What’s gonna happen when all this snow melts? The river & creeks are already jammed with ice. Hopefully, the thaw will be incremental, and lowland flooding will be minimal. Water, both frozen & liquid, can be powerful, life-changing and relentless. Land-loving Israelites feared the chaos-monster of Ocean, and the Leviathan which swims in it. Taking the plunge of Baptism demanded an active faith!
“When are we gonna get off this smelly ark? Forty days, Lord, forty days! As much and more as my fingers and toes TWICE! And will you be angry again, enough for another Flood??” No, said the Lord, and the rainbow will be the sign of the covenant: “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 land every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flo0od to destroy all flesh.” (Genesis 9:14-15) So Grace comes AFTER the Flood, a New Beginning made holy as the water receded.
The Letters of St. Peter always seem to ramble; where’s he going with this? Sunday’s reading (I,3:18-22) has to do (I think) with God’s providential sparing of Noah & Family from a watery doom…and that our Baptism is our own deliverance from the Flood. This is a stretch, but does tie in with the New Beginning beyond the water of ritual death. Again, Grace.
Mark’s account of Jesus’ Baptism and what followed is much more concise than those of either Luke or Matthew. (1:9-15) Yet in this brevity we can capture the flow of Grace which happened after: forty days where the wild things are (not the ark, but like it), and then a proclamation of the immediacy of the kingdom of God. God continues to provide, even (and especially) After the Flood.
Floods are terrible. Mud and mold in every nook & cranny, and total destruction of furniture and appliances. A loss of pictures and memories. We who’ve been flooded feel invaded, victims of unstoppable natural forces. Angry, we feel as though trust and stability will never come again. Our readings for the beginning of Lent acknowledge our frailty–and also remind us that Grace happens After the Flood.
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
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