The Daily
Office
In chapter 2 of Genesis, we read that God first created a "human"--not a male--before he created two separate genders.
In other words, God created humanity in two equal branches, male and
female. And those two branches grew from
one source that is not male or female, but merely human. Today, it seems clear in the development of life on earth, that there have always been the male and female of the species. But as those made in the image of the one God, human beings are one, and are meant to live as one.
Today, as a
result of the sin of both male and female, we see its destructive
consequences. The most destructive of
those consequences is alienation, the loss of community, of common purpose and
common affection. It is summed up in
verse 16, which sadly has been interpreted as justifying male dominance over
women in society. This verse actually
says no such thing. Technically, the
woman (not yet a person named "Eve") is told that because of her sin,
her "desire" shall be to "possess" her husband, while the
husband will use his natural power to force his will on her.
In other
words, the woman will seek to manipulate the man to do what she wants him to
do, and sometimes succeed. But more
often, the man will simply do what he chooses regardless of her wishes, because
he can. This is not, in any way shape or
form, how it is supposed to be with two persons who are one in the source of
their creation, and were created to "correspond" to each other. If Jesus comes to restore us to the state in
which we were originally created, then he comes to end the alienation that
inevitably results from seeing human relations in the context of power; of who
gets to be the decider.
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