Advent Series
Beginning today we will share the Scripture passages along with a simple image depicting the salvation history event. We will also share some Bible commentary to go along with the passages as part of our Advent series.
Day One - The Creation
The first day of the Jesse Tree begins with a reading from Genesis' creation story. This is most often depicted on the tree with an ornament made to look like a small globe, planet Earth.
Genesis 1:24-28
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
Commentary
1:26. The sacred text emphasizes the special significance of this moment: God seems to stop to reflect and plan every detail of his next creation—man. Ancient Jewish interpretation (followed also by some Christian writers) saw the use of the plural “Let us make …” as meaning that God deliberated with his heavenly court, that is, with the angels (implying that God had created them at the very start, when he “created the heavens and the earth”). But the use of the plural should rather be taken as reflecting the greatness and power of God. A considerable part of Christian tradition has seen the “Let us make” as reflecting the Holy Trinity, for New Testament revelation has made the Christian reader more aware of the unfathomable greatness of the divine mystery.
“Man” here has a collective meaning: every human being, by his or her very nature, is in the image and likeness of God. The human being is intelligible not by reference to other created beings in the universe but by reference to God. The likeness between God and man is not a physical one, for God has no body; it is a spiritual likeness, lying in the human being’s capacity for interiority. The Second Vatican Council teaches that “man is not deceived when he regards himself as superior to bodily things and as more than just a speck of nature or a nameless unit in the city of man. For by his power to know himself in the depths of his being he rises above the whole universe of mere objects. When he is drawn to think about his real self, he turns to those deep recesses of his being where God who probes the heart (1 Kings 16:7; Jer 17:10) awaits him, and where he himself decides his own destiny in the sight of God. So when he recognizes in himself a spiritual and immortal soul, he is not being led astray by false imaginings that are due to merely physical or social causes. On the contrary, he grasps what is profoundly true in this matter” (Gaudium et spes, 14).
The fact that God creates man in his own image and likeness “means not only rationality and freedom as constitutive properties of human nature, but also, from the very beginning, the capacity of having a personal relationship with God, as ‘I’ and ‘you’ and therefore the capacity of having a covenant, which will take place in God’s salvific communication with man” (John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificantem, 34). In the light of this communication, brought about in all its fullness by Jesus Christ, the Fathers of the Church read the words “image and likeness” as meaning, on the one hand, man’s spiritual condition, and, on the other, his sharing in the divine nature through sanctifying grace. Even after the fall, man is still in the “image” of God; through sin, however, he lost his “likeness” but this was restored through Christ’s redemption.
It is part of God’s design that human beings should have dominion over other created things (represented here by the animals). This dominion makes man God’s representative (everything really belongs to God) in the created world. Therefore, although man is going to be the lord of creation, he needs to recognize that God alone is the Creator; man has to respect and look after creation; he is responsible for it.
These words of Scripture show that “man is the only creature that God has loved for itself alone, because all others were created to be at the service of man. Here we can see, too, the basic equality of all human beings. For the Church, this equality, which has its roots in man’s very being, takes on the very special dimension of brotherhood through the Incarnation of the Son of God. […] Therefore, discrimination of any type […] is absolutely unacceptable” (John Paul II, Address, 7 July 1984).
1:27. The creation of man marks the completion of God’s plan. In presenting this final act of creation, the sacred writer offers us a summary of the things that go to make up the human being. As well as repeating that God created man in his image and likeness, he tells us that God created them man and woman, that is to say, corporeal beings, endowed with sexuality, and designed to live in society. “Being in the image of God, the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 357).
“The fact that man ‘created as man and woman’ is the image of God means not only that each of them individually is like God, as a rational and free being. It also means that man and woman, created as a ‘unity of the two’ in their common humanity, are called to live in a communion of love, and in this way to mirror in the world the communion of love that is in God, through which the Three Persons love each other in the intimate mystery of the one divine life. This ‘unity of the two’, which is a sign of interpersonal communion, shows that the creation of man is also marked by a certain likeness to the divine communion (‘communio’). This likeness is a quality of the personal being of both man and woman, and is also a call and a task” (John Paul II, Mulieris dignitatem, 7).
The fact that the Bible and everyday language speak of God as masculine is a the result of cultural influences and the great care taken in the Bible to avoid any hint of polytheism (which could arise if the godhead were described as feminine, opening the way to generations of gods, as in other religions). God transcends the body and sexuality; therefore, both man (masc.) and woman (fem.) equally reflect his image and likeness. In these words of Genesis, for the very first time in history, the fundamental equality in dignity of man and woman is proclaimed—in marked contrast with the low esteem in which women were held in the ancient world.
According to the traditional Jewish and Christian interpretation, this verse is alluding to marriage, as if God had already created the first man and the first woman as a married couple—forming that human community which is the basis of every society. In the second Genesis account of the creation of man and woman (cf. 2:18–24), this will emerge even more clearly.
1:28. God has already created animals, endowing them with fruitfulness (v. 22). He now addresses these two human beings personally: “God said to them …”; this indicates that the reproductive power of human beings (and therefore their sexuality) are values for which they must assume responsibility before God, as a way of co-operating in God’s plans. Thus, God, “wishing to associate them in a special way with his own creative work, blessed man and woman with the words: ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ (Gen 1:28). Without intending to underestimate the other ends of marriage, it must be said that true married love and the whole structure of family life which results from it is directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the Creator and Saviour, who through them will increase and enrich his family from day to day” (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, 50).
God also commands man to make the earth serve him. Here divine Revelation is teaching us that human work is to be regarded as a way by which man co-operates in the plan God had when he created the world: “By the work of his hands and with the aid of technical means man tills the earth to bring forth fruit and to make it a dwelling place fit for all mankind; he also consciously plays his part in the life of social groups; in so doing he is realizing the design, which God revealed at the beginning of time, to subdue the earth and perfect the work of creation, and at the same time he is improving his own person” (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, 57).
From this divine disposition we can see the importance a person’s work has in his or her personal life: “Your human vocation is a part—and an important part—of your divine vocation. That is the reason why you must strive for holiness, giving a particular character to your human personality, a style to your life; contributing at the same time to the sanctification of others, your fellow men; sanctifying your work and your environment: the profession or job that fills your day, your home and family and the country where you were born and which you love […]. Work, all work, bears witness to the dignity of man, to his dominion over creation. It is an opportunity to develop one’s personality. It is a bond of union with others, the way to support one’s family, a means of aiding the improvement of the society in which we live and in the progress of all mankind” (St J. Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 46–47).
Man is charged by God with mastery over the earth; but he may not do whatever he likes with it or act despotically: he should respect the universe as being the work of the Creator. In this regard, Wisdom 9:3 says: “O God, […] who hast formed man, to have dominion over the creatures thou hast made, and rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and pronounce judgment in uprightness of soul.” “This holds good also for our daily work. When men and women provide for themselves and their families in such a way as to be of service to the community as well, they can rightly look upon their work as a prolongation of the work of the creator, a service to their fellow men, and their personal contribution to the fulfilment in history of the divine plan” (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, 34).
