So let’s first look at what a covenant is. A covenant is a promise; pretty much like a contract. It is typically made between two people. There is a promise of one thing by a party and the other party promises something in return. It is very much like a contract and, in legal terms, you can hold a person to their part of the promise. Meaning you can go into court with that covenant and say “This person promised A, B, or C and I agreed held up my end of the promise but they did not provide what they had promised.
So, today, we have our first of five covenants. We all know the story of Noah and the flood. Noah gathers the animals two by two. We know that God calls Noah to build this ark and Noah, after a lot of struggling with God’s call does exactly what God calls him to do. We know the story about the flood. How Noah and his family were on the ark until the waters receded.
Our First reading from Genesis brings us to this point where God makes a covenant. He makes this covenant to Noah and his family. God says, “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 is making this promise that there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth! That is Good News. That is something to celebrate!
I wonder if you noticed something about this covenant? First, who did he make the covenant with? He made it with Noah and his family. That would make sense because they are humans who have understanding and are able to communicate with God. We have the gift of reason, correct? So it would make sense that God makes this covenant with us. But this covenant is not just with us. It is also with every living creature that is on the ark. God is making this covenant with every living creature. That means us, who have the ability to speak and reason in the way that we know AND all the animals.
That is some powerful stuff right there. God’s promise is not only to us but to all of creation. God created this flood because of the people turning away from God and saw the corruption that was going on and God was not pleased. SO God decided to bring the flood and wipe it all out, except for Noah, his family, and the creatures that God told him to bring the animals onto the ark. God is wiping it all out. God wants to start all over…and God does.
Then the waters recede and it is time to begin again. But it is not that simple. God sees the devastation that God created. God sees the result of this flood…that all he created is gone; everything that was once Good is now destroyed. That is when we the readers, Noah, his family, and all the creatures (great and small) see God’s first promise come to reality. “Never again” will God create this flood. I would suggest that it is because God sees firsthand the destruction of creation and God has compassion for God’s own creation.
Now for the second part of this covenant. Remembering that a covenant is between two people and usually involves giving something to get something, what is God asking for in this covenant? NOTHING! God is making a covenant to “not do this again” but there is no “what are you gonna do for me from God!” God is the only one who is promising here. Isn’t that a little strange?
So we are left with a kind of dilemma. On the one hand we have a covenant from God that is asking nothing from us. It is a promise that God makes not to destroy the earth by flood. It is a promise that asks nothing of us for a specific action. So one of our dilemmas may be to ask the question that if a covenant seeks something from the other side then what is it that we should offer? On the other hand we may ask how binding is this agreement?
I believe those answers are difficult and I don’t presume to know the exact answers to these two problems. What I do know is that we can look to our scripture to see God’s behavior after this covenant is made. We can see through our scripture that there are no more floods to wipe things out. God holds people accountable and uses whatever means necessary to try to influence people’s decisions. That is how we know that God keeps God’s promises. Through all of this God does not destroy the earth after this flood.
So what does God ask of us? Again, we can look at scripture to find how some of the people respond to God’s promise. We read in our scripture that people try to live a life worthy of God’s love. They try and they fall short. But even in that trying God does not abandon them. It seems that the more people try, the more they fall, but God is the constant that remains by their side.
I hope all this sounds familiar. And I hope we might ask why does God do this? And I believe the answer is because we can relate to these people in our scripture. We know the flood where everything is washed away. We have experienced it in our lives through our baptism. We are born into sin and it is because of our baptism that our sin is washed away so that we experience God’s promise to “never destroy by flood” our lives. We are promised at our baptism, by God, that we are a worthy and valuable creation…a beloved child of God; and all the promises that God makes to us are Good and True and can be counted on. Through our Baptism we experience God’s covenant of NEW LIFE and nothing is asked of us.
While nothing is asked of us, we too can take the “what do we do now” approach to living our lives in God’s promise. If we know that God’s promises are true and reliable, and we do; then maybe we can live our lives in a way that honors God. Honors God in how we treat each other with kindness and a helping hand; praying for God’s strength and help when we deal with difficult things in our personal lives as well as evil that goes on in the world.
Maybe living in God’s promise means that we understand that we will fall short of God’s glory, but we humble ourselves before God and one another in asking for forgiveness or offering forgiveness, putting our own agendas, pains, and ego aside to answer God’s call to help those who cannot help themselves for whatever reason. Why would we do that? Because God did that for us, through Jesus Christ, God’s Son. While God may not ask for something specific, we did receive from God the very gift of life, and salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross…so that we will live.
As we live in this first covenant from God, a covenant of sustained life and promise, may we strive to rejoice and live in Thanksgiving in the light and life of that promise: AMEN
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