Text:Genesis 9: 8-17
This week is observed
as the Environment Week and this Sunday the Church meditates on the Ecological Sunday.
The text involves the communication of
YHWH with Noah after the great flood. The flood story and the incidents
followed by it have a great ecological relevance.
I. An Altar that affirms a Cosmic centered community.
The whole
passage happens in the context of worship and an altar. Soon after the great
flood, YHWH establishes a covenant. Unlike the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic
covenants, this covenant is an everlasting universal promise by YHWH. This
covenant can be seen as a promise with not only Noah but to the whole creation.
It is the first covenant in the Bible that is applicable to the generations for
ever. In other words this law is an attempt to remind and reaffirm that human
beings, how advanced they are, is a part of the Cosmos.
The so-called
‘developments’ of our times are aimed more towards an isolated growth of human beings
secluded from the nature. Modern
technologies are also interested in ‘creating’ environments rather than
adapting to the nature [Whatever weather outside you stay cool inside!]. This
Isolated growth assisted by modern technologies had compelled human beings to
destroy nature and its resources. Nature is considered as a mere object for manipulation,
a sink to dump waste products. This Anthropocentric, Ando-centric view has ruined
the nature. In this context, this covenant is an attempt to rejoin human to the
nature’s link.
More often in
the funeral services we are reminded that human beings are a part of cosmos and
will return to the soil from where they are taken. This passage reminds that
the voices arise from the altar must always enable the people to have a cosmic
centered spirituality. By overcoming the third temptation Jesus overcame the enticement
to become a Super Human by overriding the laws of nature. Human beings are not
isolated beings but called to be a cosmic centered Community.
II. Listening to the Groaning of Creation
through Calamities
The covenant
mentioned here reveals that flood will not become an agent of destruction again. It was also a promise that water will not
became an agent for destruction of the Earth.
Traditionally natural
calamities are considered as the signs of God’s wrath that is
irresistible. Even the warranty/guarantee
of many damaged gadgets could not be covered if it is caused by God’s
activities. But a close examination of this covenant reveals that Natural
Calamities are not Natural or God’s action. This covenant reveals that natural
resources are not the basic agents of natural calamities. In other words, neither
the Nature nor God cannot be blamed for the disasters; Human induced activities
are the key agents of natural calamities. In this context the Global warming,
global dimming, Snow sliding of our times can be interpreted as the groaning of
creation due to human exploitation.
III. Rainbow as a ray of hope
The flood
narrative ends not with a catastrophic devastation but with a graceful hope to
the entire creation. Whenever YHWH see the bow [usually interpreted as the
rainbow], YHWH promises to remember the creation. The weapon used for fighting
and killing has now transformed to a tool for love and redemption. Rainbow is
not only a natural phenomenon nor an optical illusion; it has a great
theological significance. It is the most powerful symbol of hope from Genesis
to Revelation. In Ezekiel and in Revelation, rainbow is symbolized as the God’s
glory. Rainbow reflects the idea of
diversity. Diversity is the only treasure and tool in the nature that sustains
life and hope in the midst of all calamities. The ark of Noah too is an outstanding
example of this bio-diversity.
Lastly, rainbow often appears in a cloudy sky.
But the presence of rainbow affirms that there is sunlight behind the one who
views it. This is our only hope in our journeys and struggles for a new alternative
world. Whenever we saw the cloudy complex conditions in our actions, the
rainbows in the journey reflect the our God’s
presence with us. Amen
