July 28, 2024 Text: Genesis 9:8-17
Dear Friends in Christ,
Many of you are familiar with the Irish Rovers hit song “The Unicorn.” Here is a verse, “Now God seen some sinning and it gave Him pain and He says, ‘Stand back, I’m going to make it rain.’ He says, ‘Hey brother Noah, I’ll tell you what to do, Build me a floating zoo.”
The theme of the song is that all the animals made it into the ark except the unicorns. The song goes, “Then Noah looked out through the driving rain, Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games, Kicking and splashing while the rain was pouring.” The ark started moving and the unicorns floated away. That is why we see no unicorns to this very day.
It is a catchy tune, but I like the message behind it. The unicorns got distracted with their lives that they missed the ark, which would have saved them.
Does that ever happen to us? We get caught up in our silly games and the salvation story passes us by. You don’t think we get distracted? Let’s focus on the rainbow today. It is a beautiful symbol of God’s grace. The world distracts us from that by it being a symbol for the homosexual community since 1978. Isn’t it ironic that their symbol is one of God’s greatest promises? With apologies to the Muppets and their 1979 hit let’s delve into . . .
“THE RAINBOW CONNECTION”
A little science lesson to begin. A rainbow comes in seven colors and involves refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets. It is always opposite the sun. It is a full measure of God’s creative power on display in a sign to remind you of His mercy and love.
What is our connection? The promise we hear today is not just for the eight people left on earth. It is for all of mankind forever. This covenant is between God and His creation. God is making a promise that all living things will never suffer and be destroyed by the devastation of a global flood again. God is going to bring about hope and peace.
What are the terms of this covenant? Rains will still fall. Floods will still rage and foam in parts of the earth. Life is still in peril due to this wrath expressed in nature. But “never again” will waters wipe out all of life.
In order to provide Noah and his descendants – including us – this covenant, God would provide a sign. “My bow.” He chooses a sign that reflects the light and glory of His creation: the rainbow. There is the connection. It connects you and I to God’s promise. It connects God to the world. It is breathtaking. Martin Luther states, “This sign should remind us to give thanks to God. For as often as the rainbow appears, it preaches to the entire world with a loud voice about the wrath which once moved God to destroy the whole world. It also gives comfort, that we may have the conviction that God is kindly inclined toward us again and will never again make use of so horrible a punishment.”
We can’t speak of all the continents, but some of us can attest to the rainbow in Europe. We saw it after a very heavy rain that made it hard to see the road. But that is how the rainbow works. It always follows a storm. Noah leaves the ark, there it is. We have a downpour and go out on our decks, there it is. A tornado may move through, we come up from the basement, there it is. The Lord says, “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.” (vs. 14-15a)
This is the first mention of clouds in the Bible, but certainly not the last. There would be some horribly dark times to come. We have them, don’t we? We get trapped in our sinful darkness. We build our own ark for safety, but the demons keep knocking at the door. There is only one way out – the light of Christ. His red blood shed on the cross is a sign of hope. His yellowing skin from the beatings that He takes on our behalf. The blue of death when He breathes his last. Then the bright colors of Easter morning that announce that He has risen. No tomb can hold Him in. He bursts forth in full majestic color for the world to see. His rainbow connects to His cross as symbols of His love, grace, mercy.
Let’s also not miss the water connection. In flooding, water is a symbol of destruction. In our baptism that same water is a sign of hope and forgiveness. But to get to the font we had to be born in sin. There had to be something to wash away. We come out of the font or lake or swimming pool or wherever we were baptized as new creations. Just like Noah and family who left the ark. The rainbow promise connects us together.
Noah and his family were in the ark for over a year. Tossed about by the waves. Probably had some fear and anxiety. What would they see when they opened that door? How different would the world look? They saw light. They saw a rainbow. Something so beautiful that the whole of creation should never forget how great is the God of creation.
It is the same today. We can look to the clouds, and we receive the same comfort. Our rainbow connection says that God loves us and holds us dear. He sent His Son Jesus to fulfill the terms of this everlasting covenant.
Amen.