26 Then God said, “Let us make humans 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.”
27 So God created humans in his image, in the image of God she created them; male and female God created them. (My interpretation)
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
2.3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that God had done in creation.
‘Another Account of the Creation’
This is only the first account of creation. The very next verse in 2.4b is a second account. While this one is more well known, both are living side by side in our Bible’s. Verse 26 Hebrew gendered language: “Let us make (neutral common plural) humans in our image (masculine plural), according to our likeness (feminine plural) …” and lays the foundation for equality and blessing.
SERMON - Genesis 1:1-2:4a Trinity Sunday
In this first account of creation, we have the foundation for the Hebrew scriptures and Jewish tradition. From this tradition Christianity also turns to understand our common God. The one true God of all creation. A Triune God as our New Testament explores in the words of Jesus and others who attempt to explain a cosmic God that we cannot comprehend… Yet are created in the likeness of.
John 1:1-5 proclaims Jesus’ entry into the world from the beginning in co-creating with God and Spirit.
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”
God spoke and it was. The very sound or nature of the words is a mystery as is the concept of the Trinity itself. One God in three persons united in love and creation of all things.
If all of this is true and you believe these words as represented in the Bible, why do we put God in a box? If people were created in God’s own image and likeness, why do we discount or demean our fleshly exterior? If all of me and you are equally product of love and created wonder, why do we deem some of it bad and the other good? Why do we think that only our soul gets saved when Jesus gifts us grace and salvation? Why do we think our mind or soul are the only important parts? Jesus came as a fully embodied human so that God could show solidarity and empathic love for all of humanity.
God did not create disembodied shadows or ghosts that later found a box to live out their limited days within. In the second creation story our bodies were created first, then God’s very own Spirit or Breath animated us to life. God did not create flowers and chocolate for only our soul to appreciate. We interact with the world using our fleshly body of eyes and skin and ears and tongue. Our body and soul are both important, and both given to us so that we may live out a life in enjoyment of creation. Of all that is around us including each other.
God did not create bad things. Everything that God created God also deemed good and very good when completed. Although, there is the matter of the pesky snake later on down the line and the myriad of questions and theological books trying to explain its existence and role. It is worth keeping in mind that light AND darkness were separated on the first day. Not the Sun, but light. A light in the chaos, shining from some other cosmic source over the waters of the deep. Really, the darkness was present with God not a product of creation… Or so it reads. For our theological purposes it isn’t all that important. Then after everything was created, God ceased creating and ‘blessed the seventh day and made it holy’ because God rested.
What is important? What’s the point? The Bible is not a how but a why book. A collection of books rolled into a library for us to ponder and study. To try to live by and to find hope within. It is a collection. Which is why there are two accounts of creation and two stories about Noah… Why. Never how or meaningless questions about how many angels can dance on a pinpoint. Why. And who.
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We are reading a compilation of texts pulled together from writings that took down the important bits. The crucial stories that were once told at bedtime or in the temple as prayers. We are reading the conservation efforts of a dispersed people clinging to hope in the middle of a Babylonian or Roman or German or Russian or Iranian or ISIS or American oppression. It is written to and for any and all immigrant or alienated groups that have been marginalized. Those left to fend for their rights in the middle of a once safe home. Those singled out because of their religion, skin color, racial ethnicity, citizenship, or political leanings.
It happens throughout time in our flawed sin-filled world. The harmony of creation set off-balance by a lack of empathy and love. The early Biblical writers took to putting it down on paper. Maybe for posterity, but more likely out of a need to spread hope when they were likely not able to speak it out loud or were not able to gather. The bedtime stories and songs of the Temple squashed because such talk was treason.
If you ever wonder where the African American Spirituals came from, it was out of slavery and oppression. A song to sing to your child in the night that had secret codes and underhanded language that the white masters did not know. If you ever wondered where Jazz or Rap came from. They grew out of spirituals to street songs expounding the oppression that black citizens still face today. Their anger and expression is clear when you know how to listen.
If you ever wondered about where the Presbyterian Church USA’s Book of Confessions comes from? It is a collection of creeds, catechisms, and statements about the Presbyterian faith during specific time periods and theological challenges to the church. It is meant to be a guide for us in our interpretation of our faith through the Bible and creeds of our ancestors. A hopeful book that lets us see our past and how far we have or have not come as a people and a denomination.
Songs, confessions, art works, books, and now news stories from independent and major news sources are artifacts of our soul. In our oppression or the witnessing of oppression, we write and create. We create a record for our future, hoping that our children will look at the manuscripts of so many and see a past we prevailed over. Each of us only taking in what we can handle as each day brings more pain. We read to understand events from the past and current times. I often think, “is this how the everyday German felt”?
What hope can we find in this scripture today? In Genesis: Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, Miguel A. De La Torre explores this.
“The dominant culture usually looks for answers to questions that are simply unimportant to the social location of those living under oppressive structures… ‘Does God exist?’ becomes the overall quest of those residing within the dominant culture. In contrast, from the margins of society the question becomes, “What is the character of this God who we claim exists?... “Justo González cautions us about ignoring how our social location influences how Scripture is interpreted. He recounts a sermon he heard at a church composed mainly of the undocumented and day laborers.”
“The minister began by asking how many within the congregation worked six days last week. Five days? Four days? Few in the congregation were able to raise their hands to any of these questions. The preacher then asked how many would have wanted to work six days last week but were unable to find employment. Almost every hand went up. To this response, the minister asked, “How, then, are we to obey the law of God that commands that we shall work six days, when we cannot even find work for a single day?”
When we are told to go forth and abound throughout the earth we assume that we have a place on this earth. That we will have all that we need. God created and made available all the water, land, plants, and creatures for us to be in stewardship of. All of it blessed to go forth and multiply so there would be enough. We might make a similar mistake in assuming that everyone has all or any of these essential elements for life.
It is only after a decade of fighting, that Flint Michigan has drinkable water according to EPA in an announcement in May of 2025. The “Native Lands Advocacy Project has an interactive map to help you visualize all hazardous liquid spills in the United States”. On Friday 6/13/2025 there were 3,398 with an average of 29 per month over the last 10 years that affect water and land. According to the World Food Program USA, there are up to 757 million people worldwide who are facing chronic hunger. 343 million face extreme hunger and 44 million are on the brink of starvation.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year, 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year, and Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-14. These issues have increased during and in the years following the Pandemic.
The creation narrative of Genesis is only read with a sense of hope by those who are coming to the text within a system of oppression. We need to recognize and acknowledge those who need hope most. Those that this text is meant to lift up. Those that read this text as, ‘go forth and abound’, flourish and steward the land. Care for each other just as you care for the endangered or threatened lands. Unless we are willing to see injustice and exhibit empathy with action, none of us will have hope in this created world. It is off-balance and in need of good stewards who can bring peace to bear upon the whole of creation who depend on each other.
Creation offers hope that God is powerful and provides for the needs of creation. That God labored for six days to bring about a world that is deemed very good. Then God rested and made holy a time of rest. Not naps on the couch or weekend getaways. But the ceasing of labor. To look at all that is around with gratefulness.
Grateful for each day as it comes. Grateful for the work we have. Grateful for the food, shelter, and peace of mind when we are lucky enough to have all of these things. Or, to hope for these, if we lack. If we lack something, know that Jesus heals the sick and picks grain to feed his disciples on the sabbath. So that we too can give of ourselves when need arises and become the hands and feet of Jesus. It is not a day without, but a day with, enough. God is, Jesus is, ‘the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.’ Amen.
Beller, Ken and Heather Chase, GREAT PEACEMAKERS: True Stories from Around the World, 2008. E-book.
Blount, Brian K., Can I Get a Witness? Reading Revelation through African American Culture, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005.
De La Torre, Miguel A., Genesis: Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011.
Keck, Leander E., Editor, The New Interpreter's® Bible Commentary Volume I: Introduction to the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, October 20, 2015.
