A Promise of Mercy

 September 18 2022

Genesis 6:5-22, 8:6-12,9:8-17

         On Thursday, September 8, the world learned of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She was such an amazing historical figure, her reign spanned so many decades and her influence was really profound. On the day of her passing, one of the images that flooded social media was that of a rainbow arching over the royal palace which was interpreted by many as being a sign from heaven. Such news just makes me even more amazed at this phenomenon that people everywhere are so enchanted with rainbows. I mean, we have a song which speaks of our longing to know just what is there somewhere over the rainbow, and we laugh at the Irish hope that at the end of the rainbow there is a pot of gold and when our beloved pets are no longer with us people say that they have crossed the rainbow bridge. So, yes, the rainbow is still a symbol which captures our imaginations.

         Of course for us who know the Bible stories, the rainbow is forever connected with the story of Noah and the ark and the animals and the great flood. Much like the rainbow, Noah’s ark is perhaps one of the most well known stories that even people who have no Biblical literacy still seem to have a familiarity with. Most often the story of Noah’s ark is used in cartoons to explain that the reason there are no unicorns is that either they got their days mixed up, oops, or the two unicorns on the ark turned out to have the names Bob and Larry, oops again!So, there is a vague understanding about Noah and the ark which permeates our culture. Of course there is as well, an exhibit of a life size replica of Noah’s ark in Kentucky which ironically has recently sustained flood damage. 

         So, yes, we know the story of Noah, his ark and the flood and the animals and of course, the rainbow at the end which is like the perfect ending to the story. Yet, the problem with the way most of us view this story is that we either want to see it as a historical event or just another good story that has a happy ending, at least for Noah, his family and the animals but either of these ways of understanding this story is, I’m afraid, to miss the point. You see, as we have discussed the story of Noah, the ark, the animals, the great flood and the rainbow did you catch what part of the story has been forgotten? It is God who gets so often left behind when we tell the story of Noah, which is really to miss the whole point of the story. I mean we get so enamored with Noah and his fine craftsmanship in building this ark out of gopher wood, whatever that is and we can imagine the animals entering the ark two by two and the door to the ark slamming shut as the rain falls. It is wonderful drama but we cannot forget that this is a story which is first and foremost a tragedy. If we don’t understand the tragic events which were the whole reason behind the necessity of the ark then we will be people who haven’t really learned anything that God is trying to communicate to us about himself, who he is and who we must be in relationship to him.

         As it turns out, the story of Noah is a great starting point for us as the church to begin again to work our way through the Biblical narrative to discover the reality that Jesus is here in what we call the Old Testament. You see, Jesus himself tells us in the fifth chapter of the gospel of John, “You search the Scriptures because you think  that in them you have eternal life; and it is these scriptures that bear witness to me.” You see, if the people of Israel would have been searching for the Messiah in their own scriptures perhaps they would have recognized him when at last he came. As we hear these scriptures once again, we should be asking ourselves just where is Jesus? As it turns out, this story of Noah is a great place to begin our search for Jesus within the scriptures because as we heard in our reading for today from the book of Genesis, there as the rainbow stretched across the sky, God is heard to do something that we have not heard previously which is that he makes a promise to not just Noah but to every living creature for all future generations, which therefore includes us as well. When we hear of God making a promise, we must also hear the words of Paul from the first chapter of Second Corinthians where Paul tells us that all the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus  Christ. So, we have to ask then just what is it about this promise that God has made to Noah and to us that finds its certainty in Jesus? This is the question that we must keep in mind as we try and figure out what this story of Noah, the ark, the great flood and the rainbow are all about.

         To figure out the answer to our question we have to understand just why this great flood was the only apparent option to what was going on in the world at the time of Noah. We read in the sixth chapter of Genesis that “the Lord saw that the wickedness of men was great in the earth, every intention of the thoughts of their hearts was evil continually.’ What the Lord saw then was humanity totally consumed by evil and wickedness so much so that this was all they could think about every waking moment of the day. Now, to get a better grasp of what was going on we have to define just what is meant when the scriptures speak of evil and wickedness and if we search the whole of scripture we find that evil and wickedness always are determined by the treatment who were poor and powerless. In the eighty-second Psalm we read of what God comes against which is when partiality is shown to the wicked, and when the powerless are unable to find justice for their cause. God desires that justice be given to the weak and to the fatherless and that the rights of the afflicted and the destitute be upheld. The psalm goes on to state that God expects that people will be ready to step in and rescue the weak and the needy. If this is the good that God expects then when we are told in the sixth chapter of Genesis that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence, then what this tells us is that the weak, those who lacked power, those who were children and those who had no fathers these had become no more than targets for those seeking their next prey. The judges chose in favor to the highest bidder and no one was willing to stick out their neck and do anything when they saw the hurting and suffering people be trampled underfoot.

         When we read of this horrific picture that is being described for us in the sixth chapter of Genesis, we have to wonder how did this situation of humanity spiral so incredibly out of control? I believe that this account begs us to ask just such a question because we still live in an age when there is much evil and wickedness and we have to wonder just what conditions cause such inhumane behavior to flourish. If we look at the previous chapters of Genesis we find an interesting statement about a man named Lamech, a descendant of Cain.  In the fourth chapter of Genesis we hear Lamech tell his wives, “I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is seven fold, then Lamech’s revenge is seventy-seven fold.” Can you hear the appalling lack of mercy in this sentiment of Lamech? His is a swift and brutal justice which served only his interests. The wrath of Lamech wasn’t just for the person who crossed him but was kept alive for generations, seventy-seven times until at last his anger was exhausted. It is this Lamech whose dynasty ruled the earth. These rulers, were like the kings of their time who thought of themselves as descending from the heavens, demanding worship from the lesser beings that they lorded over. In this way, the subtle message that was pronounced by them was that the gods who they represented were gods who approved of fast and brutal judgment against all who would even dare to come against these so called sons of the gods and this wrath would be maintained for generations. Are you beginning to see how these rulers set the tone for the rest of the people that lived under such a regime? What this system of brutal vengeance spoke volumes about is that it was every person for themselves. The whole idea of community was blown apart and fractured. Thus we are not surprised when we are told that these unjust rulers took as many wives as they wanted creating a harem to boost their egos. No longer was taking a wife about creating a unified life as a family. The bottom line we are told at the beginning of the sixth chapter of Genesis is that these kings were to be thought of as mighty men out to make a name for themselves. Can you hear the self-absorbed pompous attitude that such a statement makes? So, if this is how the rulers of such a world were, so arrogant  and self-made is it any wonder that their whole way of life eventually infected every person who came under their power? What was left was a world where every person then was looking out for number one, the whole idea of we’re all in this together got tossed out like yesterdays garbage. All that was now treasured was what was in it for me, how can I get mine. This is the fruit of a vengeful attitude seeking the end of ones enemies and any one associated with them. As is often attributed to Ghandi, the whole idea of an eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind. The truth of this is clearly seen in this account of the world under the dynasty of Lamech. The whole world had become blind, for as Jesus tells us in the sixth chapter of Matthew, “if your eye is evil your whole body will be full of darkness.”  This is how it was for the people who lived in the world at the time of Noah, they were those who were perishing in their own darkness.

         The good news is that this evil and wickedness had not gone unnoticed by God for we are told in the sixth chapter of Genesis, that the “Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and God knew that the intentions of their hearts was continually evil”.  This is a very important statement because as we live in a world where there is so much rampant evil, where wickedness abounds we need to know without the shadow of a doubt that all of it does not go unnoticed by our God. God sees the injustice that is done to the weak and to the fatherless. When the rights of the afflicted and the destitute are violated, rest assured that God is fully aware that this has happened. When no one lifts a finger to help those who are in need, God knows those who refuse to come to their aid. God not only sees the injustices that are done but the evil of the world we are told grieves God in his heart. Here in this small fragment of scripture we read of how in the hearts of people their thoughts were only evil and in response, the heart of God was wounded. It is this divine grief which cannot be left behind when we hear next of the judgment of God, where God decided to blot out from the face of the earth all life because he was sorry that he had made humanity. Judgment cannot be thought of as happening on a whim by a God who doesn’t care; no, judgment must be thought of as being a last resort done by a God who is suffering at the hands of his creation.

         Yet, all was not lost because we are told “but Noah found favor in the eyes of God.” Why did Noah catch the sight of God? The answer is, we are told, that Noah walked with God. In other words, Noah lived in the ways that God desired his people to live. Noah, we are told, had three sons, which means that unlike the kings who ruled at that time, Noah believed in family and by extension, community. This is where mercy begins with this understanding that the community is of greater importance than the individual. Thus God knew that Noah was walking in step with how God had created us to be yet this declaration that Noah was righteous was not just a gift it was very much a responsibility. Noah, because of his righteousness, is called by God to bring restoration to his creation. Yet, not only did Noah find favor in God’s eyes, we also find that Noah was also willing to be obedient to what God had called him to do. It was not enough that Noah had a past which proved that he was a man after God’s own heart he now had to listen to God, doing this new thing that God was calling him to do. While we love the images we have of the ark and all of the animals being loaded aboard, what is most important to remember is that, as we are told at the end of the sixth chapter, Noah did all that God commanded him to do. This is what the hope of a renewed creation is built upon.

         And the rains came. Actually the water that flooded over all the earth came not only from the heavens but we are also told in the seventh chapter of Genesis, that the fountains of the great deep burst forth as well. What this tells us is that God had collapsed the boundaries that he had originally put in place when he created the earth. The order that God had set in place was an order built on everything being held in its proper place through an act of God. Now, God withdrew that order allowing his creation to dissolve back into chaos. As the order of creation led to higher and higher orders of life culminating in the creation of humanity so now the chaos of humanity caused the rest of creation to be erased back into utter nothingness. The loss of humanity was simply what was the inevitable conclusion in a world without mercy. If swift and brutal vengeance was the rule, the result of such anger was that the humanity created by God would be annihilated. Humanity ended up being replaced by beasts who only were a shell of the image bearers of God. No, what needs to be held on to as we hear of the rising waters is that the people who walked with God had been saved from the judgment of God because he had found favor with them. There, out of the chaotic waters of death, would come life through the gracious provision of God. Creation would happen once again. Just as the Spirit hovered over the nothingness at creation so the Spirit came, this time as a wind over the chaos of the flood, the nothingness that welcomed Noah. Through the Spirit, the waters subsided we are told, the chaos receded as it was replaced once again by order. After a series of seven days, once again speaking of creation being birthed anew at last, the dry ground was separated from the waters. At last life returned to the face of the earth. Then we learn of another important aspect of who Noah was because there upon the fresh new earth, Noah built an altar and worshipped God. Noah knew that only God was worthy of his adoration, love, and obedience. This was truly a man with whom God could begin anew with. 

         We are told at the end of the eighth chapter that it was the worship of Noah, his offering up life upon the altar, following in the footsteps of Able and not his brother Cain, this was the act that brought about a new act of God. It is here that God first makes a promise. Never again, promises God, never again would the ground be cursed on account of humanity. Here we must pause and understand just what God has done. God has reached out and offered a gift to the very source of his grief and pain, the humanity which even after the flood was still bent toward evil.  Here is God’s commitment to humanity which flies in the face of his indignation and hatred of sin which he knows still infects the very heart of humanity. God makes a promise to never again flood the earth and destroy all life. No, now every life would know that it is being kept alive through the promise of God no matter just how evil a person may be. The sign of this covenant God tells Noah, is the bow in the cloud which arches across the sky, this is a reminder of God’s promise of mercy. The rainbow, as we well know, happens just as the rain is letting up and as the sun peers through the clouds there is a bright array of color shining across the sky. As we ponder on the rainbow, this sun following up the rain, we must think of Jesus, in the fifth chapter of Matthew, who says that our Heavenly Father makes the sun rise on the evil and the good and he sends the rain upon the just and the unjust. The sun and the rain which intersect there at the rainbow speaks to us of the promise of our Father’s love for us. Jesus, on the cross, is the Yes to this promise of God, for there he the righteous Judge took upon himself our judgment so that we might receive mercy. This way of mercy, you see is the way of the righteous, the way looked upon with favor by God, the way of those rescued from death through the ark of the resurrection.  As we look upon the rainbow may we remember God’s promise of mercy and make a promise ourselves to be merciful to all and in this way overcome the evil of our world. Amen!