Sunday of Creation (NTA)

1 Corinthians 15:42-49
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (1 Co 15:42-49). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

God formed Adam out of the Dust of the Earth. He breathed into his nostrils and brought him to life. But Adam and Eve fell into Sin. The Man of Dust was told he will return to dust. Therefore, God sends his only Son the Man of Heaven. So you are dust and to dust you shall return.

The Last Adam became a life-giving spirit. St Paul tells us we are going to fall asleep. You are going to die. You are going to be buried. Just as a dead seed is placed into the ground and will bring forth a new plant. But the new Plant that the Spirit or Christ will raise on the Last Day will be imperishable. But we are still just dust.

You are consumed by the sin of Adam. But God who formed that first Adam out of the dust of the Earth will take that dust again and create it perfect once more. God has created all flesh to be good. You are not Good anymore. You are disobedient and perishable. But Jesus Christ Died for the forgiveness of your sins. He was raised from the Dead as a firstfruits of the new Creation. He will return to all the perishable that have fallen asleep and give them new life. Thanks be to God for the New Creation of the Flesh as well as Creation out of Dust.

Sunday of Creation (G)

Matthew 12:1-14
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Mt 12:1-14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Jesus was going through grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and what do people do when they are hungry? People get something to eat. So naturally, the disciples pluck heads of grain and eat them. This begins an argument about whether we should be able to feed ourselves on the Sabbath. Should we be forced to starve because God rested on the Seventh Day?

Then from there Jesus enters the synagogue. He finds another problem with creation. There is a man with a withered hand or deformed hand. The people say it is not lawful to heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus steps forward and asks, "So is it lawful to do Good on the Sabbath?" He heals the man's hand restoring creation.

In the rituals and even the crippled we can see the fallenness of Creation. God created everything good and on the Seventh Day He rested. But Creation is still given to us so we can eat, and take care of one another. God provides food for the hungry. God provides healing to the sick. But for those who have withered hands or amputated limbs we look to the resurrection.

Jesus Christ came to die for the forgiveness of our sins. He was truly greater than the temple as he was torn down and rose again. He is the Lord of the Sabbath, the one who gives us true rest. He is also the one who heals us from our greatest sickness, sin. He is even our Resurrection and Life as he will raise us on the Last Day. This is our Great Creator and Redeemer.

Sunday of the Creation (CL)

Genesis 2:4-17
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Many people talk about having a personal relationship with God. But what greater relationship can one have than with the person who gave them life. I think especially of verse 7, "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." You think of your own reaction to someone calpsing in front of you. You go over to them and check if they are breathing. You give them Mouth to Mouth resuscitation and bring them to life. What is your relationship?

Does the person thank you? If you ask the person to help you will they do so? Most people when someone saves their life, they are more than willing to show their thanks. They will even go out of their way to do so. But God does not just give the man life. He also places the man in a beautiful garden. He gives him a job. He gives him food to eat.

Should not all people thank and praise God who created us. Who gives us everything we need to support this body and life. He is the one who has even given us new life. After Adam and Eve ate from the tree which brings death, Jesus Christ came to give us new life. Jesus Christ will come again to give us new bodies. But what can we do? Thank and praise him for breathing into our nostrils the Breath of Life.