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08.02.2009_English
| 08.03.2009, 16:37 | |
| Psalm 25:1–10; Genesis 9:8–17; 1 Peter 3:18–22; Mark 1:9–15 1е Sunday of Lent, March 8, 2009 Floods and deserts This Sunday we begin our journey through Lent. All the Old Testament texts in the next few weeks (with the exception of Numbers) will have the same theme – that of God’s covenant with people. From Noah to Abraham, to Moses and to Jeremiah, scriptures will lead us into Easter and new covenant in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Our Scriptures today join two images for us, which at first glance have nothing in common. What do floods and dry deserts have in common? Both the excess of water and the lack thereof can lead to death. And both represent two deepest fears of humanity. The Old Testament text that we read today gives the words of God that conclude a horrible destruction caused by the Great Flood. We see the consequences of what began when the Lord saw how great became the corruption of humanity created in the image and likeness of God and that all their thoughts were “was only evil continually” (6:5). Scriptures tell us that the Lord “mourned in His heart and repented that He created man”. The story tells us, however, that when God saw Noah, a man living righteously, the Lord decides to give him a chance to be saved and informs him about the coming flood and what he can do to be saved. But Noah needs to trust God and to build an ark according to His word. As we know, Noah trusted God’s word and had done what was instructed; he did, despite the mocking from others, for there was not even any rain in sight, let alone a flood! But Noah believed God and responded to this grace and opportunity of salvation for his whole family, while other people continued to fill the earth with evil even after God’s warning about an approaching catastrophe. We know the end of the story: the flood did take place and only Noah and his family and all the animals were saved and all other living souls on earth perished. This sad story is the story of humanity, which has fallen and is going into destruction from their evil. This is a penultimate story in the beginning of God’s creation and its deep fall, which will be concluded with the building of the tower of Babel and final spread of human sin all over the earth. It’s interesting how the description of the Flood resembles the creation story from Genesis 1. God created the world from chaos for “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” but God transformed this chaos, gathered “the waters …into one place, and let the dry land appear", and all the living creatures upon it, including human beings whom He gave the authority over all creation. But human sin, turning away from God and evil brought the chaos back and the water covered the earth again, destroying all lives. Floods strip us of everything even the earth to stand on. To go down is to disappear forever. Water is one of those great impersonal powers of earth before, which we, even in our technological abundance, can find ourselves abandoned and helpless. But what’s important in this story is this: after the tragic destruction of all creation with the exception of Noah, God is not happy – He mourned for what happened and decisive to never again allow such a horrible curse to destroy the land for the sins of man. God decides to keep the earth so that it will continue to develop and live and it was created: that days will be replaced by nights, that cold will be followed by heat, summer with winter. God decides, despite human sin, to never again allow chaos to come back and destroy His creation. As a result of this decision God sets up a covenant with Noah, his descendants and all future generations, promising to never again allow the such destruction of the earth. It’s interesting that Noah has no part in this agreement, received no obligations. This covenant is totally God’s initiative, a sign of His mercy, generosity and self-giving, despite human sin. And this covenant is set “FOREVER!” Covenants were often sealed with a sign and God gave Noah and humanity a sign of a rainbow. What is interesting is that in Hebrew “rainbow” is simply called a ‘bow’ – the same word designating a bow as weapon. God sealed his promise to keep the earth despite human sin by hanging up a “bow” in the sky, sets aside his weapon of justice. He does not want to be an enemy, to be against. This “bow” in the sky is a sign of peace and of reconciliation. God intends to have peace with the world, notwithstanding its unending rebellion and resistance. You might be surprised but Scriptures tell us that God set this bow primarily not for us but for himself. Twice God stops to look at the “bow” in order to remember His promise. That’s why when Israel will see the bow they will know God’s answer to it: God reminds Himself to remain generous and merciful even when human sin demands justice. Rainbow reminds those of us who have survived many floods that the world, despite human sin and our sin and its consequences is safe for God’s promise is as certain as this bow. This bow invites us to trust for the world, God’s creation is safe in God’s hands. The rainbow is a sign that God remembers, that He has not forgotten, that his “memory” is greater that our “forgetfulness” of Him, His desire of resurrection to new life overcomes our sin that wants to destroy and to put to death. This covenant is a totally free act of the merciful God for this world, which didn’t even have to ask for, to earn or even respond to this gift. Survival of creation both now and in the future rests exclusively on God’s decision not to wipe out humanity from the face of the earth in order to start from the beginning. The alternative to chaos is God’s true covenant! God can transform even the chaos and destructive waters into the promise of life. In the hands and under God’s power water sustains life and purifies, renews strength and promises the future. That’s why even in the midst of such great loss, Noah, representing Israel, or even Church and the whole humanity receives the gift of a life-giving covenant. “To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again” (Is. 54:8–9), reminds Isaiah again about God’s eternal love and mercy – the only anchor of salvation, which can be trusted by Noah and by all of us. Jesus also went through the "flood” – waters of death and life when His baptism became the first sign of His coming death, His going through chaos and a sign of His new Covenant. These waters of baptism also lead Jesus into the desert. Desert is also an image of lostness, deprivation if not death. Death has its own chaos, its own hardships. Dreadful and dry, desert can be survived only by crossing it. To stop is to die. Mark in His gospel does not give us any details about Jesus’ temptation by the devil like other Gospels do, instead his whole attention is on the desert. Forty days that Jesus spends there remind us of the forty days of the flood and of the years Israel wondered in the desert and Elijah’s flight. In all these stories one theme is clearly seen through differences: “lives are saved in the midst of real danger”. Mark is so brief and does not give us details of Jesus’ temptation but one thing is clear – the devil didn’t succeed. The danger of the desert is real and it’s clear from the mention of wild animals that surrounded Jesus but He comes out unharmed. Jesus from the very beginning of His ministry will be in the midst of conflicts, which will lead Him to the cross. And his journey through the desert anticipates this danger. But even the desert is surmountable by God’s grace. Just like the people of Israel spent forty years in the desert, learning the truth that only God can give security and direction, that only God can become the true food and drink, so did Jesus spent His forty days in absolute dependence on the Father, being nurtured not with bread but with the will of the Father who sent Him. And after a time, Jesus Himself will become food for us, not only by multiplying the bread for thousands but by giving His own body and blood so that we can live. Floods, deserts…chaos, destruction… consequences of unending cycle of human sin continue even today. Sin was not drowned in the waters of the flood, the evidence of that is in the flop of the Babylon tower that happened after the flood and in all subsequent falls of humanity and every individual person. God didn’t erase sin with the flood but He also didn’t withdraw His blessing or His promise. And today we still live in a constant cycle of human sin, falls, floods and deserts. What pulls this all together is the bleak fate of death. In the Western tradition reminds about that during the so called Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent, when the sign of the cross is made with ashes on the foreheads of the people – the reminder that we all come from dust and return to dust. What is then the meaning of life? What is the point of going somewhere, of moving forward? What is the meaning of trying to overcome this unending cycle of deserts and emptiness, only occasionally finding oasis? What are we to hope for as we are being tossed around unmoored on the waves of history? These are not some abstract philosophical questions of human history. These are the questions of each of our personal lives. Time and again we face at times floods and at times deserts in our lives. Hope for a better future is often drowned in the floods that rage against us. Our thirst to love and to be loved is still not quenched and we find ourselves in the midst of human deserts of indifference, hurt and hatred. Our desire to build and to create are washed away by the powerful waves of other people’s will to destroy. And some times we ourselves become deserts and in our dryness prevent God from growing a new life in us. We all participate in a cycle of human sin. Power still corrupts leaders, indulging our own desires still destroys social relationships. Greed still undermines economical development. Sins of the fathers influence the children in a sense that they tend to repeat them. We constantly face death: physical death, spiritual death, death of relationships and death of hopes. We all drown. We all die of thirst of loneliness. Death is like an unending flood, like a never-ending desert. And whether water or desert, life is truly unbearable and dreadful if water or desert is all there is. But thanks be to God – it’s not all there is and God’s promise to preserve His creation is still true, and even more true than even in Jesus Christ and it is on the way to being completely fulfilled in the world where God reigns! And the Great Flood, surprisingly, does not call us to hide from tragedy or mortality of this life pretending that it doesn’t exist. Lent calls us not to fear and even more – to walk through water and desert without fear, to look death in the eyes. Lent looks at two main symbols of our fears and calls us to come through them to the other side. Jesus, God incarnate calls us to walk with Him through the waters in order to be raised. Formal entrance of a person into Christian faith (water baptism) signifies internal renewal of human spirit with the power of the risen Christ. And He also leads us through desert of godforsakedness to bring us into the Promised Land. The essence of Lent is realization of our destiny. Just like in the days of Noah, the Lord hang His “bow” – the weapon in the sky, making it the sign of peace, revealing that He does not desire human death, despite its sin. So does Jesus (Paul reminds us) having no sin in himself, becomes sin for us, tastes death in order to disarm it. Christ being the fulfillment of God’s promise transforms the symbols of our fear and destruction into the symbols of life. Christ is the water that does not drown but quenches thirst and washes sin away. He Himself comes through the deserts of our lives to become for us the Way out of slavery, to become our Water and Food on the way. Without God, floods and deserts of human existence will always lead to destruction and death of hope for any meaning and future. But in Jesus Christ, the fear of what can drown us in this life can be overcome and as we see the rainbow – the sign that God still remembers and still faithful to his promise. He does not desire death, He didn’t change His mind, His bow is still in the sky reminding us that when He sees it He remembers His promise. Last couple of death I took our teens to the orthodox youth conference called “The Way”. The preacher from England shared stories about his life about his father. He said that sometimes when he came home his mom would warn him, “be careful, your father is upset, very angry” and the boy would go up to his room in fear and stayed there hearing his father storming from one room into the other, slamming doors, shouting at his mom. He would fall asleep with a sense of fear. In the morning he would come out for breakfast and find dad smiling and happy, “hi son! How are you? Isn’t it a lovely day today?!” David never knew what his father would be like the next moment and lived in fear and insecurity and not even realizing it he began feeling the same about Heavenly Father – never sure what mood He might be in next moment and what to expect from Him. But one day God touched his heart and showed him that Heavenly Father is not like that, he is not tossed around in His emotions, He is steady in His love, He kindly disposed towards us even when we fail Him. That’s what the story of Genesis is all about today – this covenant and the bow give us assurance about God – He is not thrown from anger into joy about us as can be with earthly fathers or mothers I guess – He delights in us and his weapon is still hanging in the sky and visible after rain and we can be sure about Him. He does not desire death; He desires to give and to nurture life in us, new life, abundant life, life as it was created to be! And in Jesus Christ even going through dry deserts, full of real danger caused sometimes by our own sin and sometimes by others can become the Way to the Promised Land. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit… saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ”. | |
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