genesis 1:28 and kaitiakitanga

Let’s jump back into the first book of Genesis! KAITIAKITANGA is the Māori concept of GUARDIANSHIP or STEWARDSHIP of the environment. Something that’s been super on my heart for the last few months is how Christianity and this idea of environmental justice are intertwined. Jesus Christ is JUSTICE, and this doesn’t mean that God is sitting in a judge’s chair banging the gavel on humanity’s fate. The Bible does not take a passive stance on social justice, economic justice, or environmental justice.

Genesis 1:28 says that “God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth’.” The Lord God gives humanity the instruction to RULE and have DOMINION over the earth. This verse is often used to justify mankind’s exploitative and unsustainable use of the earth’s natural resources. We are given DOMINION. However, we are also given a perfect example of what this ‘dominion’ is to look like. This example is the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ. I don’t think we pay enough attention to the teaching that Jesus gives us on what our dominion over the environment is to be.

So where in the gospels does Jesus speak on kaitiakitanga? Given all power and dominion over humanity, the Son of God arrived in the form of an infant. The most POWERLESS form. Throughout his earthly lifetime, Jesus didn’t conquer any cities, win any battles, or defeat any enemies in armed combat. He did not hold a high political rank. He didn’t rule over any kingdoms. The reason that the Pharisees; the religious scholars and theologians of the time, did not recognise Jesus Christ as the Messiah, is that his DOMINION over humanity didn’t look like what they were expecting. Jesus came in HUMILITY and took the place of a servant.

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus shares a story we know as ‘the parable of the talents.’ A ‘talent’ is worth approximately 6,000 denarii. In this parable, a man gives to one of his servants five talents, to another servant he gives two talents, and to the final servant he gives one talent to look after while he is away. The first two servants invest the talents given to them by their master, but the third servant is afraid of the master and buries the talent in the ground. To the first two servants the master says, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.”

What does it mean to be a FAITHFUL STEWARD over the things that God has entrusted to us? In Exodus 23:10-11 and Leviticus 25:1-7, God commands the Israelites to sow and harvest the fields for a period of six years, but on the seventh year to leave the land to replenish its nutrients. Stewardship means to take care of the natural resources of the land, even as the land continues to provide for us. It makes me think – what am I doing to give the earth rest? How can I be a more faithful katiaki of the environment?