Four Questions of Life 2: The What of Life

 

The What of Life

A sermon by Brent J. Eelman

 

This is the second in a series of sermons dealing with four questions of life.  Last week I wrestled with the question, “Why?”  I dealt with it particularly in terms of the difficult events and circumstances that we face in life.  Today, I want to look at the question, “What?” in terms of identity. 

 

What does it mean to be a human being created by God in the Divine’s image?   Psalm 8, asks this question in terms of the magnificence of creation itself. 

 

Psalm 8

O Lord, our Sovereign,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

²        Out of the mouths of babes and infants

you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,

to silence the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established;

⁴ what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

mortals that you care for them?

⁵ Yet you have made them a little lower than God,

and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶ You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under their feet,

⁷ all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

⁸ the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Sovereign,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 

 

“What are human beings that you are mindful of them?”  What?

 

In high school, my science teacher said that ultimately, we human beings were just a combination of chemicals that was worth about two dollars. (This was before the concerns about student self-esteem!)  There has been quite a bit of inflation since then.  Our more sophisticated biochemistry has determined that we contain some quite valuable chemicals in our bodies, so we might want to up the value to a hundred dollars.  But is that what a human being is?  A pile of chemicals arranged in a certain way?  I suspect that those who hold this view would also say that a painting by Rembrandt is really only ten dollars worth of canvas and a few dollars of paint.  It is absurd.  We are more than the sum of our parts! 

 

To be a human being is more than arms, legs, hands eyes and hair.  Are we less than a human being if we have had an organ removed, if we lose a finger… or for that matter if we cut our hair?  Of course not.  But what is a human being if we are more than the sum of our parts (even if we don’t have them all)?  This is the “what” of life. 

 

We can ask this question in a host of different ways. What differentiates us from other creatures that God created?  We feel that we are special, but why?

 

• Is it because we can reason and think?  The latest developments in artificial intelligence challenge this notion.  We are creating bots that can think and reason and control, and lately the fear is that they might soon control us.
• Some have suggested that what sets human beings apart is that we are able to create and use tools.  But scientists are observing crows using tools and even reasoning and working together to accomplish tasks.
• Is it the ability to experience emotion and empathy that sets us apart…. My dog, Benson, might argue with that.   Studies of elephants have also suggested that they are capable of empathic feelings.
• Is it our ability to create and use language to communicate with each other?  Yet scientists tell us that dolphins have a highly developed language and can communicate at a sophisticated level.
• Is it our ability to form and nurture relationships?  Geese and other species mate for life.  Prairie dogs have a fairly sophisticated community.

 

What does it mean to be a human being?  What?

 

Today, as a continuation of my sermon series, “Four Questions of Life,” I want to examine this question.  “What is a human being?  It is behind much of our search for meaning and purpose.  First, I want to look at how the Hebrew Bible addresses this question.  Second, I want to examine a section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. He expands upon the Hebrew understanding of what a human being is, particularly in terms of freedom. Finally, I want to look at how we, in the 21^st century struggle with this question. 

I

The first two verses of the fifth chapter of Genesis sums up the creation story. “When God created humankind, he made them in the likeness of God, male and female he created them.”  We are created in the likeness of God.  Other translations use the word image.  We are created in the image of God. What does that mean? What does that say about us?  Does it mean that we are, in fact, like God?  Does it mean that we are different than the other animals and things in creation? 

 

Then when we read Psalm 8, the tension of these questions rises.  

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established;

 what are human beings that you are mindful of them?

 

This is a question that comes from a sense of awe. 

 

There are so many precious moments in parenting.  One of them that I hold near and dear is lying on the lawn with my 5 year old daughter on summer evening and just looking at the stars.  For some reason, lying there on the ground, hearing the buzzing of insects, smelling the fresh cut grass, and then beholding the heavens, had a magic to it.  It was calming and soothing.  But most importantly, it inspired awe.  

 

The universe that God created is immense and lying there on the grass, beholding the heavens, engendered an experience of wonder.  In the words of the hymn, I was able to behold world in “awesome wonder.”

 

The scientists who measure the distance between the stars, and who use amazing mathematical formulas to calculate the size of the universe tell us that not only is the universe immense, but it is also expanding.  “What are human being beings that you are mindful of them?” 

 

Then the psalmist acknowledges the mystery of creation. 

Yet you have made us a little lower than God,

and crowned us with glory and honor.

You have given us dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under our feet,

 

In this amazing song of creation, the psalmist captured the baffling mystery of the “What” of life.  What are we? We are so small, minuscule, in the great scheme of things. And yet we can also acknowledge and understand how small we are.  We possess the minds to measure the distances of the heavens, but we are still merely creatures, one among the millions of species created by the Divine.  That is the tension of life, and goes to the heart of the question “what?” 

 

At once we can acknowledge our creator, being made in the image of God, but we are also finite creatures, small and insignificant in the great scheme of things.  We have dominion over creation, and yet that dominion is not subjugation or tyranny.  It is not a carte blanche to exploit and destroy.  No, we are stewards, caretakers of that which is not ours, but God’s.  The psalmist declared, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” 

 

II

The Apostle Paul raised the ante even higher.  To be a human being, made in the image of God is to be in a relationship with God.  He wrote, “In Christ Jesus, we are all children of God.”  This means that we were created for intimacy with God.  It means we were created by God for relationships, and though that purpose is often thwarted, it was restored in Jesus Christ. 

 

But Paul went even further, (he often does!).  If we are children of God, then we are sisters and brothers.  We are not only related to God, but to each other, and that all the barriers that we build between ourselves and others are ultimately artificial. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of us are one in Christ Jesus.” 

 

What is a human being?  To be a human being is to be free.  No one controls or has power over another.  No one has the right to enslave or manipulate another.  We were created for freedom in Jesus Christ and freedom to be in relationship with God and with each other.

III

All of this sounds like wonderful platitudes: freedom in Christ; image of God, children of the creator, dominion over creation.   What is a human being with all of this?  I believe it means we live with tension.  The 19^th century philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard labeled this tension the source of human angst.   Human beings live with a tension that the rest of creation does not experience.  Let me explain:

 

We are, first and foremost, creatures.  We were made by the creator. None of us had a say in our creation. None of us have control over our being. We can try and change the color of our hair, and decorate our bodies with tattoos and jewelry, but still, we were created.  We owe our very existence to a power that is beyond ourselves… to God.  None of us are self-made!

 

• To be created also means that we are not God (nor gods!)
• To be created means that we are not the creator. 
• To be created means that we are ultimately dependent upon the One who created us. 

 

We modern human beings enjoy the idea that we are independent.  We enjoy the idea that we are somehow self made, be it economic or otherwise, but the truth is, we are not.  What are we?  We are, first and foremost, creatures, made by God.

 

But the other half of the tension is we are also endowed with spirit. Spirit.  This is what Genesis and the Psalmist spoke of when they wrote about being created “in the image of God.”  The first creation story in Genesis stated that God created the human being, and then breathed into his nostrils and he became a living being.  The word for “breath” in Hebrew is ru-ach.  It can also mean “spirit”.  We are not just flesh and bones, we are spirit.  What makes us a “living being” is the spirit that God placed in us.

 

What is this spirit?  The spirit is the source of human freedom.  It is what enables us to dream, to imagine, to think and to reflect.  It is the ability not only to think, but to think about how we think. 

• The ability to reflect upon are thinking and our actions,
• The ability to keep a history that is independent of ourselves,
• This is the gift that enables us to solve the problems of life. 

It is also the foundation of morality because we can reflect upon our actions and assign value to behavior.  Ultimately, human spirit is what binds us to the One who created us. And that is the rub!

 

Even though we are endowed with spirit, we are still created. Although we can imagine and conceive of the infinite and eternal, we are still finite.  It is the tension between these two aspects of humanity that leads to our downfall. At times we wish to deny our creatureliness.  These are the times when we act like God.  We literally supplant God in our lives. 

• This is what leads to tyranny. 
• This is what causes us to abandon dominion and stewardship over the earth and pursue the exploitation of it.
• This is at the root of the enslavement of others, the abuse that takes place at all levels of society. 
• This is what causes us to deny the wisdom of Paul when he said there is no difference between human beings. Yet the Greek subjects the Jew. Males dominate women, and humans are enslaved.  When we deny our creatureliness (o,r dependence upon the Divine for our existence), we invite tyranny.

 

But there is another side, and that is to deny the spirit with which we are endowed.  This is when we are satisfied with less than we were created to be.  This is when we revel in being a creature: a mere animal.  This is when we deny responsibility and say, “I am just an animal: a lump of clay… two dollars worth of chemicals”  We are that but so much more…we are created in the image of the Divine…. Look at others…. They are also!!

 

What is a human being? What?  A human being is an amazing and complex creation. We are created, and thus finite.  We owe our being to the one who created us and are ultimately dependent upon God.  

 

But we are also endowed with spirit:

• spirit that can gaze at the heavens with a sense of wonder and awe;
• spirit that can solve the myriad problems of life;
• spirit that reflects the image of the one who created us;
• spirit that can discover and discern life’s meaning. 

We live with this tension…. And we live by grace.

This is the good news. Amen.