7/20/22

When I was little, Mom always said I looked like her side of the family. Dad insisted I looked like his side of the family. My brother said I looked like the milkman. There was no mistaking my brother though; he is, and always has been, the “spitting image” of my dad (an unsavory sounding expression that dates back to the 16th century, when a child looked so much like a parent that it “could have been spit out of their mouth.” But, I digress).

Last Sunday, we looked at Luke 20, where the religious leaders tried to trap Jesus by sending spies to ask him, “Is it lawful to pay tribute (tax) to Caesar?” When someone produced the coin used to pay the tax, Jesus asked them, “Whose image and whose title does it bear?” “Caesar’s,” they answered, not realizing the trap they were stepping into. Since the denarius bore the idolatrous graven image of Caesar Tiberius and bore the blasphemous title, “son of the divine Augustus,” Jesus said it was better to get rid of the blasphemous thing, giving it back to the one who coined it. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” Jesus told them, “and give to God what is God’s.”

Jesus’ use of “image” in the question was an allusion to Genesis 1:26-27, where God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness.” Although Jesus didn’t expressly say it, the message was still clear; just like the coin belongs to the one who coined it and whose image is on it, so we belong to the One who coined us and created us in his own image.

What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

There are several ways to answer this, and entire books have been written on the subject. Discussions can get really deep and theoretical, but for me a practical way is to consider the two ways we reflect God: Naturally and Morally. I’ll deal with the Moral image of God next week, but for now, how do we naturally bear the image of God? How do we “look like” God?

First, like God, we have the ability to Reason. Unlike the rest of creation, only humankind has the ability to reason, to think, and, therefore, to choose. As John Steinbeck writes in East of Eden, “But think of the glory of the choice! That makes a man a man. A cat has no choice, a bee must make honey. There's no godliness there.”

Second, like God, we Communicate. “Let there be,” God commanded, and “let us make,” God proposed. The Persons of the Trinity communicated with one another, and God has communicated with us from the very beginning. When we communicate with one another–in whatever form that communication takes–we are exercising the image of God.

Third, like God, we Create. Every time we cross-stitch, paint a picture, bake a cake, write a poem, carve a piece of wood, sing a song, or plant a garden, we are exercising the creative aspect of the image of God. This creativity is the first thing we learn about God: “In the beginning, God created. . .” We are creative because we are created in the image of a creative God.

Fourth, like God, we have the ability to Rule. In the ancient world, a ruler couldn’t be everywhere at one time, so images of the ruler were set up throughout the realm representing his authority. When God created the world, God placed his image in the world–not a lifeless statue, but a living, breathing image. Just as God was over all of creation, God created us to rule our own “little worlds.” God spells it out in Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion. . .” Our job, our vocation, as image-bearers of God is to rule over this glorious world God has entrusted to us. Not only that, but we can express this aspect of the image of God as parents, as managers, as teachers–any situation where we find ourselves in authority over someone else.

These are all ways we naturally express the image of God, but this is only half of the picture. We might think of the natural image of God as being like a car. Without a driver, the car isn’t going anywhere–or if it does, it’s not going safely! The “driver” of the natural image is the moral image of God, and if that moral aspect of God's image is either missing or tarnished in some way, then our car will be swerving out of control! Our reasoning, our communication, our artistry, our authority–every branch of the natural image of God will run amuck if the moral image of God isn’t there to keep it in line . . . but more on that next week.

In the meantime, as you go through your week at home or work or church, talking or texting or calling one another, baking, painting, sewing, overseeing others in your job, or being a parent, remember you do these things because you’re created in the image of God. These activities we so easily take for granted are ways God has stamped his image on us. When we think of life this way, it deepens our understanding of what it means to “give to God what belongs to God.” It is to recognize that our whole lives–every bit of them–belong to God.

Changes your perspective, doesn’t it? Next week we’ll see how the presence (or absence) of the moral image of God shapes the way we live our lives, how it touches even the simplest of activities.

Blessings,
Pastor Terry