Today the lectionary is sending us to the book of Genesis, all the way back to the beginning of creation, and the reading sure gives us something to think about… We are being served a wonderfully poetic story, which has often been unfairly exploited for male’s sake – the creation of woman out of the ribs of a guy – mythical language that is not to be confused with biology or history. As we hear this story with the ears of modern people, the “Me Too” movement and its emphasis on the unjust treatment of women fresh in our minds, gender wars re-playing all over the place in the wake of the Supreme court nomination, we are probably not exactly sure what to make of this text and its central image of the woman created out of man’s rib. What’s the point here?
As if we needed reminding, the point used to be that Adam was first and Eve second, with a clear hierarchy established between the genders. Eve was made out of the rib of Adam, therefore the woman had to obey the man… He was the head, she was the subordinate helper, at least that’s how it was interpreted for centuries by the Fathers of the Church, including Paul, one of the earliest Christian theologians. For almost 2,000 years this view of things served as the underpinning of a male-led society. Of course, during those long periods of history, we never heard how the Mothers of the Church felt about it. We never listened to the opinions of daughters. It would take a long time before that happened. And now that we have a number of female bishops in our church, – in fact the national bishop of the ELCA is a woman, Elizabeth Eaton – it is not so easy to read this story and fully appreciate it.
I think it’s obvious that we are much more skeptical, even critical and dismissive of that initial interpretation of the human creation story. It seems dated to us. We also know where it leads: arrogance and abuse from those who are granted the top position in the hierarchical order. Today we are, despite still existing gender gaps, much more used to women playing important roles in society. So, this interpretation has run its course and has not really served us all that well, and we do what many Christians have done before us and what many will do after us: we re-interpret the Bible when we need to, which is when the “old” interpretation simply doesn’t work anymore. Jesus did that, by the way, when he re-interpreted the Law in the Sermon on the Mount or when he said that new wine can’t be served in old wine skins. Sometimes, Jesus suggested, you have to shake things up. And so, the re-interpretation of this scripture passage is taking shape and has long been underway. A recent publication underscores that.
In “The Shack,” a contemporary religious novel about a man in search of his missing daughter, the main character has a brief, unorthodox encounter with God in THE SHACK, located in a remote landscape in the mountains of the American northwest. The shack is where his daughter had been taken by her abductor. He arrives and initially finds nothing, but as he is leaving, the shack and its surroundings are supernaturally transformed into a lush and inviting scene. He enters the shack and encounters manifestations of the three persons of the Trinity. God the Father takes the form of an African American woman who calls herself Elousia and Papa; Jesus is a Middle Eastern carpenter; and the Holy Spirit physically manifests as an Asian woman named Sarayu. The female and ethnically diverse depiction of God in this novel is surprising because this book I believe came out of the conservative evangelical community and has been widely read in those circles. It shows that even in conservative corners of the church, people are more open than they used to be for female images of God and for the appreciation of Eve in a society that is no longer primary Adam’s domain. Eve has not only grown out of his rib; she has also grown out of his shadow.
And now we go back to Genesis 2 and we look again at the image of the woman created out of Adam’s rib, and we ask one more time: what’s the point here? I mean, if we don’t buy into the patriarchal interpretation of this passage, which designates Adam as “The Man,” and Eve as his subordinate helper, if we don’t agree with gender hierarchy being established here, what is left of this image? Quite a bit, it turns out, and I think what’s left is supremely relevant for us today. Here is what I think is the main point of this creation story: man and woman, we are told in Genesis 2, need one another. Certainly, God believed that Adam needed Eve, and needed her badly, and who would argue that this is still true. (I won’t!) And why would it not be equally true the other way around? We share the same blood, the same bone, the same humanity, we are connected to the bone even as we remain different – in some obvious ways and some more mysterious ways. The fact that we belong together, that male and female need one another may sound self-evident, but it is not today if you listen to people in parts of society.
There is, in some corners of our society, not so much here in our church I feel, but in our culture if you pay attention, a gender tug-of-war going on. I read up on this a little bit and I would like to offer an observation by a writer that I found very insightful. This writer observes, “In the one corner is the “I-am-woman-hear-me-roar” variety, the kind who touts female independence above all else and trots out anti-male books and articles with titles like “Are Men Necessary?” and “The End of Men.” In the other corner: The “fed-up man,” the kind who views himself mistreated by what he feels is an increasingly misandrist society, so much so that he decides to forgo the “trappings of male servility” altogether for a life of blissful bachelordom. Fueled by past and present societal resentments, the boxers defensively yet defiantly retreat to their respective corners…”
Recently we have seen replays of this gender tug-of-war, women saying, “we are still not heard by a still male-led society,” men saying, “we are tired of being vilified.” In the heat of those arguments it is sometimes easy to overlook that, as a society, we have actually made some progress over the last several decades. Men and women have evolved and our roles have no doubt changed. We don’t need each other in the same way we did 60 years ago—most women make their own money today and not so rarely make more than their husbands and yes, some can even change their own tires; many guys cook and some take care of large parts of the housework and most know how to change diapers. Adam and Eve were created for one another and will always be better if they work together, whether it is in a marriage or in a less intimate – work or volunteer oriented – relationship, whether it’s in traditional or non-traditional roles. We belong together to the bone. So, when you go home today, think about a person of the other gender in your life and what they mean to you and let them know in your way how important they are. Because they are! Amen.