Less Than Perfect—Broken Men & Women Of The BibleНамуна

Adam

On a day before days were made, God begins to do something so stupendous and surprising that no one could have imagined it, assuming there had been anyone around to witness it. He is speaking the universe into being, creating the heavens and the earth. Out of chaos he will carve a world.

Let there be . . . .Let there be is all God says, and there are flowers and forests, rivers and streams, and all kinds of wild and wonderful beasts. But the most wonderful thing of all springs up from the earth itself. For God, who has looked over everything he has made and called it good, bends down in a final burst of energy and scoops up a fistful of dust. But what can he do with dust?

He can make something bold and brave and smart and strong. Something curious and clever, fearless and free. Something that will become Someone. After God forms the dust into a shape he can love, he breathes into its nostrils, and man becomes a living being.

This new creature—an amalgam of dirt and divine possibility, is called adam, meaning “of the earth.” And so it is that God creates human beings in his image; in the image of God he creates them; male and female he creates them.

Because of Adam’s sin, it will be the lower elements that prevail as this first human being and all who follow will die, their bodies consigned to the dust. Fortunately God’s love for Adam and his descendents is strong and enduring. So he makes another plan. In the midst of pronouncing judgment, he makes a promise. After innumerable years and too many sorrows to count, a woman named Mary will be born, and she will give birth to a son. He will be a new Adam, rescuing the world from its sin.