Purpose and Joy – Genesis 2:18-24

A text – Genesis 2:18-24

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” ¹⁹ So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field, but for the man^[a] there was not found a helper as his partner. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
    for out of Man this one was taken.”

²⁴ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

A reflection:

As God is busy creating everything in this second creation story in Genesis, God makes human beings. First, just Adam. Then all the animals Adam might have for companions. But God sees that just one human alone is not flourishing, so God makes a true partner, another person.  And Adam rejoices, bursts into song, really, that he is no longer just one but part of two.

For all the gender trouble we might read into this creation story, let’s think for a moment about the creation of multiple humans. Adam alone is maybe a kind of farm manager for God, entrusted with the care and nurture of creation. But just having that purpose does not make the human flourish. Important work is not enough. Companionship and community is what makes humans thrive. That makes sense, as well, because our God, God’s very self, is a community, too – the Holy Trinity.

Look back at the Gospel text from Monday. For all the gender trouble we might have with first century women being powerless in marriage and with both women and children being thought of as property, without any rights or protection of their own, Jesus responds to those who are trying to entrap him by saying that Moses’s Law about divorce is only a bare-bones regulation, and that human beings owe one another protection and nurture, ongoing. We promise to take care of one another, not drop one another on a whim. This week’s lessons focus us on our calling, as God’s beloved creatures, to care for the rest of God’s beloved creatures, and to help make the world more trustworthy for everyone.

In creating other creatures for humans to love and care for, God creates purpose and joy. We are complete as we take our place in God’s creation. Test this out. Do you have a need to feel fulfilled? Help someone else to thrive – a plant, a pet, a child, a grownup. Seeing to the needs of another is how we are made. It’s what we’re made for.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for creating us with a need to help others. Help us to realize, when those needs become very great, that we can ask for help in helping others. We don’t have to do it alone, but we can find peace in seeing that someone else flourishes.  Amen.