“From
Chaos to Redemption”
Genesis 9:8-17
Read: [Speaking to Noah] 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.
[Prayer]
Today’s
sermon has its roots in a somewhat unexpected convergence of events. What are those events? First came my choice of today’s Old Testament
text as today’s preaching text. Next
came one of those semi-regular gatherings of colleagues at which we discussed
preaching schedules for Lent. As was
noted by one of my colleagues the overall theme of this year’s texts for Lent
is covenant.
Two
other events take place later today: The class I’m teaching on the Ten
Commandments, commandments initiated by God and adopted by
Lent
is traditionally a season in which we remember and often reaffirm our baptismal
vows. And it is in baptism that, in the
words of “The Confession of 1967,” “the
church celebrates the renewal of the covenant with which God has bound his
people to himself.”
Something we need to remember about this covenant is that it is a
covenant of Grace, God’s grace. It is
initiated by God. Its promises are God’s
promises. We do not, in any way, shape,
or form, initiate, earn, or design a covenant relationship with God. Whether our participation in it is passive or
active, it begins and ends in eternity with God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Today’s text deals with God’s covenant with Noah, or to be more
specific, God’s covenant with all of creation.
Humanity had become extremely wicked.
Their behavior was an affront to the God who had created them. All humanity as well as all creation deserved
destruction. That destruction would we
accomplished by way of a catastrophic worldwide flood.
There was no thing, no creature, no person deserving of redemption. God in his grace, however, chose to save one
human family and one pair, male and female, of every living creature. Beyond death there would be life. Beyond destruction there would be
reconstruction. Beyond the chaotic
waters of the flood there would be redemption.
The family selected by God was that of Noah, a righteous man, someone
not thoroughly corrupted by wickedness.
Prior to the flood God commanded Noah to build the ark. He then instructed him to gather all the
animals, two-by-two. As is often the
case with those who obey God, Noah experienced laughter and derision from his
neighbors. They thought he was nuts.
Then the rain came. For forty
days and forty nights rain fell upon the earth.
All people and creatures not on board the ark died. Eventually the rain stopped and the floods
receded. And in the aftermath God made
this promise to Noah: “I will never again
curse the ground… nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have
done.” And then God placed a rainbow
in the sky as a sign of his covenant with creation.
Three things we need to note: God promised to never again destroy his
creation. Not by water or anything
else. And if we read correctly the
Revelation of St. John, we will see that in his own good time God will redeem
creation. Heaven and earth will be
renewed. Earth will be restored to the
perfection that was Eden.
And then there is the irony of God’s use of a rainbow to signify his
covenant. The rainbow, the bow, was a
symbol of war and destruction. This
weapon, this instrument of death, was used by God to symbolize his peace with
creation.
Finally we see that God did not place the rainbow in the clouds to
remind humanity of his covenant. He
placed it there to remind himself of his promises to Noah. Related to this is the reality that only God
spoke. Noah did not answer or otherwise
respond. Noah did not have to make any
promises. The covenant was unilateral, a
no-strings-attached gift of God’s grace.
Let’s focus on that grace thing for a minute. God didn’t have to bring creation out of
chaos, but he did. He didn’t have to
breathe life into Adam and Eve, but he did.
He did not have to save Noah, but he did. He did not have to call Abraham and Sarah to
be the father and mother of Israel and a blessing to the nations, but he
did. He did not have to deliver that
ragtag bunch of Hebrew slaves from Egypt, but he did. He did not have to redeem the children of
Israel from their captivity in Babylon, but he did.
Ultimately the Father did not have to enter into covenant with the Son
who would be the Savior of the world, but he did. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us as
Jesus Christ, the Incarnate God. Jesus,
as an act of Atonement, suffered hell itself by dying on a cross, paying the
full price of our sins. Jesus was raised
from the dead and will come again to bring history as we know it to an end, and
in doing so initiate a new chapter in God’s relationship with his
creation. God did not have to do all
that, but he did.
And once again his symbol of covenant was ironic. A cross, an instrument of punishment,
humiliation, pain, and death is God’s symbol of salvation. Just as he did with the rainbow, God took
something signifying death and violence and created a symbol of life and
peace. He took something horrible and
turned into a symbol of all that is good.
Did he have to? No. Did he choose to? Yes.
Why? Because he loves us with a
love that will not let us go. Because,
as “A Declaration of Faith” puts it, “Even
when we are faithless, God is faithful.”
Even when we are faithless, God is faithful. The God who has graciously entered into
covenant with us always keeps his promises, even we break ours. When we, with our knack for self-destruction,
surrender to the chaos of sin and evil, it is God - Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit - who rescues us and breathes life into us again. When we pervert God’s good creation, turning
it and our lives into things of evil, cruelty, violence, and sin, God - Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit – counters with grace, beauty, redemption, peace, and
goodness. While we are so exasperatingly
disobedient, God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is infinitely patient.
That’s good news, really good news for sinful people living in a sinful
world. God can bring something good out
of every situation, even the worst. When
the world was consumed by evil, there was, by God’s grace, one righteous
man. Even as Israel moaned, groaned,
griped, and rebelled all along its forty-year journey toward the Promised Land,
God didn’t stop feeding them or leading them.
When Judah and Israel went whoring after the false gods of Canaan, God
sent prophet after prophet to call them back to obedience. Even after Israel reaped the whirlwind of judgment
they so deservedly received, God still brought them home from exile. And when the nation of Israel failed to be
the light to the nations God had called it to be, God the Father, in the person
of the Son, came as Jesus to be that light.
No matter how many times we give up on God, God never gives up on
us. He keeps his covenant, no matter
what. He neither forgets nor breaks his
promises.
In a moment we will gather at the Table of Our Lord. As we celebrate Communion the sight, sound,
touch, taste, and smell of the loaf and cup will vividly remind us of just how
far God is willing to go to keep his covenant.
Just as the rainbow has been a sign that reminds our Lord of his promise
to Noah, the broken bread and poured out wine continue to remind us of God’s
promises: the ones God has made to us in Jesus Christ, the ones we have made in
response to his grace.
Said God to Noah, “I set my bow
in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” That covenant is eternal. Said Jesus to
his disciples, “This cup that is poured
out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
That, too, is eternal. Every
time we see a rainbow we know that it symbolizes God’s gracious act of bringing
redemption out of chaos. Every time we
take Communion we are reminded that Jesus will come again to eat and drink with
his redeemed people in the realized Kingdom of God.
When our lives are chaotic and the world is a dark, dark place in which
to live, we can depend on the promises God has made to his people in Jesus
Christ. When with Paul we agonize over
our inability to do what is good no matter how much we desire to do so – when with
him we finally cry out to God, “O wretched man that I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death?” we
are reminded by our baptisms and by our participation in Communion of those
other words of Paul, “Thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Amen.