1-old

Noah

Reflection by Richard Ames-Lewis

 

The flood continued for forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings; everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.

Genesis 7.17-22

This jolly image of Noah’s Ark shows the animals, two by two, being carried over the waters of the flood. It describes in a light-hearted way the catastrophe of Genesis 7.17. Not only did the water bear up the ark and rise high above the earth, but also, we read, all flesh died, blotted out from the earth. The image is surmounted by the rainbow, God’s promise a little later in the story that the bow in the clouds will be for future generations a sign ‘that the waters will never again become a flood to destroy all flesh’ (Genesis 9.15).

 

A catastrophic flood story can be found in the literature of other ancient middle eastern civilisations, suggesting that an event like this did actually happen. A flood event is terrifying, revealing in all its untamed energy the primal chaos that water represents in the first account of Creation. So the author of the book of Genesis writes the story of Noah and the Ark to answer the problem of God’s apparent cruelty and his loving providence in saving all living things.

 

We hear only too much about floods in these days of climate change. The recent terrible floods in Pakistan were described as “Biblical”, referencing Noah’s Flood. Other flood events have earned the name “Apocalyptic”, suggesting that they prefigure the end times. The use of such language points up how vast are the implications of global heating, and how urgent it is to find solutions. Are we facing the end of the world?

 

Noah built his ark at God’s instruction to carry all life safely to a new world, and the ark has often been seen as a type of the Church, carrying the redeemed through the waves of sorrow and sin, saved by the cross of Christ into a new life in his risen body. Our refuge in the ark of the Church, however tossed about, is our guarantee of safe passage to resurrection.

 

Faced with our climate emergency, what is needed, metaphorically, is a new ark in which we can all find a new kind of refuge. The new ark is our community of faith in Christ in which we discover how to be penitent. The refuge is our radical change of lifestyle in which we discover how to live simply, treading lightly on the earth and seeing ourselves and all living things as part of God’s beautiful creation. Then the rainbow, sign of God’s all-inclusive love, will reassure us that we are not abandoned. 

Previous
Previous

2

Next
Next

30