I suspect that many of us today haven’t thought long and hard about the creation in the context of the work of Jesus…not really. Because usually we’re thinking about what happened after creation. We’re thinking about “the fall.”
I’d like to suggest that this could use a bit of a freshening up in our thinking.
Not that I’m saying that we can’t talk about the fall, or that there wasn’t a fall. But we button up that story of the fall awfully snugly into our system. Are all of our messianic eggs in that basket?….even for those of us who accept the idea of the “three falls” of Genesis 3, 6, and 11? What if that’s STILL looking at things too materialistically? It sure does simplify things to break it all down into causes and effects that we can scientifically gauge.
“We’re in this mess because…”
What I see instead of single, simplified answers are….patterns. I see archetypes. I see that it doesn’t matter how you arrange or describe events or how it all went down chronologically. Because everyone is in the same boat. We are all in the same creation. And creation was never perfect. We were always, from the beginning, meant to become something more than we were at creation. Jesus was not just plan B because we “ruined” things. He didn’t come SOLELY due to our sins—though that is surely part and parcel of the whole thing. But we’re only seeing a little slice of the whole story when we look at it like that.
If we’re in this mess solely due to sin, then doesn’t it stand to reason that we should be laser-focused on our sin? But if we’re all so busy repenting in sackcloth and ashes and admitting what horrible people we are, then…who’s busy feeding the poor or assisting our elderly neighbor with her lawnmowing, or comforting the friend who is at her wit’s end? Who has time for laundry when we’re so busy cataloging the things we did wrong yesterday?
There’s nothing wrong with sackcloth and ashes (metaphorically speaking; I’m hoping they don’t become the new fashion), and certainly we should be in the business of looking at ourselves honestly and bringing that forthrightly to God. But along with our efforts of repentance, there remains a wider world of non-ordered creation that we are tasked to have dominion over. And if the express image of God is Christ, then surely we are even more firmly equipped to do this work now that we have the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ.
As Dr. Carmen Imes put it in her recent book, Being God’s Image:
Out of all he created, God selected humans as his special representatives. He endowed us with the glory that befits our status as members of God’s royal family. He gave us each other so that we can carry out meaningful work together. His intention was for us to live in intimate fellowship with God and with each other, maintaining order as we steward the resources of creation so that all may flourish.
Imes, Carmen Joy. Being God's Image (p. 185). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
Even we are endowed with glory--as well we should be, being God's representatives! But how is this manifested? Another quote from Dr. Imes:
Are you reflecting the Creator’s desire to bring order that promotes the flourishing of creation? Most of the time our fulfillment of that task is not flashy—washing the dishes and folding the laundry do not win awards and are not Instagram-worthy, but when we are diligent to bring order to our corner of the world, those around us have space in which to flourish.
Imes, Carmen Joy. Being God's Image (p. 46). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
Being a follower of Jesus and imaging God isn't just about not sinning and "being a good person." It's about combating the chaos around us and putting it into flourishing order. Vacuuming the floor, changing a diaper, or simply feeding our families might not seem like such glorious tasks. But seen in the context of the ordering of creation, it turns out that washing off the ashes from our sackcloths (or, in less dramatic terms, doing laundry) might be a need not just because we are "fallen" creatures and we live in a "broken" world that now needs laundry done. Maybe it's because we live in a world of chaos, a world that has been yearning for order from the beginning in a process that builds God's glory.
