October 7, 2024

Today's Reading: Genesis 2:18-25

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 6:10-25; Matthew 9:18-38

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:23)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Dominion, according to the dictionary, is supremacy or dominance, but our text from Genesis tells another story. God created man in His image, in His likeness, and in verse 19 of our text, we see God sitting back as He brought all of creation to Adam to see what he’d name the stuff… it must have been quite a sight. It was to Man… to Adam, the crown jewel of creation, that God brought all the creation and heard that Adam called them Aardvarks, Platypi, and Zebras. God created and waited to see what the crown jewel, Adam, would call them. We humans are God’s favorites! The dominion God gives to Adam to name stuff isn’t about control or power, though; it’s the same joy that a mother or father has in seeing what their little ones will call one of the things they created out of paper and crayons, mud, stones or macaroni noodles… there is joy, not because of power, supremacy or superiority, but because something has been created and has been given a NAME!  

We see it in what Adam calls the creature taken from his own body. She’s different from him… and yet she’s wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that Adam says, “At last… there’s the helper, taken from my own flesh… she’s me, and I’m her… but we’re different… beautifully different.” Woman is what she is: ‘from man.’ That’s the name Adam gives her, and yet she has another name: Eve… 

Eve… like Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve… meaning that from her will come other wonderful and blessed humans, little girls and boys… our greatest of grandparents all the way up to us. The man will leave His parents and cleave (hold fast) to his wife… sure, they’ll still be two distinct people, different in many ways, but in Holy Matrimony, they’re one… complete with all the differences, and, by the grace of God, of one mind, of one direction. Regardless of whether a man or woman gets married, there still remains the truth that man and woman are the two genders God created… we are different but complimentary. We don’t always think the same way, but that’s part of the beauty and wonder… that our Heavenly Father sent Jesus ‘the Man’ to buy back His wayward bride. He is the greater Adam who has given us His Name, ‘Christian,’ for all we have has been taken from and given to us from His precious blood and pierced side. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord; she is His new creation by water and the Word. From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought her and for her life He died. (LSB 644:1)

-Rev. Adam DeGroot, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

In Embracing Your Lutheran Identity, Author Gene Edward Veith Jr. will guide readers through that heritage, starting with the Early Church and moving through the Reformation to Lutheranism today. Readers will learn about key people in the history of Lutheranism, from two teenagers who were the first martyrs of the Reformation, through the Saxon immigrants who left everything behind so they could practice Lutheranism freely, to the Lutherans who have stood strong for the faith in our own day.