Thomas J Parlette
“Look to the Ant”
Genesis 1:1-2:4
6/4/23, Trinity Sunday
“It’s the ants’ world, and we’re just visiting.”
So says a man named Dino Grandoni in the Washington Post.
We tend to think of ourselves as the most important of God’s creatures, since Genesis tells us that we are made in the image and likeness of God. So, why would Grandoni say such a thing? Well, an estimate has been made of the number of ants on Earth, and the total is probably going to surprise you. 20 quadrillion.
That is a staggering sum. To help get your mind around that number – 20 quadrillion is 20, followed by 15 zeros. Five sets of three. Quite a number. Or, how about this – for every person on earth, there are 2.5 million ants! We are outnumbered 2.5 million to 1. I don’t like those odds as we enter the summer picnic season!
Yes, it is the ants’ world. Boy, God must really love ants because God made so many of them.
A group of scientists from the University of Hong Kong concluded that the total mass of ants on earth is about 12 megatons of dry carbon. “Put another way,” Grandoni, “if all the ants were plucked from the ground and put on a scale, they would outweigh all the wild birds and mammals put together.” (1)
Ants may be tiny, but they outweigh us all. Literally.
Now, the ant is not mentioned frequently in the Bible, although the book of Proverbs in chapter 6, does say, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” Ants are praised in Proverbs for their efforts and productivity, even though they have no bosses breathing down their necks. In addition, ants are known for their strength – they can lift 20 times their bodyweight. They are also very compassionate. Did you know that ants have two stomachs, so they can store extra food in case they need to share. And if an ant is injured on the job, other ants will carry him back to the anthill to recover. Ants can be a little creepy – but they are very impressive.
Our scripture passage for today – the creation story from Genesis – doesn’t specifically refer to ants by name, but I think they fit into that category of creatures created right before humans on Day 6, when God created “everything that creeps upon the ground.”
And when God stood back and looked at everything that had been created, God called it all “good.”
And even though they are kind of an annoyance, ants really are good. An author named Diane Brady points out that “God made so many ants because ants are important housekeepers for the earth. Ants, not earthworms, turn most of the world’s soil, drain it and enrich it. Ants dispose of 90% of small dead animals. As gardeners, ants spread and plant more seeds than any other creature.” (2)
Acting as the world’s gardeners – spreading seeds, turning and the soil – that’s some very good work.
The book of Genesis reminds us of our place in God’s creation, and how important it is for us to preserve and care for what God has made. One of the reasons that the scientists from the University of Hong Kong are counting ants is that they are worried about insect numbers. Scientists are seeing declines in some insect populations in Germany and Puerto Rico. We could be facing a “bugpocalypse,” says Dino Grandoni – one driven by habitat destruction, pesticides and climate change. “Over 40 % of insect species may go extinct,” he reports, “with butterflies and beetles facing the greatest threat.” (3)
Whether the number of ants remains at 20 quadrillion or not, we humans have some work to do. And it begins with seeing ourselves as stewards of God’s creation. Our challenge is to care for creation as we follow the command of God to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Jonathan Merritt, author of the book “Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet,” was sitting in a theology class with one of his favorite seminary professors. The professor was talking about the revelations of God, and he said, “When we destroy God’s creation, it’s similar to tearing a page out of the Bible.”
Merritt was stunned. He was a staunch conservative who thought that environmentalism was incompatible with his Christian faith. At that moment he thought to himself, “I would never tear a page out of Scripture.” He left the class that day as a different person, knowing that he could not continue to live the way he did. (4)
When we destroy God’s creation – even something as small as an ant – we tear a page out of the Bible. We should not harm God’s world or God’s book. Neither belongs to us. They are simply entrusted to our care.
Now active in caring for creation, Merritt encourages people to approach the environment by confessing that we have sinned. He encourages us to deal with our wrongdoing by admitting that we have allowed our air, water and land to be polluted.
In the first chapter of Genesis, God says that men and women should “rule over” or “have dominion over” the creatures of the earth. Unfortunately, that has led some to interpret that to mean that human beings can do whatever they want with creation – after all, God put us in charge, it’s ours. Dominion has been understood as domination. Dominion is actually closer to stewardship and caretaking. Think of your family pet. We have dominion over our cats and dogs, but we take actions that are in their best interest. We don’t abuse or dominate them – we take care of them, because we love them. Merritt prefers to focus on the tilling and keeping that we find in the second chapter of Genesis, in which God put humans in the garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it.”
Other translations say “till it and keep it” or
“tend it and watch over”,
“take care of it and look after it.”
Or as The Message puts it, “work the ground and keep it in order.”
However this passage is translated, it is clear that humans are commanded to practice good stewardship of the Earth. We are to be like the prudent manager described by Jesus in the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servant, or the good and faithful servant who invests what his master puts him in charge of, so on his return he is still in good shape.
God has given us just one Earth, with precious limited resources, so the challenge for us is rule over creation with care, to be faithful and wise servants, making decisions in the best interest of God’s world. We need to realize that those of us living in the United States are leaving an especially large ecological footprint. If everyone consumed energy the way a middle-class American does, the world would need the resources of 4-10 Earths.
Caring for creation through energy conservation and employing alternative energy sources is an important way for us to take care of our world – as we learned at the Forums@First this past Tuesday. Even simple things like turning off lights and electronics that are not in use, and installing more energy efficient appliances and light bulbs can go a long way. We can look for opportunities to walk, bike or take public transportation instead of driving our car. All of these things help us practice good stewardship of God’s creation.
I know many people have shifted their grocery shopping so that they focus on more organic foods or food that is local and in season. That helps in cutting down the pesticides used to grow what we eat and the cost of shipping food all around the country. Did you know that on average, your food travels more than 1500 miles to get to your table? That’s of energy expended when you could just go to the farmers market, which thankfully we can start doing again now.
As we think about ways to care for Earth, we would be wise to look to the ant.
There is a man named Ndubuisi Ekekwe who recently wrote a piece in the Harvard Business Review about what he learned ants.
He says, “I once stopped at a rest area in Connecticut. A project I was working on was on my mind. As I took a break to stretch my legs, I sat down at a picnic table and I started watching a group of ants in action. I observed that when finds food, others immediately gathered to help pull the food to their storage. I decided to disturb their pattern, just to see what they would do – which unfortunately ended up in wounding one of the ants. Quickly, other ants came together and evacuated it. Then they re-organized and continued on the line they had created. I saw no form of supervision, yet they were accomplishing tremendous tasks, such as moving pieces of food that were about 30 times their individual sizes.”
“As I watched, my project flashed in my mind. Wouldn’t it be good to work like these ants?
They worked as a team. When one of them found food, they called other to help.
They trusted one another. When one was hurt they trusted that the others would get them to safety.
The ants were diligent and focused. They always kept moving. I never saw an ant standing still.
The ants regrouped when necessary – when something wasn’t working, they tried something else.” (5)
So as we come to the table this morning, let us give thanks for God’s good creation – and let us strive to be efficient stewards of the earth’s resources. And for helpful advice on how to do this, and all the other things we are called to do as the church – let us look to the ant. Let us work as a team, trust one another, be diligent and focused on the task at hand and be ready to regroup when necessary.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/10/23
2. Ibid…
3. Ibid…
4. Ibid…
5. Ibid…
