[Gen. 1: 25-28, 2: 4-7 Ps. 139:7-12; Acts 17:22-28 Mt. 4:1-11]
Peace to you, who are in Christ. Amen.
“And God saw that it was good.”
“And God saw that it was very good.” (Gen. 1)
Everything in Creation, seen and unseen, has its place, has its value, has the right to exist, to be.
When the Creator, the Source of all existence, of all be-ing called Creation into existence, into be-ing, he offered every creature, every being its own unique place with its own unique worth. From the smallest microbe or amoeba to the largest mammals roaming the earth or migrating through our oceans, this creative uniqueness is unfolded before our very eyes in all its splendour and wonder and intricacy.
We see this uniqueness and equality beautifully illustrated in the story where God gives Adam the task to name every creature. (Gen. 2:19-20)
God knows us all by name.
God is the Creator, we are God’s creatures.
And that’s where is usually goes wrong: we, as creatures, in our arrogance or in our ignorance, usurp the Creator’s rightful place.
We try to shift the balance in our favour, without having a single clue of the responsibilities it all entails. We want to play God and that’s not what we’re here for.
“You will be as God.” the snake lied to Adam and Eve. (Gen. 3:5)
‘You will be like gods in your own right, and be able to have all the knowledge and make all the decisions by yourselves and for yourselves.’ the serpent promised.
A false promise indeed.
They’re the same false promises the Satan, the Opposer made to Jesus in our Gospel reading this morning: if you replace God by riches or wealth or power or whatever, then, you’ll be independent, you’ll be in charge, then you’ll be as God and God is scared of that, God is unwilling to share his position with you.
Lies, lies, lies!
The clue is in the name: the Opposer opposes Creation, opposes order.
In the beginning God created, God ordered and built up from the existing chaos.
Not that there isn’t any chaos and messiness in Creation, it’s not all organised by the millimetre, everything in its place and nothing can ever move or change or break.
What we mean by order, is that God gave purpose, gave meaning, built relationships and interconnected all the elements within Creation, however chaotic these still might seem.
Who’s afraid of spiders?
They eat flies. They too have a unique, a specific job to do within Creation, even if they have eight legs and multifaceted eyes.
Who’s afraid of snakes?
They have a bad reputation because of the narrative in Genesis, but they too have a specific task, they eat rodents, even if they look slimy and slippery (which they’re not).
Who’s afraid of insects, creepy itchy tiny bugs?
Yet, they might very well prove to be a solution to hunger in the world, a source of much needed proteins.
God’s Creation is completely interwoven.
The Opposer opposes this.
Satan is non-creative, anti-creative.
Satan prefers the chaos where nothing is in relationship, where all the elements are just drifting aimlessly, purposelessly, not engaging, not interacting.
Satan prefers a chaos where everything is in opposition, where everyone is lonely, disconnected.
Why then this willingness to believe that we can go and do things on our own?!
Pride? Stupidity? Insecurity? Vanity? Envy? Stubbornness?..
Or maybe all of the above?
When we destroy nature, when we pollute the environment, we are the Opposer.
When we mock others, discriminate against them, exclude them, we are the Opposer.
When we steal, or lie, or hate, we are the Opposer.
When we refuse to interact with people, when we refuse to enter into dialogue, into relationship with them, we are the Opposer.
When we deny people’s rightful place, we are the Opposer.
When we pretend to be like gods above others, we are the Opposer.
When we break down instead of building up, like God did at the beginning, we are the Opposer.
If the Song of Creation, the Poem of Creation in Genesis chapter one tells us anything, the main message of this story, is that “God created and saw that it was very good.”
We always come back to that. We should always come back to that, because it will teach us to love and appreciate Creation more and more every time.
We’re called to be creative, not to be non-creative, anti-creative.
Every time we take over God’s place, when we insist on being like gods ourselves, we deconstruct all of God’s efforts, we recreate the purposeless and loveless chaos there was before Creation.
Every time we judge others or consider them unworthy because of the colour of their skin, or their political ideas, or because of whom they love, or the language they speak, or because of their social or financial status, etc, we in fact un-create the work of God’s hands, we un-create his interest, his love, his compassion.
When we do that, we disconnect, we fall into a dark, lonely chaos.
In Baptism we were all created anew. Our place as a beloved creature was reaffirmed.
We were also taken up into a network, a family that is Christ’s Church of people just as loved, just as important as ourselves.
Baptism declared us all equal in worth, Baptism called us all to accept and promote the worth of others.
But when this network, this family that is Christ’s Church is under pressure from within because its members refuse for whatever reason -often misguided- to engage with each other, then our belonging and worth as creatures of an engaging Creator is undermined, is thrown into a chaos that is soul draining and that hinders the proclamation of the Gospel.
That’s sin, the sin of placing ourselves in God’s place, and we must seek forgiveness for it...not just from the Creator.
Our own wonderful and often baffling human chaos and messiness has purpose.
All human baffling chaos and messiness has meaning.
It’s not always easy to find the good and the worth in situations and relationships with others, but as Christians we have duty to do so, as Christians we have the duty to call out when Creation is under threat and say, “It is good! It is very good!”
May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. Amen.