do.  (vv. 2:5-8)
  • But, for a little while, God changed this hierarchical order when Jesus took human form and walked with us.  (He was “below the angels” during his incarnation.)  (v. 9a)
  • Now, after his suffering and death, he has tasted death for everyone and is now crowned with glory.  (v. 9b)
  • Jesus is the pioneer of our salvation, through whom we receive the glory to be called God’s children. (v. 10)
  • The one who sanctifies* (Jesus) and those who are sanctified (us) all have one Father. Jesus is proud to call us his brothers and sisters!  (vv. 11-12)

* to sanctify = to make holy

 

THE TAKEAWAY

This passage sets things in order:  God the Father, followed by the Son.  Next come the angels, followed by us humans.  But God sent his Son to teach us and give us God’s life-sustaining word. Now, he is back home in heaven, and we are left in charge. 

 

FOOD FOR TOUGHT

Now that we are in charge of this world, what shall we do? Satisfy our personal longings, or live our lives the way Jesus did?
 

MARK 10:2-16

THE BACKGROUND

Jesus has been teaching the disciples and everyone around him about the Kingdom of God.  Along with his teaching, he is miraculously healing many. He has caught the attention of the established religious authorities.  Today’s gospel lesson is one of the many challenges they threw down to trap him.

THE DETAIL

  • This time the Pharisees challenge him with a question about divorce—“is it lawful?”  (v. 2)
  • They knew the answer, of course, so Jesus turns the question back to them.  They answer correctly.  (vv. 3-4)
  • Next, Jesus raises the bar.  He says that God provided this law to Moses, because of their hardness of heart.  This is significant.  We’ll discuss it further in the takeaway.  (v. 5)
  • Jesus goes on to remind them of God’s intent from the very beginning.  That “the two shall become one flesh” and no one shall separate them.  (vv. 6-9)
  • When he is alone with the disciples, he raises the bar even further.  (vv. 10-12)
  • Then, in a seemingly unrelated move, he rebukes the disciples for sending little children away from Jesus.  He says that we all need to receive the kingdom of God as a little child, in order to enter it.  More on this below.  (vv. 13-16)

THE TAKEAWAY

Let’s take the last point first.  After all, it’s a biblical concept.  Jesus again talks about being like a little child, in order to enter the kingdom.  A couple of weeks ago, we learned that children were not as cherished as they are these days; they were tolerated.  They were low on the totem pole.  Jesus is reminding his disciples to live the Christian ideal of being the servant of all. 

In verse five, Jesus says that God gave a law to Moses, because of the peoples’ “hardness of heart”. What might this mean?  I take it that God’s ideal would be for married couples to remain married.  But at the urging of the people, and the realities of life on earth, He was persuaded to allow divorce, under certain conditions.

Jesus taught us many things about the Kingdom of God.  He taught us that in this kingdom, we would forsake the flock the earnestly seek out every single lost sheep.  He taught us that the poor are more blessed than the rich, meek more blessed than the bold, etc.  He taught us that we should be ready to give our lives for him and the gospel (Mk. 8:35). We should rid ourselves of our material possessions, and follow him (Mk. 10:21).  And, we should live our lives as though we were the slaves of others (Mk. 10:43-44).  I truly believe that God wants us Christians to live our lives according to this model. But our hearts are also hardened by “real life”.  None of us is ready to give up everything we own, or be a slave to everyone—especially the meek, the poor, the homeless, etc.  The same goes for divorce.  God would prefer for us all to remain married, and not divorce.  But when a spouse is abusive, negligent, or adulterous, reality steps in.  I believe that God does not want innocent victims to suffer needlessly.  Yes, Jesus presents the utopian ideal.  But he also died on the cross for all of our failures.