Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
Genesis 9:8-15
Since the Garden of Eden, man has struggled with evil. In the days of Noah, God sought to deal with evil through a flood, destroying all of the earth and its inhabitants except for the family of Noah and the animals he brought to the ark.
God had warned the people, but the scoffed at Noah. God then spoke in a language they could, and would understand.
The salvation of Noah’s family was a foreshadowing of God’s redemptive plan through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and the redemptive waters of Baptism. Through the rainbow, God gave his promise to Noah that he would never again destroy the world with a flood.
As we recognize the first Sunday of Lent, and the day we weekly celebrate the Resurrection, remember God’s promise of redemption.
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