Genesis 9: 8-17
The first thing that caught my attention in this short reading was the enormous amount of repetition. Thinking that this might indicate an original poetic source, I spent some time trying to outline it.(1) Which led to a "discovery": one theme is stated seven times in the nine verses of YHWH's speech! Consider the significance of so much repetition:
- I now establish My covenant (9)
I will maintain My covenant (11)
This is the sign that I set for the covenant (12)
and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant (13)
I will remember My covenant (15)
I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant (16)
That shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established (17)
Now study the adjunct terms and their order:
- (a) establish
(b) maintain
(c) sign
(c) sign
(d) remember
(d,b) remember, everlasting
(c,a) sign, established
God is omniscient, we have been taught. What does "omniscient" mean? In today's lection, we find YHWH admitting the need of a sign in order to remember the covenant. At this point, God does not have a long string of covenants to be constantly aware of; just this one. So why does YHWH need a "sign"? How does this inform our understanding of the term "omniscient"? What does it teach us about God? And about ourselves?
Setting these portions aside, we have a text that is a hymn of praise and an acclamation of faithful hope. Both are worthy of consideration by the Church, which stands in need of and dependency on them. The two are melded in the reading's last verse:
- All the LORD's paths are steadfast love
for those who keep the decrees of [YHWH's] covenant. (10)
But consider the first half of this verse: All the LORD's paths are steadfast love. We readily discern God's steadfast love in the words of promise, but what about the event that preceded? Among All the LORD's paths was inundation and annihilation. Where in that does one find steadfast love?
- Good and upright is the LORD;
Therefore [God] shows sinners the way. (8)
- O let none who look to You be disappointed;
let the faithless be disappointed, empty-handed. (3)
Baptism is not the washing away of bodily impurities but the appeal made to God
from a good conscience (21). This sacrament, Peter declares, is not for forgiveness
of sin(s). Rather, that issue must have been previously and successfully dealt with
since, in baptism, an appeal (to which God responds in grace) is made... from a good
conscience, which indicates the condition of a person already cleansed, forgiven and
reconciled. Then, to that person of good conscience who makes an appeal through
baptism, God grants salvation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ(3)
(21). The sequence of events seems clear, although perhaps not in the order in which we
might expect. And it leaves open the question, not "how is one saved?" but, "how is
one forgiven?" The Apostle responds: Christ too suffered for our sins once and for
all, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God (18). Now all we need to
know is how we can participate in that, how we can appropriate the efficacy of Jesus'
suffering and death so that we, too, might come to God with a good conscience.
According to Peter, Jesus came with a good conscience to be baptised. He did not need "cleansing" from sin(s) in the waters of the Jordan. And the matters of suffering, death and resurrection yet lay in His future. So why did Jesus come to be baptised? Could it be that this episode was written so that Christians might see therein the precedent for their own baptism? While we are still "wet", do the heavens break open and the Spirit descend (10) on us? Does a voice [come] from heaven: 'You are my beloved [child]; in you I take delight' (11)?
Ah, yes; we would wish that this were true. And, if the Apostle Peter is to be believed, then this is what happens. But do not take too much comfort from that. Recall that Israel was "baptised"-- led across the Sea of Reeds-- and "delivered" into the wilderness. After His baptism, the Spirit drove [Jesus] out into the wildeness (12) where He spent a long time struggling with temptations. Now that you, too, have been baptised, where are you but in the "wilderness" of this earthly life? And the matters of suffering, death and resurrection yet lay in your future.
- O LORD, I set my hope in You;
my God, in You I trust;
may I not be disappointed (Psa. 25: 1-2).
1. 1 If you wish to see my results, send a note to ENAPXH@juno.com. 2 Whether we should or not is another concern. 3 Notice-- and study-- the connection between the resurrection and salvation.
(comments to Phil at ENAPXH@aol.com )