Because God Made Them

God said, 'Let the waters be alive with a swarm of living creatures, and let birds wing their way above the earth across the vault of heaven.' And so it was. God created great sea-monsters and all the creatures that glide and teem in the waters in their own species, and winged birds in their own species. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply on land.' Evening came and morning followed; the fifth day. Genesis 1:20-23

This 12th century mosaic is of the Fifth Day of Creation - God creating the fish and the birds. It is found in the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, Sicily. But why does the Creator-God look like Jesus? We might remember this verse from Saint Paul's Letter to the Colossians: "He is the image of the unseen God, the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth:everything visible and everything invisible, thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers—all things were created through him and for him." Jesus images God.

But one scientific report was released last week attesting that since 1970, the bird population of North America (USA and Canada) has decreased by three billion. That's billion with a B! Birds are disappearing at alarming rates due to climate change, wind turbines, pesticides and habitat destruction. Chop down a forest, and the birds are gone. Cover a field with asphalt, and the birds are gone. Cover a beach with endless hotels and restaurants, and the birds are gone. Spray the nation with lawn, garden and farm-field insect killers, and the birds disappear for lack of food supply.

Birds eat insects. Birds spread seeds. Birds re-generate forests. And just as importantly, birds delight us with their flight, color and song. Some folks will say it doesn't matter that we care about bird numbers, or the numbers of any animals for that matter—"animals don't have souls, and we have to grow the economy." So why the fuss? We love the animals because God imagined them, God created them in their great beauty and variety. We love them because God blessed them, addressed them in creation and sent them out into the world. Indeed, God saw the animals as so important and respect-worthy, they were brought to the man for him to name. God didn't name them; we did. And God gave us that honor and first-task so that we would have an affinity for the animals.

And the sea animals are endangered and disappearing too. When the rivers flood, as they do increasingly,  they tear up the soil in the flood plane, and that soil, filled with agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, is carried downstream and dumped into the Gulf of Mexico, causing killer cancers to grow on the dolphins, the fish and sea turtles. And the fertilizers cause algae blooms to take the oxygen out of the water, and the fish suffocate.

God made us to be the caretakers of the world he created. We have failed miserably, leaving behind for our children and grandchildren, a wasted, burned out, lifeless garbage heap of a planet.

For me, to live spiritually, is to allow my breath to be taken away by God's beauty and imagination. Here is a lovely video of the Indigo Bunting, a small bird with a great range: Canada down to Florida and then during the winter, down to the top of South America. Listen to its song and observe carefully that we can see the bird breathing, and even at around 20 seconds we can see the bird's warm breath, a faint cloud of moisture coming from its open beak. 

Praise the Lord from the earth,

sea-monsters and all the depths,

fire and hail, snow and mist,

storm-winds that obey his word,

mountains and every hill,

orchards and every cedar,

wild animals and all cattle,

reptiles and winged birds.

Psalm 148:7-10

From the beginning of creation...

Hold this picture-thought.

After leaving there, he came into the territory of Judaea and Transjordan. And again crowds gathered round him, and again he taught them, as his custom was. Some Pharisees approached him and asked, 'Is is lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' They were putting him to the test. He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?' They replied, 'Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of   dismissal in cases of divorce.' The Jesus said them, 'It was because you were so  hard hearted that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female. This is why a man leaves his father and mother, and the two become one flesh. They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh. So then, what God has united, human beings must not divide.' Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.' Mark 10:1-12

At face value Jesus is giving us a new law about marriage. If that's the case, then we must acknowledge that the teaching is much more strict than the rules of the Church today. There's much more going on here than that, but we must look at the larger context to understand.

A few lines before and then immediately following the twelve verses above, Jesus makes two references to children. They serve as bookends to the verses about divorce.

Then he took a little child and stood him in front of them all, and putting his arm round him, said to them, "Anyone who welcomes one little child like this for my sake welcomes me. And the man who welcoming me is welcoming not only me but the one who sent me!" Mark 9:36,37

Then some people came to him bringing little children for him to touch. The disciples tried to discourage them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant and told them, "You must let little children come to me - never stop them!  For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Indeed, I assure you  that the man who does not accept the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Then he took the children in his arms and laid his hands on them and blessed them" Mark 10: 13-16 

Then right between these two references and in the middle of the verses about divorce, (did you catch it?) Jesus says, "But from the beginning of creation God made them..."

Jesus is inviting us to accept his teaching and live with the utter simplicity and acceptance of children. And the focus of the teaching in this chapter is the words, "the beginning of creation." 

Lots of people believe that the end time will be the moment of God's punishing evil and rewarding good. There's scripture to support that belief. But they also like to think of themselves as rewarded and the people they don't approve of as punished. But all the more, (and this was not an unusual Jewish belief in Jesus' time) in the end, creation will be restored to its original plan or state. 

The most well known psalm 23:2-3 suggests this restoration, "Beside restful waters he leads me, he refreshes my soul."  In the Book of Job, poor Job having lost everything is promised a new beginning. And we remember the rainbow after the flood waters receded and Noah and his family left the ark - creation as it was in the beginning. 

So the verses about divorce are really much more about our eventual return to the state of right relatedness. Our destiny is to "return to the garden," a garden of such delight and where we walked with God in the cool of the evening. God will give back to us what we've lost.

I remember our third grade class being introduced to the Encyclopedia Britannica in the mid 1950's and sitting with classmates writing our first research reports. Somehow volume E wound up in front of me, and how I enjoyed the discovery of everything about elephants, especially the differences between African and Indian elephants. The picture accompanying the article was something like the one above. 

What ancient memory must reside in these marvelous animals! And how horrifyingly awful it is that an elephant is shot and killed every fifteen minutes. A world without elephants?! That since those 3rd grade days elephants are near extinction, because ruthless, greedy people want the money that's made by stealing their tusks. How we insult God!

I really need to believe that in the end, God, in His most wonderful creative imagination, will not leave us in sorrow before all the terrible losses of this earth: our destroying the animals and plants, spoiling the water and air, blowing up the mountains and ripping out everything below the earth to make things that we then throw away. In effect, turning the entire, spinning planet into a huge heap of trash . 

Oh Jesus my God, that we would know the truth of your words, that in the end, we will know creation "as it was in the beginning." And Jesus, that I would miss nothing and appreciate deeply everything of what remains. Amen.