Genesis 9:8-17 “More Than We Deserve” Page 1 of 4

Do you experience a fear of God? I think we do well now and then to adopt a biblical appreciation of the omnipotence of God. Let’s stand in awe of the power that tears asunder the barrier between earth and heaven at Jesus’ baptism. Let’s show some respect for God who washes away God’s own creation in a flood. The God of the Genesis saga has every reason to be heart-broken. No sooner do two human beings inhabit paradise than they begin to trespass God’s boundaries. Their offspring engage in all manner of aggression. Bloodshed pollutes the ground. So it is with no surprise that we read in Genesis 6:6, “And the Lord is sorry for making humankind on the earth, and it grieves God to the heart.” How bad must things have gotten to move a God of love to the point where God not only is sorry we were made, but also wants to eradicate our species from the collective memory of the universe? God responds with what we deserve, the Flood.Virtually all but a remnant of creation perishes in the hands of God’s omnipotent power. The Flood signifies a return to the primordial soup. And on our pessimistic days, we’re sure we’re still in the soup. We know chaos in our 21st century world through terrorism, mass shootings, ecological calamity, and global pandemic. Even at a personal level we experience chaos in our relationships that are broken by death, discord, drug dependency, and divorce; as well as the chaos of frail bodies and minds. We bring much of this chaos on ourselves, through our stubborn resistance to God’s ways.This past week’s damaging low temperatures

in normally hot, dry places of the world were the result of fluctuations in the jet stream, which usually keeps Arctic air corralled in the Arctic. But thanks to humanity’s willful warming of the planet, the jet stream meanders these days. God’s heart laments, I expect. I recall Mark Twain’s sardonic comment: “Such is the human race, often it seems a pity that Noah didn’t miss the boat.” The epic of Noah depicts a God who controls primordial chaos — a creator God who can choose to un-create.

In most minds, God is too small, too gentle. The ancients tell stories depicting cosmic battles between warrior-gods and the evil forces of chaos.The bow-and-arrow is the divine weapon of choice. Greek gods keep the bow drawn and aimed. By contrast, the Lord God in our OT lesson today, is ready to put down the bow. Divine anger is settling into divine regret. God begins to grieve the brokenness of creation, a grief that won’t get totally resolved until Christ’s resurrection. God makes a post-flood covenant with Noah, with his descendants, indeed with all creation. As a kind of memory aid, God pledges to invert a war bow in the clouds, unstrung and aimed away from earth. The bow – the rainbow –remains a reminder of God’s covenant. God says, “I will see it and remember the covenant. I will not lash out again at creation.” This covenant commits God to a thriving cosmos. The relationship of creator to creation is no longer one of retribution or judgment. It is now based on pure grace. Covenants by definition are not mutual. Noah never says a word.

Georgetown Presbyterian Church Feb 21, 2021 Rev. Gerald Egger

Genesis 9:8-17 “More Than We Deserve” Page 2 of 4

Noah makes no commitments. In fact, in short order Noah is sinning again. God imposes a self-restraining order not to impose violence upon creation, requiring absolutely nothing in return from humans except their loyalty. This is More Than We Deserve. The God revealed in the Noah story is adaptable, resilient, and willing to accept setbacks, if setbacks keep the hope of reconciliation alive. Beginning with Noah and his survivors, God invests humanity with stewardship of creation

and thus enters into a deep and lasting relationship

with humanity, subject to the same hopes and disappointments, joys and griefs that attend all relationships.By hanging the bow in the sky, God signals that the battle is ended and creation rests secure. It is not a reminder to humanity, but to God, to lay down arms. It is More Than We Deserve — this gracious blessedness of humanity. We teach children the story of Noah’s Ark.Its gangplank spilling out pairs of animals into a fresh new world, is assurance of God’s love and hope. We want our toddlers to know that God will never forget them. God of the rainbow is one “who remembers us” collectively and individually. Whatever darkness covers our sky, God is able to deliver us and to keep us safe within the eternal covenant of grace. Since the flood, God the creator has also beenGod the protector of creation. God’s grace is More Than We Deserve.

Noah’s ark reminds us that the future of animal life is deeply intertwined with our own. This has become ever more evident as we cope with the challenges posed by climate change. The dire prospect before us as a result of climate change is that rising sea levels will bring devastation to all forms of life around our globe – massive starvation, drought, disease, and unending war over scarce resources.Animal life is suffering from global warming. Indeed, the destruction of ecosystems already threatens death to countless species and forces unprecedented animal migration. Given the grave impact of human activity on the well-being of all creation, theologian Norman Wirzba alleges that we are living in the Anthropocene era, which is to say, an era in which humans, rather than natural forces, are the dominant shapers of planetary history. The contempt we show our planet is mirrored in how we treat one another. Gracious is how we are to act toward others. Yet the idea still creeps into our minds and hearts that God gives us only what we deserve – and that we in turn are justified in giving others what they deserve. God offers a rainbow. We choose retribution. God provides an ark. We insist on payback. God submits to the cross. We reach for the sword. The divine motive that set a rainbow in the sky brings forth Jesus, a human version of the rainbow covenant, whose mission is to call us back to the joy of right relationship with God our creator. Through faith in the Christ humanity has the means

to restore a right relationship with God.

Georgetown Presbyterian Church Feb 21, 2021 Rev. Gerald Egger

Genesis 9:8-17 “More Than We Deserve” Page 3 of 4

That we fail to step up to that relationship is the tension that underlies our reading of the baptism and wilderness trials of Jesus. Rising from the waters with a sign of God’s favor, Jesus is beset with hunger and wild beasts. God supplies Jesus with the protection of angels. Mark’s description of Jesus “with the wild beasts” bears no suggestion of hostility or resistance. The language of “being with someone” elsewhere in Mark conveys close, friendly association. “With” conveys that Jesus overcomes hostility, a peaceable presence with the animals. “With” is the language of love. Mark’s story of Jesus’ in the wilderness evokes Isaiah’s vision of messianic peace (Isaiah 11),

a taste for us all of God’s Peaceable Kingdom, in which animals are neither threatening predators nor prey. In the vision of Isaiah, humans and other animals live together in the peace and harmony of paradise. This is one of the many respects in which the reign of God draws near in Jesus, embodied in his life and ministry.

Lent is the Old English word for spring, the season of new life. The Lenten Season is a journey to see the other side of God, the kind of vulnerability seen on the cross. Lent looks forward to the resolution of the cosmic conflict between Creator and Creation in the person of Christ.In Christ, God seals the relationship with humanity

by embracing all human experience, even death. It is More Than We Deserve. On this first Sunday of Lent, we begin our walk with Jesus toward Jerusalem, and with the God who sends him there.

As Lenten journeyers, we will hike through wilderness temptations and our own wild nature. The journey that begins in Lent will plod through the events of the passion, to the cross, and will wind up on this side of resurrection. I rather hope that a pre-dawn downpour on Easter morning might enable a rainbow to light up the dark Western sky. How can we, the body of Christ, be transformed in the light of a rainbow? We can repent, for starters. We can stop grasping for control. We can disavow violence. We can shun nationalistic religion. We can let our hearts be molded in the image of God’s repentant heart. We can partner with our creator for the renewal of creation.The church can become a place of creative conflict resolution, and not a place where differences are swept under the rug. We can seek transparency in our relationships within the church and among churches, especially those on the other side of doctrine divides. We can be the place where all a whole rainbow of viewpoints are welcome to intermingle into a beautiful light. We, who have tasted God’s mercy, are to look upon all persons and all things as inherently worthwhile. Instead of viewing other people as to how they may meet our needs, let us view them as those who deserve our respect and support. That’s what can happen when we take the rainbow out of the nursery and arch it over everything. Given God’s history of grace and forgiveness, we have every reason for hope.

Georgetown Presbyterian Church Feb 21, 2021 Rev. Gerald Egger

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When hope is grounded not in ourselves, but in God, even hope is More Than We Deserve. Amen.

Georgetown Presbyterian Church Feb 21, 2021 Rev. Gerald Egger