Lent 1 (B) Noah's Ark : Homily / Sermon

God spoke to Noah and his sons, ‘See, I establish my Covenant with you. (Genesis 9:8-15)

In the first five Sundays of Lent in Year B we are presented with an introduction to the Old Testament. We begin with the story of the covenant of God with Noah, and a reminder of the sign of the covenant - the rainbow. How can we understand this story, and what on earth has it got to do with Lent, with Jesus’ temptation in the desert?

Some people will look at this story and try to find the historical evidence to support it, and some of that is intriguing: in many cultures there are stories of great floods, and some archeologists have even tried to find evidence of the Ark, and the mountain on which it landed.

At the other extreme, there are those who reject the story out of hand. It is just a tale from primitive people, they say, to explain the rainbow, and a way to explain the presence of some beauty in the midst of much danger. Such people would also point out that the destruction of men, women and children alike, cities and civilisations, is very unworthy of a God of love.

For the Church though, neither of these paths are satisfactory. The search for historical detail will tell us little of use, and the complete rejection of the story fails to take it seriously at all. Even if one view or the other is true, neither tells us what the story actually means.

No, from ancient times, Christian writers have pointed out that it is the symbolism of the story which gives its underlying message, and when we consider it in this way, it’s really meaning opens us before us, like the blooming of a flower.

And so It is a wonderful story with which to begin Lent, and throws great light on the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert.

It sets before us the Covenant between God and the entire people of the earth. The pledge, promise, commitment of love which God makes to the humanity - despite our faithlessness and our failings, despite our suffering and our sin.

Here - just as Jesus prepares to embarks upon his ministry - his teaching, his healing, his suffering and his sacrifice - we have an account of the Ark and the aftermath. It is a tale full of sin and salvation, of destruction and compassion, of faith and hope.

It meets us on the swell of water, which washes away so much, and a small boat which saves God’s wonderful creation.
We hear echoes of the salvation of a nation through the waters of the Red Sea; it points forward to the stilling of the storm by Jesus, and his walking on the water. In the salvation of Noah and his family from destruction, there are hints already of the death and resurrection of Him who waits in the wilderness. This account, in the earliest pages of the Old Testament, prefigures already the Christian journey of baptism through water, and of the promise of eternal life.

And the 40 days on the boat, are reflected to us in the 40 days of Christ in the wilderness, and we share with them in our 40 days of Lent.

They are all a time of journeying from sin, a time of patient hope, a time of promise, a time of trial, and a time which shines brightly over us, in the rainbow, in the promise of redemption.