Sunday, 28th October 2007
[ Creation of Life ] Genesis 1:26-31

1. The earth was formless and empty BUT the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

From today we are in the period of Advent*, which our denomination observes for 9 weeks until the Nativity. Advent, speaks of promise, preparation, hope, and anticipation. So let us briefly look back through human history, it’s beginning and development. Genesis chapter 1 describes the creation of the world:
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3)

Formless and empty, corresponds to Hebrew words < נטול-צורה> which we find also in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to philological studies Genesis chapter 1 was formulated in the 6th century B.C., based on the Priestly source. The historians established the destruction date of Israel by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 586 B.C., which caused the Babylonian captivity, and the deportaion of important Jewish people to Babylon. Officers and fighting men, and all the craftsmen and artisans. At that time Jeremiah, in captivity himself, sang the following verse with bitterness:
- I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone (Jeremiah 4: 23).

Nevertheless, they kept their hope alive by believing the scriptures, “Let there be light.” Even though all things on earth seem hopeless at times, there is hope with God. He will make light, and destroy the darkness. Genesis chapter 1 alludes to this eternal hope for humans:
- God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day (Genesis 1:31). The act of Creation ends with the words, it was very good, which is repeated many times throughout Genesis Chapter 1.

For instance:
Verse 4, “God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.” Verse 10, “God called the dry ground ‘land,’ and the gathered waters he called ’seas.’ And God saw that it was good”. Verse 12, “The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good”. Verse 18, “To govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good”. Verse 21, “So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good”. Verse 25, “God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good”.

The refrain of the words represent the aspiration of Jewish people who were seeking justification of their human existence in spite of their miserable conditions. Repentance and redemption would arrive however, because creation of the human being was good. It was at the core of the Jewish faith and hope.

2. God created man in his own image

The beginning of human being is described by the verses 26 to 31, in which the word “created” is mentioned 3 times: “So God ‘created’ man in his own image, in the image of God he ‘created’ him; male and female he ‘created’ them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1¡§27-28 ).

All human beings are born with God’s blessing, even those who may later go astray, like the Israelites, or the children born against the wishes of parents. However, in this modern world, there are more and more people who cannot seem to justify their own life value, nor their dignity. Statistical data reveals the number of suicide cases in Japan has increased to 30,000. In other words, 100 people a day.

God created man in his own image, which means we are created as having own personality and existence. But, we can commune with God only through prayer, and respond to the words attributed to him in the Bible. On the contrary, plant life and animals do not have that ability. They have an objective existence. Only human beings can correspond with our Creator. Therefore, we must also establish an equitable, rather than a domineering, obedience type relationship between ourselves as human beings, even if we might be different, culturally or socially.

During the Jewish captivity period, the people were humiliated and degraded like slaves (objects). But, even under these conditions they found that God still valued them as humans, bestowed them with dignity, and gave them real hope for the future.

3. Forgiveness as the act of a new creation

We have chosen, Jeremiah, 29:10-12, for today’s verses of Invocation. Several years after the Jewish deportation, Jeremiah wrote a letter to the desperate Jews, containing these words: This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Though seventy years might be only a second for God, it is too long for human beings to consider. For many of those Jews who were in captivity the day of return to Jerusalem would come only after their death. They would suffer profound disappointment again and again. Yet, after feelings of great depression, some began to contemplate the real meaning of Jeremiah’s letter. What is the real reason behind God’s decision to condemn them to such a cruel destiny? Will God really liberate them and return them back to their own country?

In seeking answers to these questions, they reconstituted ancestral legends , which gave birth to the Five Books of Moses, or Books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Jewish liberation from Babylon arrived in 538 B.C., sixty years after the deportation. Through this period of captivity, the Jewish people formed a faithful community based on the Bible, God’s words. Now we have a record of their confessional words in Genesis. In this book, their belief in such hope is expressed by the verse:
- And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:3).

Genesis is not a scientific writing which explains the material creation of the world. But, it would be unwise to consider it as a mere legendary story relating to an ethnic group. We must read Genesis as a book which shows us how the people, in complete isolation, looked for the truth. What is human, what is God? But, by seeking answers, we too will find the light of life, the power of God, and hope for the future - like they did.