Covenant Series: Noah
Genesis 9:8-17
Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan
During Lent this year, we’ll focus on biblical Covenants. The lectionary committee invites us to listen to parts of the First Testament, the Old Testament, that recount God’s creating of ancient covenants. Many of us may not even be aware that scripture indicates God established a number of covenants with our ancestors in the faith, so we’ll look at them during Lent and see what they have to say to us today. Any covenant is a special agreement. Biblical covenants are formal commitments made by one party to another, or by two parties to each other. The seriousness of the agreement is often shown by performing some ritual or taking an oath before God or other people. Throughout the Bible, covenants are considered solemn commitments.
Today we hear the covenant God declared to Noah. We know the back story. God became increasingly disappointed in sinful human behavior until finally LORD Yahweh instructs Noah to build a boat to salvage just his family and a selection of animals. The mythic story assumes Earth is flat with a protective cover over the land God created, keeping out the primal waters above and below. God opens the windows in the protective cover and floods of rain pour in from heaven; then water is released from beneath the earth until the entire surface of the earth is under water. All land animals, including people, are destroyed, except for those in the ark. When the water recedes, Noah, his family, and the animals come out of the ark, to begin again. The writer of Genesis wants us to understand the singular power of the Great Flood and the decisive actions God takes. From the 9th chapter of the book of Genesis, listen for the word of God.
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Genesis was written down when the Israelites were in exile – hundreds and hundreds of years after the great flood was supposed to have occurred. And we know Earth is not flat and the sky is not a protective cover with windows in it. So the story is obviously not historically accurate. But ingredients of the story helped shape Israel’s identity and they tell us something about the people’s belief in the Creator Yahweh. These ingredients help tell us who we are, as well. And make important claims about the God we worship.
The first covenant is one-sided. The Bible story indicates God’s promises following the great flood are made to Noah, his off-spring, and all living creatures on Earth. Nothing is required from anyone else; only God. The one-sided commitment on God’s part is a pledge never to destroy life with a flood again. There are no conditions. The Genesis story reports an amazing surrender of divine power. God promises never to destroy all living creatures again, no matter what. Never. And because God is God, we know such a promise will not be broken.
Let’s think of what led up to making the first covenant. The creation story says God called life on Earth out of the chaos of primordial water. Then humans were created from soil, Earth itself. God created all things in divine order; yet like obstinate toddlers, we kept sneaking back towards the primordial waters of chaos in our sinful refusal to obey any divine instructions. So what happens to little mud-lings who wander into the swirling chaos of rebellious living? We drown in our disobedience. We can almost hear God, like a frustrated parent, saying, “Okay, you want watery chaos. I’ll give you watery chaos.” And so the flood comes, drowning the ehlings, and all living things. The original, loving relationship between Creator and creature was dissolved.
But when the flood recedes and the dry land appears, God repents. Changes. Forgives. God promises never to destroy all life with a flood again. What is so amazing is – Nothing is required of the creatures, only the Creator. In the promising, God creates relationship with living things anew – just as in the first creative time. From God’s own love for creation, a promise is made which binds only God. God places a sign in the sky, a sticky-note to Godself to halt the rain. God establishes the covenant with Noah and all living things, by promising to limit divine power, and requiring nothing in return. The first covenant God establishes is a one-sided covenant.
Because we are unfaithful. Every one of us is a fallible human, who often finds it impossible to follow through on even our most serious promises. So, a two-sided commitment would be destined to fail, because we just can never be sure we will hold up our end of the bargain.
Six months ago someone may have made some pledge to a friend, something like – “We are so fortunate to have such a fine health care system, I’m going to send money each month to Doctors without Borders!” And then just a few weeks ago the friend may have inquired, “how’s that going?” and the person responds, “I keep forgetting to go on line to find out how to donate.” Right? We fall short of our best intentions. Inconstant people that we are.
Here we are four days into Lent and some of us may already have broken the Lenten discipline we took on – even if it’s just to read the daily devotional. We hear ourselves saying, “I left it on my desk; I’ll catch it up tomorrow (or the next day or sometime before Holy Week).” For us, it is just too easy to make excuses to wiggle our way around our promises. Or we might have made a Lenten commitment to give up sweets, but we find ourselves making excuses when a friend suggests going to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch – just this once. Even when we have pledged something to God, we wiggle our way out of it, claiming God is forgiving, or God will understand this once. Somewhere in the back of our mind, we hear a hand slap down on a button. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Failed again. We just can’t keep our promises. God knows we can’t be trusted.
So, Lent is for thankfulness. We should spend Lent wrapped in gratitude for God’s unconditional care of us. Anytime we see a rainbow, we should think of the claim in Genesis that God right this minute is promising to remember us. And be thankful. In placing the bow, it is as if the warrior God unstrings a war bow and hangs it in the sky, pointing away from the earth. Rain will still come, God declares, but it will be limited, because God places a sign in the sky, a reminder not to let flood come again. The bow in the sky is not a signal for humans, but a sign for God, a reminder. Thank God, chaos has lost.
God’s covenant with Noah and all living things (which includes us) is not the only covenant we will consider in the weeks to come. But this is an eternal covenant, a divine promise that our Creator will not wipe out people. Such a covenant may not sound like much, because we take for granted that God will provide what we need every day. We assume God will not stop paying attention to creation, because we know otherwise the universe would cease to exist, in the blink of an eye. But for Lent, we might choose to feel appreciation for the first covenant.
Every day, we wake up trusting that the air will have enough oxygen in it to sustain life; that the rays of the sun will reach Earth; that rains will come, and then stop, so crops will grow and food will be produced. Such constancy we take for granted, yet we could not survive without these predictable ingredients of life. How thankful are we?
In our sinfulness, God promises to keep us anyway. In spite of the disappointment which invades the divine heart, God promises to be faithful to us no matter what we do. So we can be overwhelmed with gratitude – for receiving life every minute of every day, for trusting that life on earth is precious to our constant God. We receive a tremendous gift, every day – divine love, poured out on us. Our hearts should sing for joy. Lent is appropriately spent in thankfulness.