Rev. Cary M. Richert

20^th Sunday after Pentecost (B)

October 22, 2006

A Holy Oneness

Genesis 2:18-24

          Our Lord's crowning act of creation was to make man and woman in His image . . .alive  . . .holy . . .perfectly at one with Him.  Perhaps you’ve heard why God created man before woman.  A woman says, God took one look at the man and decided He could do better!  A man says, if God had created woman first, she would have told God how to do everything else!

          Silliness aside, God fashioned man to live in community . . .not in aloneness.  As His work of creation unfolded, God repeatedly pronounced what He’d made, good, (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 25).  More than simply pleasing to the eye . . .God's creation was good, in that it had been designed to bring forth life . . .and, in that it would support and enrich life for the man and woman He'd created in His image, [1:27].

          The plants and trees would be seed-bearing, equipped to bring forth life.  The land, sea and sky animals were designed to be fruitful and multiply, to bring forth life.  And then, there was the man, Adam . . .the highlight of God's creation . . .made in the image of God . . . given authority to rule over all God had created . . .but alas, Adam was ALONE.  And God said:  It is not good for the man to be alone, (v. 18).

          Man's aloneness was the single aspect of His creation that God pronounced, not good.  It wasn’t evil.  It wasn't bad that man was alone.  It was simply not good in contrast to all that God had pronounced good.  No other living creature was alone, only the man.  Like all other living creatures, man, too, needed a helper suitable for him, (v. 18) . . .a companion with whom he, too, could live in community . . .one with whom he, too, could bring forth life.

          So God created the perfect companion for the man.  Uniquely fashioned by God from out of the flesh of man, God made woman.  And then His creation was perfectly complete, to which He said:  It is very good, (1:31).  Man's aloneness was destroyed, replaced by "at-one-ness" with the woman, as Jesus teaches:  and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer two but one. [Mark 10:8].

          And then, enters Satan and sin.  Sin shattered the perfect "at-one-ness" that God created.   It tore asunder - separated - what God had joined together.  Disunity and division became the marks of separation and aloneness.  Disunity and division between mankind and God, between man and woman, [3:12, 16], and among all that God had declared very good, [3:17-19].  Worst of all, sin destroyed God's gift of life, as the Lord had warned Adam:  You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die, [2:17].

          Sin and disunity are especially destructive in the oneness that's to characterize the holy estate of marriage.  Witness that the divorce rate in the Church is not significantly different than it is in society at large.  Witness that many husbands and wives live simply as married singles, only to take advantage of the benefits of marriage provided by our culture, its legal system and its health insurers.  Witness attempts on the part of some to redefine marriage in a way that bears no resemblance at all to what God created it to be.

          The brokenness and havoc wreaked by sin permeate every area of our lives and our relationships.  By nature we're sinful and self-centered.  Separated from God, the affections of our hearts are set on things of this world.  Every forbidden fruit that hangs on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil invites us to indulge in its pleasures, to seek after its empty promises, to separate ourselves from the God who forbids its eating.  In its wake, it swallows up the illusion of life and fulfillment it boasts, and brings only death and destruction . . . separation and aloneness . . .emptiness and pain.

          Can there be any way out of this life-stealing prison of sin and death?  Any hope for restoring the perfect oneness and life God created in Eden?  YES!  A thousand times over, YES!  But only in Christ, who suffered death . . .tasting death for everyone, [Hebrews 2:9].

          Jesus, the holy One, the only-begotten Son of God, took upon Himself the separation, aloneness and forsakenness that sin brings to all of us.  When He was nailed to the Cross, it all became focused and concentrated in the One who became sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God, [2 Corinthians 5:21].  In that moment Jesus cried out to the heavenly Father:  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [Matthew 27:46]  Then and there God destroyed every sinner’s aloneness.  Then and there He restored our oneness with Him.

          Our separation from God . . .the aloneness of our sin . . .the division among our brothers and sisters . . .all of it is destroyed in Jesus’ sacrificial act of redeeming us from the power of sin, death and Satan.  In its place we find wholeness and oneness with our God, who makes us His own by adoption through the water of Holy Baptism and the Word of His Gospel.  For in the water and the Word, our Lord grants faith and life and oneness with Him, [Romans 6:3-5].

          Yet, in this life in the flesh we still live in the brokenness and aloneness of sin.  We love ourselves more than we love others.  Jealousy, greed, hatred, pride, and many other sins often characterize our thoughts, words and actions.  Try as we might, all of us sin and fall short of the glory of God, [Romans 3:23].  BUT, as people of faith we can look to our Lord, who loves us perfectly, and who speaks to us His Word of restoration, healing and oneness . . . His Word of forgiveness, life and salvation secured for us by His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.

          Just as Eve's life was derived out of the flesh of Adam, so, too, are our lives as people of faith derived out of the flesh of Christ, flesh so willingly sacrificed that we might have life in Him.  For, in perfect love Christ gave Himself up for His Bride to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant Church - a radiant Bride - without the stain or wrinkle or any other blemish of sin, but rather holy and blameless, [Ephesians 5:25-27].  Christ alone is the consummate Bridegroom and His holy Church, of which we are members through Holy Baptism and faith, are His radiant Bride.

Through Christ's sacrifice, the aloneness brought about by our sin and separation from God has been destroyed.  Through faith, our oneness with Him has been restored.  Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, stands in oneness with His redeemed and radiant Bride, the Church.  And, God looks at all He has made and restored in Christ, and it truly is very good!

To God alone be the glory!  Amen.

*  I am indebted to Rev. Warren Graff (Grace Lutheran Church, Albuquerque, NM) for the exposition of this text as presented in Concordia Pulpit Resources, v. 16, pt. 4, St. Louis: CPH, 2006, 29-31.