Image of God [Proper 17C - Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16]

 The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

 

Image of God

St. John’s, Massena, NY

 

In the beginning, after chaos was ordered, after the light was divided from the darkness, after the planets were rounded into balls, after waves crashed, birds chirped, and cattle grazed, God reached into the ground to form one final creature.  On the sixth day, the day before the creation of rest, God formed a human.  And all the good was declared very good.

 

Before people, the earth was already teeming with life.  The water brought forth swarms of living creatures: some too small to see, some large enough to boggle the mind.  The skies were animated with winged birds: levitating hummingbirds, soaring eagles, and sparrows that cut through the air.  The soil vibrated with the movement of creeping things: worms burrowed and spiders webbed and grasshoppers hopped on grass.  And, of course, the wild beasts, the Bible loves a wild beast: scurrying through the dew of Creation, filling Noah’s ark, lifeless on the altar of the Temple, arguing with Balaam, covered in eyes in Ezekiel’s vision, watching Jesus in the tempting wilderness, carrying the Savior into the city Jerusalem.  So many wild beasts.  And God looked and saw a world of creatures and it was good…but not quite good enough.

 

Looking over a world devoid of people, God was overheard saying, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…”  And so God created humankind in God’s own image, in the divine image God created them.  And blessed them.

 

But not from afar; not from a distance.  God was very hands-on, actually, very hands-in.  God sunk divine fingers into the earth, and from the shallow soil of our planet, God made a person.  God carefully shaped the limbs, carved out the contours of the face, ordered the organs inside.  But even that was not enough.

 

Into that perfectly formed body, God breathed the breath of life.  Like a kiss from heaven, the divine touched the stuff of earth.  And the same ruach, spirit, wind, that danced on the face of the ancient waters, filled the one made in the image of God.  And the human was brought to life – marked with the fingerprints of the Creator, animated by the breath of God, filled with the air of heaven, forever stained with the holiness of divinity.

 

That touch is our human inheritance.  Each and every person is still covered in the fingerprints of God.  Each new baby gasps in the breath of God.  Every person, then, now, and not yet, is hand-made in the image of God.  And is called very good.  And is loved by their Creator.

 

The author of Hebrews tells the reader: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”  And that is a beautifully romantic idea.  It is strange and exciting to imagine a world sprinkled with heavenly beings.  It allows us to dream beyond the mundane rhythms of our lives.  And maybe the author’s purpose was accomplished.  Perhaps planting the seed of the angelic idea increases the kindness and love in the world.  God knows we need more of both – however we can get them. 

 

But I think it is hard to justify being good for the sake of angels when we are surrounding by living, breathing, walking, talking icons of the Living God.  And while it is not quite so romantic, because human beings are flawed and messy, perhaps the author of Hebrews missed an opportunity to ground us in a biblical truth that dates back to the creation story.  Maybe the verse should read instead, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so you are entertaining the very image of God.”

 

The world is a mess right now, a mess of war and violence and cruelty and division.  And so it is easy to miss what exists right before our eyes: all of these messed up, messy people are children of God.  They are loved and treasured by their Creator.  When you look into the face of a person, another person or even yourself, you are glimpsing the face of God, the image of God.  You are seeing someone who God completely and perfectly loves.  And God wants you to love the people whom God loves. 

 

We love others by keeping our promises: to seek and serve Christ in all persons; to love our neighbor as ourself; to strive for justice and peace among all people; and to respect the dignity of every human being – a dignity that has been passed down through the generations – ever since the moment God sculpted the dirt and kissed it to life.