Word to the Wise
Tuesday, February 9, 2021 - Tuesday in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 1:20—2:4a and Mark 7:1-13]Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth." [Genesis]
Today's passage from the Book of Genesis presents God as creating the living creatures (plants don't seem to count) that will inhabit the places God created in the first half of the story. The last of the creatures to be created are human beings - man and woman. Scripture scholars have long informed us that there are at least two creation stories in Genesis. In the first one, God creates man and woman at the same time. In the second one, as we shall see later, God creates woman later than man because God thought man should not be alone. Needless to say, the second story has been utilized to support the superiority of males and gives them a place of dominion over women. The first story speaks only that man and woman are created together and in the image of God.
The phrase "in our image" is the subject of much theological reflection. It has multiple possible meanings. The plural "our" has been interpreted as reflecting the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Others have seen it as the "royal WE." Scripture scholars believe it to mean God's heavenly court of beings, such as angels, that God created earlier. Another distinction comes from what humankind is designed to DO - i.e. like God, to rule over all creation - as contrasted with humankind sharing in the very "substance" of divinity as an image of that divinity.
All of this is a reminder of the richness of the story and the richness of the traditions of interpretation which may be woven into our own understanding of how God has created the world we live in and the creatures, including humankind that live in it. AMEN