It's All Good (Genesis 1)

In the beginning, everything was good.

That word, good, appears seven times in the first chapter of Genesis, almost–but not quite–evenly spaced out among the seven days of creation.

If it all seems quite poetic, that’s because it is poetic. It’s a psalm, really. It uses analogy, and metaphor, to express the beauty of God’s creation in a way that a literal, historical or journalistic account could not.

It does not contradict modern scientific understandings of how the world, or the universe, were created; rather, it takes that scientific understanding, and adds to it beauty, and sacredness, and goodness.

Some preachers like to talk about “original sin,” but even before sin existed, there was goodness. Sin first appears in Genesis, chapter 3, but goodness appears here in Genesis 1. Creation was good. The plants and the animals were good.

Humans were good… very good, in fact.

So, maybe we should be talking about original goodness as much, if not more than, we talk about original sin.

Talking about original sin without talking about original goodness is dangerous. It hurts people. Too many people have been traumatized by the church, because the church has made them feel that they are all bad, that there isn’t anything good or worthy about them.

But look: in Genesis 1, even the sea monsters are good!

In the stories and myths of other ancient religions, there were monsters, but those monsters were not good. Those monsters were created by the gods for vengeance, to wreak havoc, to destroy, and to carry out the gods’ violent tendencies.

Those monsters were evil.

Not so with this God. This God created sea monsters that were good.

They were good, because they were created by our God who is good.

So, everything is good. The plants and the trees and the birds and the fish and the cattle and every wild animal that roams or creeps upon the earth… and all the sea monsters… and all the people.

Yes. You are good.

In fact, you are created in God’s image and likeness. You are beautiful.

Looking at you brings a smile to God’s face.

That doesn’t mean you are perfect. It doesn’t mean everything you do is good. There is always the need to repent, and do better.

But God gives you that opportunity. God extends to you grace and forgiveness.

Because, no matter what you’ve done, God still sees the good in you. God’s hope is in you.

I mean, if God sees beauty and goodness in sea monsters, then certainly God sees beauty and goodness in you, a human created in God’s own image, and according to God’s own likeness.

In fact, even though the sea monsters are good and beautiful in God’s eyes, God didn’t give the sea monsters dominion. God didn’t give the birds or the fish or the cattle or the wild animals dominion.

But God gave you dominion…

What does it mean, to have dominion?

To answer that, we should first discuss what it means to be made in God’s image, according to God’s likeness…

To be the image of God, to be God’s likeness, means that you are God’s representative on earth. 

In ancient times, when the king’s image or the emperor’s image appeared on a statue or on a coin, it was letting you know that this spot where you were fell under that ruler’s dominion, and that you fell under that ruler’s dominion.

And that ruler, it was believed, was God’s representative on earth, God’s appointed one, God’s anointed one. That ruler, it was believed, was closer to the divine than the rest of us mere mortals.

For countless generations, that was how people understood the world. Even the recent coronation of King Charles was filled with imagery that lifted him up as God’s anointed one, God’s representative on earth, a human closer to God than all his subjects.

But Genesis says that we are all created in God’s image. Not just kings and queens. Not just movie stars and pop idols... The homeless person sleeping in the park; the refugee with nothing but the clothes on his back; every unarmed black man shot by police; every trans person whose rights are being decimated in many places throughout this country.

Every person, no matter who they are, is made in God’s image and likeness. Every person is God’s representative.

And because we are God’s representatives, we share in God’s rule. We have been granted dominion.

So, our dominion should reflect the way God exercises dominion! Our rule should reflect the way God rules! 

God’s desire for the world is for goodness to flourish and peace to reign. The dominion we exercise should do the same: we should use our power for goodness and for peace. We should use our power for liberation and freedom. We should use our power for justice and right relationships among all people and all living things.

And let’s not overlook how both men and women are specifically named and included (in verse 27). In the ancient worldview, women were property; yet here, women are given the same agency, the same status, the same goodness and power to rule, as men. 

The ancient priestly writers who wrote Genesis 1 knew this idea alone would startle those who read it, and shake the foundations of society. They formatted these lines here as poetry, even more so than the rest of the chapter, indenting the lines and giving them a certain meter–something that we can still kinda see in our English translations.

They did this, to emphasize and draw attention to the fact that men and women were created in God’s image. No one, in fact, is left out of this proclamation:  all of humanity is made in God’s image and likeness.

How have we not paid attention to this all these years? How have we maintained the idea that some people are better than others, that some are more worthy than others, that some are more deserving of rights and opportunities than others?

How is it that we still give some people unfair economic advantages? How is it that some people still live privileged lives, while others are faced with disadvantages that are the result of how we have structured society?

How is it that we have ignored the fact that every single human is made in the image of God?

Too many people have trouble seeing that image of God in themselves. Maybe you are one of them. Maybe all you’ve been told is how sinful you are, how unworthy you are, how you fail to measure up. Maybe that’s something you’ve told yourself, after too many years of comparing yourself to others.

Yet God wants you to look in the mirror, and recognize that what you see there is good. There is goodness in you. 

When my friend Jonas Corona founded Love in the Mirror, he named his organization that, because he wanted every person to be able to look in the mirror, and see love; to love what they see; to recognize that what they see in the mirror is good and worthy.

So: when we look in the mirror and see God, it is good.

When others look at us and see God: it is good.

When we exercise dominion by caring for the earth and all who live in it: it is very good.

And this goodness extends to each and every person, because each and every person is created in God’s image and likeness.

This is one of the most important sermons I can ever preach. Because in our world today, people look at one another, and do not see the image of God. People look at themselves, and do not see something good.

We treat each other like garbage. We treat ourselves like garbage. We tear each other apart, because we think doing so is easier than admitting that we ourselves are broken. 

And we love to watch others get torn apart. We love to see others get put in their place. Our favorite news shows and some of our favorite forms of entertainment are based on cruel jabs at those we don’t like. 

The airwaves are filled with nonstop harassment and bullying, all in an attempt to entertain while we discredit those we disagree with.

And all this has an effect.

We don’t feel good about ourselves. We’ve heard so many negative things said about people, and we figure that some of them, at least, must apply to us, even if they weren’t directed at us. 

And every setback we face makes us think we are not worthy as a human being. We know we don’t have our lives together, as the world so eagerly reminds us, and it becomes harder and harder to see ourselves as sacred beings made in the image of God.

Last weekend, I was at my sister’s house for a Memorial Day pool party. I noticed, in the bathroom that my niece and nephew use, various affirmations taped to the mirror.

They said things like, “I am loved; I am unstoppable; I am amazing; I am brave.”

What a wonderful reminder of our inherent goodness! It’s hard not to feel better about yourself when you look into that mirror. I mean, it worked for me! I felt better, standing at the sink, washing my hands, and reading these affirmations…

My niece is in middle school, and my nephew soon will be, and that’s a very hard time for a young person to remember how sacred they are. 

I don’t know how much you remember about middle school, but whatever it was like for you, know that it’s many times more difficult for today’s kids, generally speaking, than it was for us. Social media is a big reason for this, but there are other reasons as well. 

How wonderful it is, then, that my niece and nephew get to wake up to these affirmations every day, and see them again just before they go to bed.

And how wonderful it is, then, that our God tells us, in the first chapter of the Bible, how incredibly good we are, how sacred we are, and how we are to honor the goodness within us as well as the goodness in those around us.

Think of Genesis 1 as God’s way of posting those affirmations on your bathroom mirror: You are good. You are created in God’s image and likeness. As God’s representative, you have been given dominion.

It’s all good.

And when you look in the mirror and see yourself as someone worthy of love,

And when you look at others and see them also as someone worthy of love,

And when you learn to exercise your dominion in a way that honors the goodness in every person and in all of creation,

It’s all very good.