Sermon: Covenant of Freedom

For Sunday, February 18, the first Sunday in Lent, Year B, the texts are Mark 1:9-15, Genesis 9:8-17, and 1 Peter 3:18-22. In addition to our regular worship services, we also enjoyed having some counselors from Camp Ewalu join us to lead music and games for Sunday School and help with leadership at the 11:00 worship. Check out some pictures here on the St. Peter Lutheran Church Facebook page.

I found this commentary from Elizabeth Webb helpful in thinking about the meaning of the rainbow, and an essay in Feasting on the Word (Amazon link) educational on the Biblical significance of the number 40.

This week we begin our Lenten journey to the cross in a surprising place, by hearing about God’s first covenant with the world.

Our Old Testament story today is the end of the familiar story of Noah’s ark, one of those stories that you’re likely familiar with, but probably haven’t read in a while. There are a lot of surprises in today’s readings. God doesn’t act the way we would expect – and that’s a good thing.

The surprising part of the flood story is not that God decides to destroy pretty much all of creation and start over. That part actually makes sense to me. Look at what we have done to the world. Look at the tragedies that have happened just this week, with children murdered in what should be a place of safety. Look at all the people trying to use tragedies to score political points.

Look at the mistrust, the greed, the inequality, the fear that’s so pervasive right now. God created the world to be a paradise, and look what we humans have done with it. Look what we’ve done to each other. It’s not that hard to see why God might want to start over, and a flood is as good of a way as any.

And God certainly has the right to destroy creation. We often think of God as kindly and forgiving. Sometimes we even make the mistake of thinking God is tame, harmless. But Scripture speaks of God’s power and God’s justice. The world is not the way God intended it to be, so God has every right to start over.

We shouldn’t be surprised at God giving people what they deserve. After all, we humans are pretty good at being vengeful and violent. Why should we expect God to be different?




Of course, Scripture also says that God is merciful and loving, so it’s not really that surprising for God to save a few people to repopulate the world. After all, God’s not really in the habit of giving up or surrendering, and God did say creation was good.

No, the surprising part of the flood story is what God does after the flood is over, after justice has been served and evil has been punished. In today’s reading, God makes a covenant with creation, not just with Noah, but with all living creatures.

“Covenant” isn’t a word we use a whole lot, but we’re going to hear it several times in the next few weeks, so it’s worth defining. A covenant is a formal promise. Generally, covenants are an agreement between two parties.

Usually it’s between two unequal parties, like a ruler and his subjects, or between a conquering nation and a conquered vassal state. Both sides have something to live up to. It’s a contract. It’s like a teacher and a class, where the teacher says they’ll do their teaching job, but the students have to do their part to learn.

But there’s something strange about this covenant God makes with creation. Certainly, the two sides are unequal, but they’re so unequal that the covenant is totally one sided. The surprising part of this story and this covenant is that it’s all up to God. Creation doesn’t need to do anything. There are no conditions, no fine print, no way to void the contract.

In this covenant, God gives up something, not just for Lent, but forever. The God who has every right to be vengeful and destructive and to go to war with creation pledges not to do it. God takes out a restraining order on Himself. That’s pretty surprising.

I usually think of the rainbow in this story as something cute, something beautiful, but in reality, it’s symbolizing a weapon. Bow means a bow for shooting arrows, for fighting a war.

In this covenant, the God the mighty warrior puts down His weapon. The bow in the sky, pointed away from the earth, serves forever as a reminder to God of the limits God is setting.

Unlike at creation when there was that one rule about not eating from that one tree, the rules here are not for people, but for God, and that tells us something important about God’s character. God is self-limiting, refusing to give up on humanity, refusing to take vengeance.
The bow in the clouds is proof that God will act out of love, not vengeance. This story is surprising because it’s about grace.

And God doesn’t forget this covenant. Even when we forget, God remembers. God cares so much about us that God sacrifices vengeance and power to be in relationship with us.

And then God calls us to do the same.

What would our world look like if we followed God’s example? What would change if we limited our lust for freedom for the sake of others? What would happen if we were more willing to sacrifice what we have for our neighbors in need?

In a way, that kind of sacrifice is what Lent is about. This season is about taking stock of our lives, and refocusing on following God, refocusing on living the way God calls us to.




I know not all of you were able to be here, but we began Lent on Ash Wednesday by recognizing that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. This season begins by recognizing that we are going to die.

But recognizing our mortality is only the beginning of the journey, because as we continue through Lent, we hear the real surprise, the good news that our death is not the end of the story. Our Lenten journey leads to the cross, where our sins are forgiven and where we are given new life. This season is about recognizing God’s sacrifice for us.

It’s about grasping the incredible good news of the God who has given up everything for our sake, becoming one of us and dying in our place to set us free.

And when we understand that God has taken our mortality, we are set free from the fear of death. We’re set free from the self-centered lives we have been living, set free from needing to look out for ourselves first.

We’re set free to serve each other rather than seeking our own benefit, free to share God’s love with each other and with the world. We are set free because, as our reading from First Peter said, “Christ suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.”

God is willing to do whatever is needed to be in relationship with us. Rather than give up on this rebellious, sinful world, rather than abandon us as sinful, hopeless people, God has done the unexpected, coming to earth for us, suffering, dying, descending to the dead, all for our sake.

In the Bible, certain numbers often have meaning. Forty is the number for the time in between. How many days did it rain while Noah and his family were on the ark? 40. How many years did the Israelites wander in the wilderness? 40. It’s also the number of days the Israelites listened to Goliath taunt them before David came and was willing to fight him.

After he was resurrected on Easter, how long do you think Jesus was Jesus was with his disciples before he ascended into heaven? 40!

There are more examples I could give you, but the most important is in today’s gospel reading, where we hear about Jesus being driven out into the wilderness and tempted by Satan for forty days. It’s an appropriate way to begin this season of Lent, which is how long? Forty days.

Lent is an in-between time. It’s a time for wandering in the wilderness, for facing the temptations of life, for following Jesus’ example in the wilderness. It’s a time for being surprised by God’s presence even in the wilderness, even in suffering and tragedy.

Did you notice in our Gospel lesson today when it was that Jesus went into the wilderness and was tempted? It was immediately after his baptism. Immediately after his identity as God’s Son is revealed, the Spirit – the same Spirit present at his baptism – the Spirit drives him into the wilderness.

Like Jesus, our greatest temptations come right when we realize we are set free, because we are tempted to use our freedom, our second chance, for ourselves. We’re tempted to look out for ourselves, to put ourselves first and let others worry about themselves.

But the freedom God gives us is for the sake of others. We’re forgiven so that we can live the way God calls us to live, not selfishly trying to earn our way to God or benefit ourselves, but living out God’s love for the world.

God’s covenant is for the benefit of the whole creation, and even though we can never fully live up to it, you and I are called to follow God’s example of selfless love.
In this in-between time, in this time where God has gone even into the wilderness, we’re called to live differently, to live in a way the world will never understand, to give of ourselves and put others first.

As we continue in this season of Lent, I challenge you to take the time to reflect on what God has done for you. How will you use the freedom God has given you?

How will you respond to the surprise of God’s love and grace?
Amen