We Are All One (1)

Dirt and Humanity

A little boy was learning from his father that God had made the first man, Adam, out of dirt, and that eventually, all humans turn back into dirt when we die. ("For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return", taken from Genesis 3:19) A funny look came over his face, and he blurted out, "Well, I looked under my bed this morning, and it looks like somebody's either coming or going!"

The Hebrew words in that verse in Genesis show a connection between the first man ("Adam") and the dirt ("adamah") that he came from. I think God was trying to remind him, and maybe us, not to get too 'uppity' as my mom used to say. But isn't that what we tend to do, get uppity? It's sure easy for me to start thinking I'm something better than the rest of the people around me.

Am I, really? Are you, really, better than others? Well, according to God, we all came from the same source: him! And he made us all from the same dirt, and since we all came from the same original parents, then it looks like we are the same, in so many ways. Scientists have figured out how to 'read' our DNA strands, and tell us how very closely we are all related genetically. (Even the science of genetics comes from the same Latin root as Genesis, or beginnings.)

When we see others, though, we tend to look at differences: he's taller than me and has bigger muscles. She weighs less than I do, and has better hair. He's got dark skin, I wonder where he's from. She looks Chinese or Korean or something, not from around here. And the envy or the distrust starts to arise, and the next reaction to that is defensiveness and self-protection, shutting others out instead of including them.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, God told the Israelites not to mingle with the nations around them -- not because they were inferior peoples, but so Israel wouldn't pick up the false and destructive religions of those people. (See Numbers 33:51-55, Deuteronomy 7:1-8, Deuteronomy 12:29-31, etc.) But the New Covenant is a relationship with God where everybody belongs, no matter where we're from: "Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts...Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death." (Ephesians 2, especially verses 11 and 16).

The spiritual reality is greater than the physical reality of our external, visible differences. In Christ, we are one. How does that play out when we like different foods, use different grammar, enjoy different music, and naturally think ours is better? Let's keep considering those ideas in the next few posts.