Water, water everywhere

We are going to stop by and visit Noah this week in the Sunday readings.  Within the Noah story are two stories and several important themes.

First we have the story of the large boat and animals marching two by two into the ark.  Thousands of chldren's books have illustrated this story with giraffes necks sticking through the roof and water everywhere.  It ends with a dove finding a roosting place and a rainbow in the sky.

Before that story, however, is the story of the spiraling demise of humanity (here a word about 'going to hell in handbasket' is appropriate).  Humanity is corrupt; its corruption has led to violence throughout all creation....and....God regrets that God had created humankind. Gen. 6.5-7

Pretty powerful stuff here.  In that same verse, God's heart is grieved.  There is something very, very sad about this story of the ark.  Humankind, which was the crowning accomplishment of God's creation in Genesis 1, is now one of God's great regrets.  Only Noah finds favor in the sight of God.

What does God decide to do about it?  God takes creation apart.  The water which God had pressed back into boundaries in the sky and in the seas is allowed to come free, and the world is flooded.  Animals, birds, plants....and people....are drowned as the water consumes the dry land. (Drowning people are a stark contrast to the happy rainbow). 

A new creation is possible because God's breath goes out over the water and dries the land so Noah and the animals can disembark. Can you hear the echoes of the creation story where God's spirit hovers over the water?   Only a few continue to live so to populate the new land, the new creation.

Yes, the story ends with the great covenant of the rainbow.  But where we see a pretty picture suitable for children to color, the rainbow is a symbol of the warrior's bow.  God is promising to 'hang up his bow,' to bring to an end that part of himself that brought about the flood.  God asks nothing from the people: no promises, no changes of behavior.  God simply acts out of the depth of who God is.  This is a God who regrets, grieves, and corrects but who never walks away from God's people and who commits to eternally seeking life for them. 

So, this story can be happy giraffes and elephants and a rainbow in the sky.  Or, (maybe it should be 'and') this is a story about a powerful, creating God who commits himself to seek life for the people God created. 

Now it is easy to see the connection to the gospel lesson about Jesus, the ultimate gift from God for the sake of God's people.

**You might want to take 15 minutes and read through the entire story Genesis 6-9.  You will notice that God gives conflicting commands.  Once God says to bring 2 of every animal; in the next section God says to bring 7 of each clean animal.  Biblical scholars believe that there were two versions of the Noah story circulating when the Bible was codified, and instead of choosing between them, they wove them together.  Sometimes it makes for confusing reading.