Biblical Words [536]
The preparation for the Lord’s passion
begins with Noah—and baptism through the flood.
The lectionary readings from the Law and the
Prophets during Lent mostly deal with covenant traditions. Each
covenant tradition is a complex of inclusiveness (who is in?) and expectations (what
must they do?), that is, those included in the promises and what their way of
life should be.
Genesis 9:8-17
The Torah reading presents God’s covenant with Noah
and his sons, who represent all subsequent humanity. The central point of this passage is God’s
promise not to destroy the world again by flood.
The repetitions within the passage emphasize these
points:
(1)
that
every living creature is included in this covenant,
(2)
that
all those living at the time of the covenant had passed through the flood and
thus are veterans of Noah’s ark; and
(3)
that
the rainbow, seen in the clouds at rainy season, is the sign of this covenant
between God and “all flesh that is on the earth.”
There is an almost homey touch to the way God
anticipates the rainbow functioning as a disaster alert: “When [in the normal course of things] I
bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember
my covenant … and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all
flesh.”
The covenant of Noah places humankind at the dawn of
a new world. A horrendous past has been
blotted out—washed away, as it were—and the human community has a chance for a
new start. The following chapters of
Genesis unfold a story of diversity among the descendants of Noah’s three sons,
and tragic separations soon result from language differences.
But when the covenant of the rainbow was pronounced,
the world was open for the best and finest that humans could be. This is the moment to dream – “I have a
dream…”
Psalm 25:1-10.
The Psalm reading is a kind of combination prayer and affirmation of faith in the covenant God.
An individual speaks at the beginning about the strong trust she or he
places in God, and at the end refers to the benefits for “those who keep God’s
covenant and God’s decrees” (verse 10, NRSV).
Those benefits are God’s “steadfast love and faithfulness” (ḥesed
we’emeth), primary qualities of a covenant partner.
In between there is strong emphasis on coming to
know God’s ways, on learning and being-guided-to God’s paths. “Make
me know your ways…teach
me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me,…” (verses 4-5). God “instructs sinners in the way. God leads
the humble…and teaches
the humble God’s way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast
love and faithfulness…” (verses 8-10).
Where the psalmist lives, learning the “paths” of
the Lord is both urgent and possible.
Those who so learn the Lord’s ways, and trust completely in the covenant
God, may not be embarrassed by disappointment before unbelievers (verses
2-3).
I Peter 3:18-22.
The Epistle reading directly links the Torah reading
with the Gospel reading: those saved
from the flood by Noah’s ark foreshadow those now being baptized in the name of
the resurrected Jesus Christ.
The passage touches briefly on some large
topics. Jesus suffered for sins, the
sins of the unrighteous—potentially of all unrighteous, if they repent. The suffering involved death “in the flesh,”
but resurrection was “in the spirit” (verse 19).
The writer emphasizes how comprehensive the message
of the gospel is: it extends even to the
spirits of those long dead. While “in the spirit,” Jesus “went and made a
proclamation to the spirits in prison.”
Who were these spirits? We may think of them as the souls of those
who did not repent before the flood, and perished after God had waited
patiently “in the days of Noah” (verse 20,
The writer assumes familiarity with some ideas that
are obscure to us.
For example, speculations about the age of the great
world flood were endlessly intriguing to religious people in this era. Such speculations are found in the book of I
Enoch and reflected elsewhere in New Testament writings. For example, the main scenario for the fallen
angels who rule in hell is in I Enoch, chapters 6 and 10-15 (composed in the
third century
Eventually, the idea that Christ “descended into
hell” to preach to those lost souls (such as the wicked generation of Noah?)
was incorporated into the Apostle’s Creed, which served as the basis for
instruction of candidates for baptism, preparing to pass through their own
flood to new life.
Mark 1:9-15.
The Gospel reading presents Jesus passing through
the flood by baptism, thereby receiving the Spirit of God, then being tempted
by Satan in the wilderness for forty days. Only then does he proclaim the arrival of
God’s reign as Good News. (People who
knew well the old Israelite story could recognize here baptism as exodus, temptation
as
In the early centuries of the church, candidates for
baptism at Easter were expected to fast for the preceding forty days, not
counting Sundays. The fast thus began on
Ash Wednesday. (The actual fasting was
later restricted to abstinence from certain foods, such as meat, eggs, and some
milk products.) Thus, Lent was an imitation of the days of Jesus’ trial and endurance before he
began his Galilean ministry.
The description in Mark of Jesus being tempted does
not mention fasting explicitly. However,
the reference to the angels waiting on him is most likely an allusion to the
Elijah story in I Kings 19:3-8. (The quote
from Malachi at the beginning of this Gospel associates John the Baptist with
Elijah, Mark 1:2 quoting Malachi 3:1.)
The Elijah story. Elijah,
fleeing from Jezebel, went into the wilderness and despaired of his life. He asked God to let him die (tempted to
abandon his mission?). What he got,
instead of permission to die, was a heavenly messenger (“angel”) who gave him a
loaf of fresh bread and some water. This
happened again a second day, after which “he went in the strength of that food
forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God” (I Kings 19:8,
Jesus’ proclamation in
(For the catechumens, this coming of the Spirit-work
will mean being baptized, being confirmed into new life with the Lord—and
eating eggs again at Easter!)
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