I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. – Ezekiel 8:2

Today's Scripture Reading (May 3, 2020): Ezekiel 8

What does God look like? And what does it actually mean when God says, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness" (Genesis 1:26)? And while we are at it, what gender is God? Maybe these questions sound stupid to you, but I am guessing that even though the questions might sound silly, they sound dumb for very different reasons. I have had some great conversations with Christians who believe that God looks mostly like us. He has two arms and two legs, and when the Psalmist writes, "In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands" (Psalm 102:25) it means precisely that. God used his very human-like hands to create everything. One friend reimagines the Genesis 2 account that describes God molding Adam out of dust and, in his mind, he can see that process of shaping by the literal hands of God, and then he can see God thumping Adam's chest with his human-like hands, to get the heart beating for the first time. It is a great image, but it might be more poetic than a literal description of what happened.

Concerning gender, when I was a teen working in a service station, I had a boss who attended the local United Church. One Monday, as I showed up for my shift, my boss was in a foul mood. I tried to avoid him for a while, but finally, I asked him what was wrong. He looked at me and declared that the pastor in church the previous day had prayed to "Father, Mother God." He was upset. After all, at least in his mind, God is Father and male, not Mother and female. The male gender identity of God was essential to his image of God. I have also met people who believe the opposite, that God is essentially Mother and female and not Father and male because the essential act of creation and the nurturing of this planet is more in line with a mother than a father.

I disagree with all of the above. God is other. I don't think it is easy for our finite minds to understand the dimensions and attributes of our infinite God. And so, when the Bible talks about Adam and Eve being created in God's image, it is not speaking of our physical bodies. Our physical body is finite, and God is not. And so, God makes an effort to reach beyond that finiteness. It is also clear that men and women are created in his, or more appropriately, and in keeping with Genesis 1:26, 'their,' image. Again, going back to the Genesis 1 narrative, the Bible declares that "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). The 'male and female' are an essential part of the passage. So maybe the question of gender is also not as set as we sometimes believe.

Is it important? Probably not. I believe that we are created in the image of God, but that has more to do with our spirit and our need for community (after all, God exists in 'essential community' as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) than it connects with our physical attributes.

But this other God does occasionally take a form that we can understand. The meaning of the incarnation is that God stepped out of heaven and became like us. He took on our image so that he could walk among us.

And there are other instances of God coming down in a form that we can understand. And one of them is here in Ezekiel. It is important to note that Ezekiel is not sure what he is looking at in his vision. The translators of the NIV have given us a little context when it says that "I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man," but the word man or 'adam' is not actually in the original text. A more literal translation of the text might be, "I looked and saw something that appeared to be fire. And from the (waist, hips, loins, middle part of the apparition) down there was fire, and from the (waist, hips, loins, middle part of the apparition) up it was like glowing metal. Whatever Ezekiel saw, it was maybe maybe like a man, Ezekiel does not seem to be sure on that point, but it was definitely not a man. It was other. God was reaching down into Ezekiel's finite universe with an image that, while it was a little familiar, it was still extraordinary and something that Ezekiel found challenging to quantify. He saw something which he knew was God. And while he struggled to understand the image, he described it as best he could so that we could struggle with it as well.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 9

Personal Note: Today is my Grandmother's birthday. She is an extraordinary lady who turns 105 on this day.