Year B Lent 1
Genesis 9: 8-17 / Mark 1: 1-158Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9″As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you 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. 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Genesis 9: 8-17
© The New Revised Standard Version,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 19891The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,'”4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
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 him 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 kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Mark 1: 1-15
© The New Revised Standard Version,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989In the name of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
This fragment of stone dating 650BC was from the library of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal who reigned 669-631 BC. and who collected a library of thousands of cuneiform tablets in his palace at Nineveh which is now northern Iraq. It included letters, legal texts, lists of people, animals and goods, and a wealth of scientific information, as well as myths and legends.
This fraction tablet belongs to the British Museum, but was here in Canberra in 1990 for the Civilization exhibition at the National Gallery when I worked there and along with the other artefacts I held this tablet in my hands as I placed it from its box into the glass cabinet for display. It’s an amazing thing, to hold in your hand a piece of writing that’s over 2500 years old.
This tablet is the 11th. stone from a collection, which relates part of the Epic Myth of Gilgamesh, a king from around 2700 BC. And on this stone is the account from Gilgamesh of a story very similar to the Genesis story of Noah and his ark. On this tablet, is the story if a man named Utnapishtim who is told to demolish his house, build a boat, with dimensions and specifications given. There is the gathering of animals. There is the flood, after which the boat lodged firmly on mount Nimush which held the boat for several days. On the seventh day Utnapishtim released a dove which flew away, but came back to him. He released a swallow, but it also came back to him. He released a raven which was able to eat and scratch, and did not circle back to the boat. He then opened his ark and sent his livestock out in various directions. Of course in this story, there are also the gods in this story… 5 of them.
In the flood story in Genesis, which is also an ancient story, and would have been an oral story before it was written down around 1000 BC give or take a few 100 years, there is only one God, Yahweh, and it is, as I constantly remind congregations, like all the bible, not primarily a story about history, but about relationship; God’s relationship with humanity. And so in the Genesis story, unlike in the Gilgamesh flood tablet, there are covenants, relationships, and the sign of the rainbow. In verses 12 and 13 it says…
God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant which is between me and you…
Now I don’t care if you want to read this passage from Genesis as a literal historical account or if you want to read it as mythology, but it is an ancient, account, of a people’s expression and experience, that there is one God, and between God and humanity, there is relationship, covenant, knowing, belonging.
In a world all those 1000s of years ago that was deeply superstitious, where there were many god’s that people believed in, who were distant and to whom humanity was subjected and insignificant, it is profound to read passages such as this from Genesis, that express that there is one God, and with this one God there is longing and relationship.
Of course this is repeated, in different ways, in different ages, through the writings in the Bible.
Such as in Psalms…[Ps 139]
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
And in Isaiah… which actually remembers the account of Noah… [Is 54]
But with everlasting love, I will have compassion on you
says the LORD, your Redeemer.
9 This is like the days of Noah to me:
Just as I swore that the waters of Noah
would never again go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
and will not rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
One God. A God of relationship with humanity.
And then we come to today’s passage, the Baptism of Jesus, from the first Chapter of Mark, our main Gospel for the year. In the first chapters of Mark, as we have been exploring over the past weeks, which included the calling of the Disciples, the healing of Simon’s mother in law, (who is the first woman mentioned), the healing of the leper (where Jesus tells him he is clean rather than well) the story of the man lowered down through the roof by his four friends, (where Jesus forgives him first before healing him physically and the first time the Jewish leaders confront him)… In the first chapters of his gospel, Mark is outlining the very nature and ministry of Jesus, but deeper than that he is expressing the way of God.
And so too in today’s passage, the Baptism of Jesus, Mark is both outlining the very nature and Ministry of Jesus, but deeper than that, he is expressing the way and longing of God.
When Mark writes, about the baptism of Jesus…
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And 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. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
When he writes, “he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove…” he is doing exactly what the writers of Genesis were doing, along with all the other writers…. They are saying the gap between heaven and earth has been opened… that God is not distant, but in relationship…. That humanity is not subjected and insignificant… but longed for and loved…. and so too those words expressed to Christ as he came up from the water… “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Again, through Christ, and his life, God is saying to humanity… you are the beloved…
However you read the bible, those stories of old including the rainbow narrative, the songs ancient from another place of worship, the prophets who lived through the ages of turmoil as is the case in much of the middle east today, the Gospel writers whose lives had been changed and who wrote about the heavens being torn apart; they are all speaking about the same God, the God who searches, drawn near, and longs to be in relationship with each of us.
Some people are good at relationships and some are not so good. I’m sure each of us have people in our lives who draw the best out of our relationships, and others with whom we find our relationships hard. Some of us will be able to reflect on relationships that have stood the test of time, and other relationships that have become broken, distant, or even hurtful. I have a deep conviction that our theologies are more of our own making, than in ways born out of truth, and that more often than not we have readily made God into our own image, rather than seeing ourselves in the image of God. In short, I think people who see life as black and white, who like rules and feel vindictive, judgmental or insecure, are more likely to see God that way, and people who see the grey scale in the world, who understand mystery without answers, love and light, are more likely to see God in that way. And I also believe that we very often place the relationships we experience on our relationship with God. When relationships are strong, we can more easily say we know God’s relationship with us. When relationships are broken, we can more easily wonder feel our relationship with God is distant or even broken too. That idea is in part also reflected upon in the Old Testament book of Job.
But throughout the Bible, throughout the life of Jesus Christ, and as we now begin our Lenten journey towards the cross and remember his death, we are seeing that longing, that love, that deep groaning from the depths of creation, from God calling to each of us longing to be in relationship with us, and reminding us that that relationship exists, is always present, in all times and places, and no-matter how our own relationships are travelling.
I pray that in this season of Lent, each of us will have in our own ways, a rainbow experience, a heavens breaking open experience, a moment, a time, when we rise up out of our own waters of life, and know God’s hand upon us, and the covenant, the love, the relationship that is there with and for each of us.
Let’s pray.
Eternal God,
May I be reminded
Of your love for me
In this season of Lent
And the goodness of your relationship with me.
Amen.