Having Dominion? - Genesis 1:1-2, 26-31
As Andy has aged since the first two Toy Story Movies, through an extended course of events, the familiar characters of Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, Slinky, Rex, Barbie, Ham, and the Aliens end up in Sunnyside Daycare.
At Sunnyside, they are joined by lots of new toys. Imagine the fun of working of Pixar and having to figure out animation for every toy in a daycare room. At Sunnyside, our favorite characters learn, there is a hierarchy of command. Lotso, (a pink Lots-of-Huggin’ Bear with a strawberry scent) has established dominion over the toys of the daycare. He decides which toys go in which room and relegates all of the Woody and Buzz and their friends to the Caterpillar room, where the children are so young, they don’t know how to properly play with the toys, they simply abuse them. Lotso, and his crew are in the Butterfly room, where, as you can imagine, the kids are more mature and gentle with the toys. Under Lotso’s rule, weaker toys and new toys are disposable and put at risk. He rules with a heavy hand and makes lots of threats. It’s his way or no way.
Lotso’s reign at Sunnyside is a lot like that of real-life dictators around the world. They rule, not out of concern for their subjects, the people of their land, but they rule out of concern for themselves. The laws they establish are usually built to keep them in power and keep them comfortable. They instill fear in the people to keep them and their hopes squashed, and use up the resources available to them at the expense of others. It is this kind of domination over people that most likely have resulted in the numerous uprisings we have seen around the world this past year. We have even watched as some of those leaders responded with violence against the protests, seeking to silence those who are dissatisfied.
It is against this backdrop that it is easy to become troubled when we read our Scripture passage for today. We hear God say, “Let us make humankind 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. So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, 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.”
In light of the Lotso’s of our world, we have to ask, what did God mean when he created man and woman and told them to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over the cattle, the wild animals, and every creeping thing on the earth? What does it mean to fill the earth and subdue it? Is God giving humanity a license to do whatever they want? There are many who feel this way. Many of us act like “having dominion” and “subduing the earth” means look around, take what you like, use it anyway you like, and discard it when we’re done.
If we don’t believe that, then we need to open our eyes and look around.
Look at the landfills filled with our garbage, with some of our trash is so toxic to the environment that communities argue about whether or not one can be built near where they live. If it was not damaging to creation or dangerous to those who have contact with it, then any one of us with a good-size plot of land would be throwing our hands up, especially in this economy and saying, “Hey, bring it here, I’ve got space.”
Look at the many places where there is lots of water, but none of it is suitable to drink because of the chemicals or sewage that have seeped into wells and watersheds.
Look at the species who are extinct or near extinction, not because of environmental changes, natural to an ever changing world (like the planet heating up or cooling off), but due to overhunting or land-stripping.
Look at the places where spacious skies are filled with smoke stacks, high-rises, and smog… at amber waves of grain plowed under to make way for another strip-mall…at purple mountain majesties ripped open by strip-mining…and at fruited plains left bare by over-planting and the depleting of the soil’s nutrients…
Does that paint a picture for us of how our practice of “having dominion” and “subduing the earth” have resembled that of Lotso and other dictators? At times we, as the human race, have taken “having dominion” to be domination—doing whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want, as long as it is convenient to us. We do not care what impact it may have on the earth and those living on it. We consider “subduing the earth” to mean getting as much out of it as we can, reshaping the environment around us, so that everything suits us.
So what does it mean to have dominion, to subdue the earth? What could God have had in mind? God’s intention from the time of creation was never for us to have unlimited use of whatever we wanted. Even within this creation story, there are limits placed. In the Garden, all were vegetarians and herbivores: “See I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” That is what the prophet Isaiah was getting at when he said: “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”[i] Isaiah foresaw a time when all of earth would be returned to the glory of creation, when there would be no threat of death at the hands of a stronger beast over a lower beast—that is God’s intent.
Does that mean that we are supposed to be vegetarians? God does not forbid the eating of meat, does he? No, it is after the flood, in the time of Noah, that God allows for the eating of meat. That means that it was after The Fall…after sin was introduced into the world…after the first of humanity was forced to leave the Garden that God made these allowances.
All of this is to say that with God’s command to have dominion and subdue, there were limits…so again, what was God’s intent? What did God expect of humanity? How does God desire that we rule and govern?
It is in verse 26, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion…” “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion…” ‘’…in our image, according to our likeness…”
We were created to be like God, to bear God’s image, to be bearers of God’s image in the world. With the fall, we fell away from that, we turned inward focused on ourselves…and then, after time, in God’s own timing, He did what he had to have foreseen from before he said, “Let there be light,” “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son into the World, that whoever believeth in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. He sent his son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”[ii] God’s desire is not to consume and destroy the world, but to save and preserve it. Through the redemption of humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ, God saw this as an effort not only to save men and women, but all of creation…through the sin of Adam and Eve, creation fell…through the redemption of man and women, creation might be restored.
We are expected by God to rule and govern creation in the same way that God would. We are expected to act in such a way as to reflect His grace and glory. Rather than have dominion in such a way that it takes from creation to fill ourselves, we are to look for ways to gives life to creation…instead of cutting down trees and paving over fields, we should be planting trees and turning abandoned structures are areas into fields and parks. Rather than take the easy and convenient way out, we should be willing to sacrifice ourselves to care for this earth that God has called us to care for…this could be as simple as recycling or making sure that we throw our trash away where it goes, or cleaning up after someone who didn’t. When we were in the Poconos, we hiked through Bushkill Falls, a beautiful natural area with some trails and steps that have been laid in that pass by eight waterfalls. The beauty was just unbelievable…yet in the midst of this, people who took the time to view this wonder of God’s creation, had thrown down water bottles, food wrappers, and other trash along the trail, sometimes within eyesight of trashcan. Other times I have seen folks through recyclable stuff in a trashcan rather than take it outside to a recycling bin, or, just as bad, throw trash in a recycling bin because they would have had to walk another ten feet to a trash can. Other instances, and brother and sisters, remember if I step on your toes, remember I have stomped all over mine in the process, we have cars, computers, and clothes that still work…they still get us from point A to point B, still are able to process the work we need to do, and still cover all our body parts, but because there’s a new model, a faster model, or a new style, we feel like we have to toss the old stuff, and get some new stuff. When we toss the old stuff, we are just making more trash. Christ gave His life that we might be redeemed, and in redeeming us, the world might be redeemed and saved. If He offered that sacrifice for us, and we are supposed to be in His image, then would it be that hard for us to sacrifice energy to take the extra effort to dispose of our trash properly or recycle what can be recycled…would it be that bad to drive an older car, might have a dent or a scratch or 50,000 miles on it, but if it is still going from A to B, does a new model get us there any differently…would it be that bad if we had to slow down and continue with our same technology rather than feel like we need to get it done faster, so we can try and cram more into our day…would it be that bad to wear last year’s style or this year’s style, even if it means we might have to wear white after tomorrow…if enough folks would do it, then it really wouldn’t matter what “style” is in…or nothing would go out of style…If we are ruling in the image of God then we are ruling then we are ruling in a way that would sacrifice ourselves in order to improve someone or something else…. There are a multitude of other ways in which we can practice giving life or sacrificing ourselves to help life, and thus be part of God’s efforts to restore creation.
Having dominion, subduing the earth…we are now left with a daunting task…given to us by God. Richard T. Sutcliff puts it this way:
“Man!” God called out to Adam, “Have dominion over this world I created. Be fruitful and multiply! Explore it, probe it, dig in it, fly over it, enjoy it. And remember I give you authority over it and responsibility for it. In short, Man, you're in charge!”
“All of it?” asked Adam incredulously.
“All of it,” replied God firmly.
“The fish in the sea? the fowl in the air? the beasts in the fields? and the land and the water? and the land under the water, and ...”
“All of it!”
“Wow! Lord!”
Today God still calls out: “Man! Have dominion over this world I created! Explore it, probe it, fly over it, conquer it, subdue it, enjoy it. I give you, Man, authority and responsibility for it. In short, Man, you're in charge!”
“Over all of it?” we ask incredulously.
“All of it! is the resounding answer.”
“The fish dying in the sea? birds fluttering in the air? beasts moaning in the fields? and the raped land? the stagnant air? and fouled water? and ...”
“All of it!”
“Human! Have dominion over this world I created! Explore it, probe it, fly over it, conquer it, subdue it, enjoy it. I give you, Human, authority and responsibility for it. In short, Human, you're in charge! … [of] All of it.”
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
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