This Sign - A Covenant for All

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-13 ESV) Signs are an important way of communicating detailed information in an easy-to-understand way. Today at International Lutheran Church we read about God’s Covenant with Noah and his family and every living creature that was with him in the ark. 

The other day I was on the bus as a child was able to identify themselves by pointing to a picture of a baby in a stroller to the astonishment of the mother and several bystanders. Genesis 9 records the first of many covenants or promises that God makes with His creation in the Biblical narrative. As Noah and his family emerge from the ark and build an altar to the LORD, God makes a Covenant with all creation. In placing the Rainbow in the clouds, God lays down a pattern for the kinds of promises He makes and how He uses simple signs to help us get the picture. Ultimately, this sign also points to the depth of God’s Love for us all in the greatest Sign, the sending of His only Son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Him we have courage as all of God’s Promises are fulfilled in Him.

In the gospel lesson (Mark 6:45-56), we read about how Jesus gingerly dismissed the crowds and then intentionally walked into the fear of His own disciples across the sea and then immediately attended to the needs of the masses, each and every one of them. Jesus’ own words, “Take heart! It is me” tell us everything we need to know today and interpret the Sign of His coming and even the Sign given to Noah and his descendants after him. Jesus is here to save. This is who He is! God in the flesh! The One who holds back the floods and remembers His Covenant to Noah is the one who steps into the boat of the disciples and immediately stills both wind and wave. Jesus, the One who attended to the needs of each person, cares for us. He gives His very life for us on the cross and receives the deluge of God’s wrath and anger over our sin upon that same cross. Why can the rainbow bring us joy? Because it means that God does save! Why does the cross grant us comfort? Because God’s love was poured out like a flood! Paul uses this image when he talks about our baptism in the Epistle lesson today (Ephesians 3:14-21) and the “depth of God’s love.” We have been flooded with God’s grace and mercy, not so that we can live in sin, but so that we can die to it. Jesus frees us, heals us, and makes us new in Him. This is what gives us courage – the forgiveness of our sin. We are freed from the endless “rowing against the wind” and struggling to save ourselves. Jesus brings peace. We do not fear because we know by the power of His resurrection that He is with us and not against us. He has defeated sin and death, and Satan can no longer tempt us.

While we face the challenges of life – and the rain still does fall – even the disappointments and inner fears of who we are, we take courage in Him who died and rose again for us. And just as He put His Bow in the clouds as a sign to Noah and all those in the ark with Him, He has shown us that in His Son, we are saved and in Him we can take courage.

Pastor Carl