So the LORD said: "I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created, and not only the men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them." But Noah found favor with the LORD.
Then the LORD said to Noah: "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just. Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate; likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, and of all the unclean birds, one pair, a male and a female. Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth. Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth every moving creature that I have made." Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him. As soon as the seven days were over, the waters of the flood came upon the earth. (Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10)
(Today’s First Reading) At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark, and he sent out a raven, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth. Then he sent out a dove, to see if the waters had lessened on the earth. But the dove could find no place to alight and perch, and it returned to him in the ark, for there was water all over the earth. Putting out his hand, he caught the dove and drew it back to him inside the ark. He waited seven days more and again sent the dove out from the ark. In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth. He waited still another seven days and then released the dove once more; and this time it did not come back.
In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water began to dry up on the earth. Noah then removed the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up.
Noah built an altar to the LORD, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. When the LORD smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man since the desires of man’s heart are evil from the start; nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done. As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22)
Such tales about Noah and the ark! They are quite fanciful, and if taken literally – as many people do and subsequently teach to our children – make our faith seem like nonsense. My two 40+ year adult children have made that quite clear to me. They make a good point.
Children and young adults don’t swallow fiction as a basis for our faith [neither did a big fish swallow Jonah]. That’s why it’s critical for us to teach the meaning of these stories and how they apply to everyday life. For example, we all know how great is man's wickedness on earth, and God’s “heart” is grieved. The Church is our “ark” in which we reside, worship, and pray to hopefully avoid the “flood” of hate and anger capable of wiping out from the surface of the earth every moving creature that God has made. I refer to nuclear weapons and on-going spying and saber-rattling by nations opposed to the United States. We share some of that guilt especially because the United States is the world’s largest arms dealer. Tragic.
Another example would be man-induced climate change, melting glaciers, and resulting sea level rise that will eventually flood the worlds’ coastal regions wreaking havoc on global economies and population centers. The LORD said: “Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth every moving creature that I have made.” The LORD doesn’t need rainfall; humanity will do it alone.
We only can hope that we have not doomed the earth because the desires of our hearts are evil from the start. We must not act in ways that will strike down all living beings. Sorry if I sound apocalyptic. Scientists’ alarming projections for sea level rise and the flooding of coastal cities are chilling.
The earth also is our ark. We must treat it with care. So far, we have done a poor job.
Deacon David Pierce
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