Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken.”
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. ~ Genesis 2:18-24
This text has been used in so many ways.
To lift up the idea that women are submissive to men.
To stop civil rights for transgender communities.
To try to turn marriage into a political tool.
But if you go to the very beginning of this passage, God gives tells us directly what it is about: giving humanity partners. There is the comical image of God parading all the animals before the man to have him name them, and then ultimately deciding that they don't quite fit the bill.
And so God gave the man a partner who was part of him, and so a full and equal partner.
A partner. When you think of partners, one is not greater than the other. A partner is someone who shares your life, or work.
What would it be like if we remembered that all of humanity was created to partner with each other AND to be God's partners in the blessing of creation?
Turn my eyes and heart out to see the partners you put before me, O God. Amen
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