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Male and Female: What Was God Thinking? According the the first chapter of Genesis, the creating of a male and female was God= s crowning accomplishment. The very first thing the Bible mentions about humanity is sexuality. A God created them, male and female, God created them.@ From that mention, people are to fill the earth, have power over it, and eat well. In other words, from the beginning chapter, the Bible calls for lots of sex, lots of power, and lots of good eating. (I wonder if we got back to the Bible if it wouldn= t help our evangelistic efforts in the community!) It= s a funny thing though, when most of us think of religion, we think of severe exercises to control sex, power, and eating. We have painted a picture of a God who is against those things. So, what was God thinking when God created male and female? (When United Methodists do theology, we approach every topic with four questions: First, what does scripture say? Second, what does our reasoning tell us? Third, what can we learn from the traditions of the church? And fourth, what does our experience teach us?) In this morning= s sermon, I= ll spend some time on two of those four questions. When we consider A Why in the world did God invent this male/female thing?@ I= d like for us to ask first of all, what are some of our experiences with it? And second, I= d like to ask, how do a few scripture passages shed light on the question? First, what have we experienced of this male/female system? Males and females experience life in some profoundly different ways. Even though we have many common experiences, and even though we have great powers and potential for empathy and understanding, we still experience life in profoundly different ways. There are important and profound differences between the male and female body. In the Hebrew language, there are not separate words for body and spirit, or body and mind. In the Hebrew language, there is one word that describes the whole self. The word is A nephesh.@ The A nephesh@ describes the whole of who we are: body, mind, spirit. I do not merely experience the world as a thinker. I experience it as a body, a thinking body, a thinking, soul-full body. In my case, I experience the world as a male body, I do all my thinking out of this male body, and my soul is in union with the male body. Each one of us experiences the world as either a male or female body-self. Not only do we experience life out of our maleness or out of our femaleness, but we also experience life in different ways because of the scripting that our culture imposes upon males and females. Some examples: In 67% of all marriages, the male is older, by an average of 5.3 years. More than 3/4 of all men would marry the same person over again. Only half of all women would marry the same person. The average wife with at least one child under 5 spends 88 hours a week working, Doing household chores, and caring for children. Her husband spends 60 hours working, doing household chores, and caring for children. 28% of girls and 71% of boys receive physical punishment. Only 48% of all men will live to the age of 75. Only 20% of men will live to 85. More than 2/3 of all females will live to 75. 40% will live to 85. Males are more likely to try different foods, including candy, pig= s feet, snails, brains, and snake. So, to summarize point one, our experiences of life, due to our bodies and due to culture are often profoundly different. And the examples I= ve given just scratch the surface of how we experience life differently. Using our reason, perhaps one of the reasons God made male and female is so that together, and through being open with each other, we would experience the richness of life, due to our differences. Through our relationships, and through good communication with each other, we might attain the powers and abilities we need to live well, to live with a fullness of joy, to live richly. The second thing we want to do this morning is look at a few scripture passages in order to help us ponder what God was thinking when God got us mixed up in this male/female thing. There are scattered passages in the Bible making reference to our being male and female. But when we want to know why God created us male and female, the mother-lode passages are Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 and2 assert that human sexuality is not just an accident of evolution. Our being male and female and our being brought into relationship with each other is very purposeful. The purposes of two diverse genders relating to each other are multiple: fertility, power, productivity, companionship, dependency, and pleasure--all these themes are present in Genesis 1 and 2. Fertility is necessary for the preservation and propagation of the species. There is indeed somethimg biologically brilliant when new life arises out of the relationship between a male and female. This notion of male and female in the mind of God is a means to new life. And all of us who have had the opportunity to behold a newborn child find ourselves marvelling at the profound consequence of a male and female knowing each other. The Bible implies a strong connection between males and females relating with each other and the notion of power. As soon as we are told to be fruitful, mulitply, and fill the earth, we are told--as male and female--to subdue the earth and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. In other words, we are to live our lives in the image of God--who brought order to chaos and who worked with what was there to create new and adventerous designs and communities and realities. And our power to create and bring order and design resides in faithfulness to bring together the male and female mind, each unique because each has experienced life in a profoundly but different way. Through the insight and gifts males and females give each other, we generate power to bring order to chaos and to bring creativity out of order. What DID God have in mind? Fertility--yes. Human empowement--yes. Productivity--yes. For some reason, this male/female system in the Bible shows up in the same paragraph with the section on good eating. When men and women work together and share in the labor, they are able to produce more economic benefit--more food--than they could alone. In the agrarian economy of the Bible, the family--centered around the relationship of a male and female--is the basis of the economy. I suspect--that in our non-agrarian culture--once businesses and corporations and partnerships are able to see beyond the sexism of our culture--they will discover that there is an economic brilliance when men and women are in full partnership with one another. Just a suspicion that the insights of the Bible might just be good economics--even in a post-industrial economy. When God created the sexes, what did God have in mind? Fertility. Empowerment. Productivity. Companionship. The first picture we have of the man and woman in the Garden of Eden is their companionship. A good companion is someone who is enough like us to be comfortable and enough different to add something to our lives. The relationship of a male and female is the paradigm of companionship. The good companion is someone who is ready to look at what we= ve noticed--and ready to show us what we wouldn= t have seen otherwise. The companion is one who shares bread with us. In companionship, we share common joys. But we are different enough that we can teach each other new joys. God created male and female so we would have companionship at its very richest. When God created the sexes, what did God have in mind? Fertility. Empowerment. Productivity. Companionship. Dependence. When God created the first human being, it became evident that that human being needed help. And this male/female thing was invented by God because of the need we all have for help. And the best help we can receive comes from those who are different. We normally tend to stay away from those who are different. But there is this abiding attraction that males and females have. Sometimes it= s an attraction that burns. And sometimes it= s a more gentle attraction. But we find ourselves being attracted to someone who is different. And in that attraction, a helper. For male or female, the purposes of our lives are so great that we all need a helper. When God created the sexes, what did God have in mind? Fertility. Empowerment. Productivity. Companionship. Dependence. Pleasure. The man and the wife were both naked and were not ashamed. There is pleasure all through the first and second chapters of Genesis. God takes pleasure in all that is created. All the way through the creation story, God keeps saying, A This is good.@ And when the humans are created, male and female, God says, A This is VERY good.@ God takes pleasure in creation. God takes so much pleasure in creation that he even takes a day off--just to rest in the pleasure of all that had been created. And males and females, created in the image of God, take pleasure in one another. God surely created sexuality for pleasure. Now I have not talked today about marriage, what of all the above belongs in a marriage and what is okay outside of a marriage. Those are issues for another sermon, article, or discussion. I have also not talked in this sermon about how good creation becomes poisoned, misses the mark, over-does it. Everything has its downside: Fertility. Empowerment. Productivity. Companionship. Dependence. Pleasure. And beginning in chapter 3 of Genesis, we are confronted with the downside of what God has created. But that too is another sermon series. Today we celebrate. We praise God for what God has given. Sexuality. Male and Female. Experiencing life in profoundly different ways. And full of benefits: Fertility. Empowerment. Productivity. Companionship. Dependence. Pleasure. |
