god promises "never again": 1st of lent

i primarily preached on genesis 9:8-17.

the holy gospel according to mark (1:9-15)

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee

       and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

              ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water,

                     he saw the heavens torn apart

                     and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

                     ¹¹And a voice came from heaven,

                            “You are my Son, the Beloved;

                                   with you I am well pleased.”

                     ¹²And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.

                            ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days,

                                   tempted by Satan;

                                   and he was with the wild beasts;

                                   and the angels waited on him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested,

       Jesus came to Galilee,

              proclaiming the good news of God,

                     ¹⁵and saying,

                            “The time is fulfilled,

                                   and the dominion of God has come near;

                                          repent,

                                          and believe in the good news.”

The gospel of the lord.

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our readings this lent focus on covenants made by god with god’s people.  by and large, covenants of mutuality.  today, after a long, smelly time in the ark with the animals and immediate family, they are finally free.  i can’t imagine the emotions running through noah and his family to be back on dry ground with fresh air.  and before completely letting them loose, god makes a very wordy and repetitive promise to the noah family, every living creature with them, and their descendants.

this covenant is not quite like the others we will explore or even the others made at that time.  old testament scholar, cameron howard points out that covenants in that time typically involved commitments from both parties—usually initiated by one—about how to exist in relationship.  most of the time it was a conquering nation creating a covenant with a conquered one, where one side had the power and the other did not, and so the covenants clearly benefited one over the other, but both were able to agree on them. 

but today’s covenant is god making unconditional promises with noah’s whole family, “and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.” 

and god expects nothing in return.

before the flood, humanity was not living up to its potential.  humans were acting with disregard for god and others.  through the flood, the old things have been washed away.  the sins committed, the pains and hurts of days gone by, and god chooses to be again in relationship with humanity.  sometimes we talk about the god of the old testament as a very different god from the one we know in jesus.  that god is vengeful and powerful and even violent.

but when we talk about god that way, we miss out on the god who is one and the same throughout the bible.  god is certainly multifaceted, but here in genesis, we encounter a god who, though god could choose again to destroy the world, instead chooses to limit those powers in order to be in relationship with us.  god chooses to never again destroy us or all of creation, but rather to be with us in love, no matter what humanity does. 

in the flood that washes away the inhabitants of the earth, making room for the new life that god is bringing forth, god washes away the sin of the past, yes, but not the memory of it.  in fact, god places a bow in the clouds—the rainbow—as a reminder of what god had done.  god did not want to forget the pain and sorrow of the flood.  god needs to remember, god needs the reminder to make sure it never happens again.

there is a saying that i don’t really like at all.  it is “forgive and forget.”  i don’t like it, because it doesn’t really work.  we continue to experience violence, pain, and hurt because we don’t remember the lessons of history.  when i was coming back from my year in slovakia, my dad and i spent two weeks in germany.  while we were there, we went to many places important to martin luther and the reformation and we went to many places important during the holocaust.  the two were more related than you might think.

at dachau concentration camp, there are several art memorials at the international monument by the roll call area of the camp.  one of the tour guides for dachau would end their tour at the international monument and after looking at several artists’ sculptures, they would end at an urn with the ashes of an unknown prisoner, behind which read the words “never again” in yiddish, french, english, german, and russian.  when the tour guide got there, they would simply say, “this is a lie.” 

we as humans have forgotten the horrors of the holocaust.  genocide has happened many times before and since the holocaust.  from the native peoples who were systematically killed on this land to more recent horrors.  j was telling me just last week about a book he read about the genocide in rwanda.  we forget what has happened—some people even deny that the holocaust happened at all.  we forget the true horrors of it, and so it happens again, and again.

forgiveness is about releasing the pain and anger that control us, about separating ourselves from the evil that has happened.  it is not about pretending that it never happened or allowing it to continue happening to us.  it is not about forgetting our past.  god even goes so far as to provide a reminder of the flood—not for us, although we do use it to remember god’s promises of love—but for god’s own self!  when god places a bow in the sky—a thing of beauty and wonder—it is a reminder of the pain and anger, and a commitment to never do it again.

a reminder of the love that is greater than the anger and deeper than the pain.  the rainbow is a reminder of all the diversity god has created in people, animals, plants—all of creation.  it is a reminder to god and to us that god is choosing to be faithful to us and promises to be our god of love forever.

these promises of god are made in exchange for nothing.  no matter how much we might mess up, god chooses to love us and be with us.  even when we might wish to wipe everything out and start over, god instead chooses to love us where we’re at.  we still face consequences for our actions—violence and wars still kill people and damage the environment, threatening all living creatures.  genocides still happen.

instead of wiping us all out and starting over, god remembers god’s promise and honors our free will.  god comes to us again and again in love in the waters that put to death our sin while bringing us alive to new life in christ.  life in the wilderness with jesus and the wild beasts, and life in this community of faith.  life with reminders of pain in the hope and promise of the One who fulfills all promises, the One whose “never again” truly means “never again.”  that is the god who love us; the god who promises life for us; the god who claims us in the waters of baptism and every day since.

amen.