Bible Basics 101 – The First Genealogy of the Bible and the Image of Man – Part 6

This is Part 6 of our “Bible Basics 101” series and we have come to the first genealogy of the Bible. People often just skip over these seemingly boring passages for what may come next. But, if one does this with this text, then he will miss a vital clue about how the story of the Scriptures and God’s plan for rescue actually work. Remember in the first eleven Chapters of Genesis we are learning the full effects that sin and death have had upon God’s good creation through the Fall. Meaning that for us the fully understand the cure that is coming, we must first know the problems that are being dealt with. And it is here in this genealogy that we find proof or confirmation of the biggest problem that God will handle when he steps inside his own world.

The genealogy begins: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.” (Genesis 5:1-5)

Do we see then big problem here? The text again takes us back to Genesis 1:26-28, where we find the initial blessings and commands that God gives mankind. But in the words that follow here what has tragically changed? We are told that Adam, “became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image.” The Image of God has now been replaced by the Image of Fallen Man. The story of the first four Chapters of Genesis now come rushing together in this one verse. Adam is now the image. Seth is made in the “likeness” of his father rather than God. Meaning for us that the broken and fractured image that God exiled from the Garden is now at the heart of every man. This explains the story in the Bible that we find from the point forward. It also reveals to us what God is going to have to do to fix this problem that has affected his greatest creation, Man.  Yes indeed, God himself will have to transform the heart and flesh of man from the inside out. As St. Paul says in his Letter to the Colossians, “Jesus in the image of the invisible God” (1:15) and the we “are being renewed in knowledge after the image of his creator.” (3:10) Paul is telling us that Jesus had to enter the world to bring the proper Image of God back with him. That which had fallen had to be restored completely, mind, body, and soul. What then comes next?

Genesis 5:5-31 “Thus all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. When Seth had lived a hundred and five years, he became the father of Enosh… Thus all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died. When Enosh had lived ninety years, he became the father of Kenan… Thus all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died. When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Ma-halalel… Thus all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died. When Ma-halalel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jared… Thus all the days of Ma-halalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died. When Jared had lived a hundred and sixty-two years he became the father of Enoch… Thus all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah… Thus all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. When Methuselah had lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, he became the father of Lamech… Thus all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died. When Lamech had lived a hundred and eighty-two years, he became the father of a son, and called his name Noah… Thus all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.”

There is a clear pattern in this text that the God through the author wants us to see. Can you hear the bell in the background? And he died, and he died, and he died… Why is this so? Because death is at the heart of the problem with God’s creation. It came into the world through Adam’s sin and disobedience, then is terrible effects has spread to all people. This is the key point that this first genealogy of the Bible is making. For added effect, it is the only one that says, “so and so died”, all the other are about birth, this one is about death. As Paul teaches us in Romans, “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.” (5:12) Also as we saw with Adam in the Garden hiding from God, why can he not find him? “Adam, where are you?” God asks. (Genesis 3:9) Because he has found death, that place that God cannot enter.  But God does enter one day when he becomes man, as we all know. Jesus did take upon the Flesh of Adam and cross through death and come out the other side into life. Destroying its power upon God’s true image bearing people. That is both tragedy and the glory of the human story. The tragedy of the Fall, but the glory of the redemption. Yes, this is jumping ahead a bit, but it does help us to see where our story is going. If we are going to understand the present we must grapple with the past. This is true for history, literature, or religion.

In our next Post we begin our look and the person of Noah and the story of the Flood.

A Pair of Surprises

For the last two Sundays the family and I have done something unusual after church, we have gone out to lunch. Normally we either head home or go over to Joanne's parents house. But these two weeks we flipped tradition and went the extra mile by eating out. On both of these occasions something unexpected happened. The shocking part for me is that it involves someone making a nice comment about us as a family. Now if you have ever dined out with five kids, ages 8 or below, you will surely understand why this was so unexpected.

The first event happened when we stoped in at Bruegger's Bagels. After all of the chaos of trying to order, pay for the food, getting everyone seated and feed. As I was cleaning off the table/floor, Joanne was taking some of the kids to the bathroom, oh does she hate public bathrooms, and yes we all know why. A young man who worked at the restaurant came up to me and said, "I think its great that you all have a large family." Looking rather shocked, I tell him, "thank you." He then tells me that he is, "also from a large family, Irish Catholic." I can only reply, "very good, thank you again." In a world that is so full of stares and comments when people have, "too many kids", it warms my heart to encounter someone who stands on the other side of the fence and understands what family life and kids are all about. I am not sure if this man is a practicing Christian or not, but he is living out the Lord's command to show forth love. As Jesus says in John's Gospel, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (13:24-35) Well some may say, "oh he was just being nice", but in todays time, "just being nice" is half the battle. Yes, it is our showing forth of love, that reveals us to be disciples of Jesus Christ. It is through are small daily actions that the "image of God", the very "image" we were created in, shines forth. It may come as a shock to many people that one way we project God's image into the world is by being "nice".

    The second surprise came the following Sunday. After church we made our way to the Cheese Cake Factory. It was the perfect day for us to go because church was early and we had some shopping to do at the mall. Yes, I would love for restaurants and other business to be closed on Sunday, but this is the time that we live in. We try not to shop or dine out much on the Lord's Day, nevertheless the places are going to be open. I know this is "falling short" in our call as Christians to be contrary to the "world", then again, we have to pick our battles and the places we draw the line. Plus, it gives me one more thing to add to my long list of things to work on. Anyway, the host seated us, we order, then receive our beverages and some bread (this is a pregame must with kids), pretty quickly. Then the wheels come off. For some reason it takes longer then expected to get our food. Then the questions from the kids start, "When is our food coming???, Where is our food??? Is it almost ready???". It becomes one of those occasions when we parents are supposed to have a magical crystal ball to see and know all things, oh the power kids think their parents have. (Think if we really did?) After this our 14 month old gets rowdy and loud. This is the moment I look around at the people seated at the other tables near us and know what they are thinking, "why did I get seated here?". I would love to answer back, "you know,  there are times that kids do make noise, and hunger/waiting does seem to bring out this behavior." Around this ruckus time, a party of two is seated right beside us. I tell Joanne that back when I was a single man or as Billy Joel would say, "when I wore a younger man's clothes." I would have asked for a different table. No way would they have sat me next to a group of noisy kids. This comes as a bit of a shock for Joanne. Leading me to think, Oh, God how you do transform the heart of man. This is partly what David meant when he wrote, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10) Yes, as the Christ says, "Ask and you shall receive". (Matt 7:8) More about that process in a latter post. During this time I also observe the people around us. There is an older couple acoss from us. Then a younger couple right in front of our table. The lady here is obsessed with her phone. The entire time they where at the table she could not keep her hands of it. (Putting on full display the massive new crises and problem facing humanity.) From here we soon get our food and things do improve from before. This is always a good thing. After eating, Joanne takes the younger kids out with her as I pay the bill. While waiting for the server to return with the change, the man from the older couple comes to the table and tells me, "you have a beautiful family." He then hands me a $25 gift card for the restaurant. I am not sure what my face said, but, again as with the last surprise like this, all I can say is, "thank you". It really is a special moment when you meet a truly nice person. I know nothing about this man, but I do know that he has a kind warm heart. I also know that he is not afraid, as some Christians sadly are, to let his heart shine. Like the kids song, "let my little light shine."

    I look at the actions of these two people and see God at work in them. Through small but powerful actions of love. It puts into operation and gives life to our Lord's words, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matt 5:14-16) Am I looking too much into these events? Some people would say, "yes, indeed you are!" This is not how I work. I like to observe every action and word of not only myself, but also those around me, and think about how these effect other people. As St. Paul teaches us, "take every thought captive to obey Christ". (2 Cor 10:5) I only pray that the actions I show forth to others, moves others as much as these two "surprises" have moved me.  

Cross and Transfiguration

I have ofter wondered what Peter, James, and John, expected to find when they climbed the high mountain with Jesus. Did they think this was going to be just another one of Jesus' private prayer times or something more? Had they any idea that they were about to stand in the middle of God's Holy Fire? The very Fire of transfiguration and transformation.

I think there was growing tension between the twelve disciples at this time in Jesus ministry. Again and again, he is telling and showing them that the pathway to glory travels directly through the heart of the Cross. As our Lord tells them six days before he makes this journey up the mountain, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matt 16:24-25) But, what are the disciples doing half the time, they are quarreling and fighting about who is the greatest of them. Who is the first. Who is the most important of them. James and John even ask Jesus, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." (Mark 10:37) Sounds kind of like many in the Church today. Just who is number one? Who does the most work? Who gets the most credit? In Matthew's Gospel we quickly see this issue rear its ugly head. Right after Peter, James, John, come down from the mountain, a man asks them to cure his son. But, they can not do it. Is it because of some of this in fighting that is going on? The text does not say so for sure, but I think Jesus' reply to them gives us the clue to understand what is going on here, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” (Matt 17:17) Clearly not the words the trio wanted to hear from Jesus and at the same time, not the words we desire to hear from Jesus either.

What does this point us to? What is the Gospel of Matthew trying to get us to understand about discipleship? That the Cross is the very center of our transformation. If we want to stand in the light of our Lord's glory, like Peter, James, and John did, then we must ascend the Cross with Jesus. The Cross and the mountain of faith are the same climb. Through this journey we become like the mustard seed, that Jesus talked about, "For Amen, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt 17:20) Hard words for us? Yes, they are! But as Jesus says, "nothing is impossible". The key to this saying is that the seed must die first, to have life. The seed enterers the ground and when it breaks in half and opens up, roots go down and branches flow upward. This is what happens when we encounter in the holy fire of the Transfiguration, Jesus' divine love opens our hearts and minds fully, so that we have room for our transformation. Just like the seed, we must die to self, in order to live for God. To be true disciples of Jesus, we can not complain and argue about being the greatest, no, we look for the back of the line and take our spot. As we empty our pride and envy, we allow the Spirit of the Lord to fill us with his powerful love and mercy.

It is only by taking up our Cross daily that we too, as the sons and daughters of God will hear those words of the Father, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Matt 17:5) These word are today meant for us, as well as for Jesus. Sometimes people will ask, "what does a Cross shaped life look like? How do I put it into action?" St Paul give us a little road map in 1 Corinthians 4:11-13, he says, "To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat." Through these simple, but very powerful actions, the world around us become a very different place. Hate and evil are transformed and become love and mercy.

To truly celebrate this day of our Lord's Transfiguration, let us all put into operation, the transforming actions of Cross and sacrifice, over those of self filling desire. Arise! Climb the mountain of God, just do not forget to cary your cross along the way.