Genesis 9:8-17 God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and 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. I 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.” 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: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I 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. When 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.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Mark 1:9-15 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 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. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and b
believe in the good news.
Reflection Seven years ago my younger brother died of a rare and raging blood cancer. While speaking on the phone to my nephew, my brother’s son, he said, “ Dad is dying right now. I have to go.” With all of the air kicked out of my gut I stumbled outside, dangled my feet in the pool and raged at God. “You better make good on your promise to be with my brother.” And as God is my witness I tell you, on this sun smothered June afternoon with hardly a cloud in the sky a rainbow appeared rising from the Catalinas, a wee bit north of Mount Lemmon. I wept. I wept because I knew that even though my brother had no faith in God and zero use for religion, God was faithful to him and all was well.
This is the promise, “the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” Never again will God abandon any one of us. And ever since that June afternoon when in the wake of my brother’s death God’s rainbow affirmed God’s uncompromising promise, during every Memorial Celebration of life that I have had the privilege of celebrating I have been able to preach Paul’s words to the Romans with unwavering conviction, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God … ” (Ro 8.38-39)
God is faithful, even when we are not. As people of God we need this assurance because as soon as we are baptized, as quickly as the priest pours water over our crowns and marks us with holy oil as God’s own forever, like Jesus we are driven directly to the wilderness. We are cast into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, taunted by wild beasts and also cared for by the angels. Just in case you are wondering what that wilderness looks like, stop and look around.
The wilderness is the thin ice of existence on which we all skate, the dubious daze and erratic maze of life that we call reality. The wilderness is history’s playground replete with adversity and advantage, blessing and curse, hardship and comfort, pleasure and affliction. You see, just as quickly as we, like Jesus, realize we are God’s beloved, we are driven into the wilderness to be tempted, humbled, refined and compelled along the way to Jerusalem.
“What is the way to Jerusalem?” I believe it is the long walk of life, the mariner’s cruise, the sojourner’s trek, the simple persons shuffle through puzzling days and sleepless nights. For those inclined toward things relating to the Spirit or soul, the walk to Jerusalem is understood as the Spiritual Journey of the lover moving toward union and unity with the Beloved. For the less spiritually inclined the way to Jerusalem may seem to be the road of baseless suffering bent on an arch toward doom.
When almost all of the earth was destroyed by a flood, God made an everlasting covenant with all that lives, represented by a rainbow bridging earth and sky. This is the good news of God with us through floods, fires, freezes and political sea changes; through climate catastrophes and pandemics, isolation, desolation as well as consolation. God is faithful, no matter what. So stop wagging your tongues and waving your fingers. Put down your complaints and turn around. Repent. Believe the good news. God is near. Open the eyes of your heart to see God’s rainbow.
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