Genesis 6:1-22
Psalm 14

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from our Creator God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray.  We give you thanks, O God, for in the beginning your Spirit moved over the waters and by your Word you created the world, calling forth life in which you took delight.  Through the waters of the flood you delivered Noah and his family and through the sea you led your people Israel from slavery into freedom.  At the river your Son was baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit.  By the baptism of Jesus’ death and resurrection you set us free from the power of sin and death and raise us up to live in you.  Pour out your Holy Spirit, the power of your living Word, that those who have been washed in the waters of baptism may be given new life.  To you be given honor and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.  Amen

Please open your Bibles to Genesis Chapter 6.  In verse 5, God sees that humankind lives in wickedness – continually, every minute, every thought, every action.

You may remember that chapter 5 was simply a list of ancestors … so what have these humans been doing that God is so deeply sorrowful and grieved at what was created “very good”?

Chapter 6, verses 1-4, give us a small picture of what is so distressful to God.

The Benay-Haelihim or “sons of God” and the Nephilim or “giants” are on earth, and they chose humans as their sexual partners – producing children who are described in verse 4 as “the heroes and warriors of old.”

Perhaps you have heard some of these legends of ancient heroes – the Epic of Gilgamesh who battled sea monsters and ancient evils, the Iliad which tells the story of Achilles as he fought in the Trojan War, the Odyssey which tells the story of Odysseus as he travels home from the Trojan War, the Anneid which tells the story of Anneas as he flees from Troy and settles in Rome, the stories of Hercules …

And there are many, many others – every country has their own versions of the stories of old … heroes who are descended from the gods and who have special strengths or powers or perhaps are themselves immortal like the gods …

The more you read these stories, the more you see that they are filled with people who cling to their status as children of the gods – even claiming to be gods in their own right.  These people tend to bring on their own destruction because of their pride and their claims to deserve certain privileged treatment from others, or because they contend against the gods in some way.

The legends are filled with stories of warriors pillaging cities, destroying and stealing what others have built.  Women are continually taken by force and raped.

These are not very pretty stories of what humanity is able to do.  The people are self-centered, arrogant and willing to destroy others in order to gain something for themselves.  The people claim to be gods or like gods and expect to be worshipped or treated as if they are gods.

Does this give you an idea of why God would be deeply saddened by what humankind is doing?  Can you see why God is grieved by the attitudes displayed in these actions?

All the author of Genesis needed to do was drop a hint for those who would read these pages.  Many of the stories that tell of the foundations of the greatest cities and civilizations are terrible stories of what humanity has done to itself and of the destruction that comes when humans consider themselves equal to gods.

Are we any different?  When we tell the stories of people who are great and ought to be honored, do we lift up stories of those who glorified themselves, who claimed special privileges, who acted as if they deserved special treatment and expected to have others bow before their wishes?  Are our heroes those who fought powerful foes and won?  Do our heroes receive status equal or nearly equal to gods?

Something to ponder, isn’t it?  What stories do we tell about our heroes and how do we choose the heroes we hold up as examples?

[pause]

In verse 7, we see God’s response to the heroes and warriors and their actions.  We see God’s intention to reverse creation – destroying all that had been created – all except for one man … Noah who is righteous and blameless.  God is pleased with Noah.  We also find out that Noah has three sons, who apparently are following in their father’s footsteps, learning to be righteous and blameless in God’s sight.

And what does a righteous and blameless life look like?  Since we know that the heroes and warriors of our legends do NOT live righteous and blameless lives … what does such a life look like?  Verse 22 tells us that Noah “did all that God commanded him.”  Obedience to God is the definition of righteousness.

Adam and Eve and Cain … the heroes and warriors of legend … they did not obey God’s commands.  Noah did.

It seems so simple – follow God’s commands and you will find favor in God’s eyes … you will be righteous and blameless, like Noah, like Abel.  It is so simple and yet so hard.

[pause]

Now, you may remember the image of creation [visual aid] – with the waters of chaos surrounding the dome of the sky and the land beneath.  In verse 17, God tells Noah that chaos is going to break forth into creation and all that had been created by God will be destroyed – swallowed once again by the powers of chaos.

But Noah and his family will be the new start – a new creation, a second creation – and there will be a covenant drawn up between God and Noah and Noah’s descendants … so that life will not be totally lost … so that creation can start over.

Next week we’ll hear more about the flood itself, this week I want to focus on this new beginning … this new creation … the promise that God gives to Noah.

In the first creation story, we heard that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters of chaos and God spoke and creation was formed.

In this new creation, the waters of chaos have destroyed all that lived upon the land.  New life is raised out of the waters by the power of God.

Does this remind you of anything?

I opened my sermon today with one of the prayers from the Service of Holy Baptism.  Each time we read the story of Noah and the flood, we can be reminded of the new life we received in baptism.  The waters of baptism, like the waters of the flood, are waters that remind us of drowning and death.

I know that I have told this story before, but I’m not sure if I’ve told it here.  One of my seminary professors tells the story of one of his trips to Africa to work with scholars there, to learn from the people whose culture is very different from his own.  As he attended worship with his colleagues one day, he was delighted to see that there would be a baptism during the worship.  The presiding pastor carried the infant to the baptismal font – a large font, obviously designed for the full immersion of the one being baptized.  As the liturgy continued, the pastor plunged the child into the water, loudly declaring, “In the name of God, I kill you!”

Of course, my professor was horrified.  Just as he was going to jump up and run to the font in order to rescue the child from this totally insane man, the pastor lifted the baby out of the water, raising it high in the air and declaring just as loudly, “And in the name of Christ, I raise you to new life!”

It was a day my professor would never forget.  It is a story that I will never forget!  And it reminds me of the very real truth of Christian Baptism.

Baptism isn’t about a little bit of water – or even a lot of water.  Baptism is about the power of the Holy Spirit at work destroying the power of chaos and making a new creation.  The power of the Holy Spirit raises each child of God out of the waters of death into the gift of new life … a new creation is formed.

God establishes a covenant with each one of us through the death and new creation of baptism.  The Holy Spirit drives out the power of chaos, the power of death and destruction, the power of wickedness and sin – and a new creation is begun in the one who is baptized.

When we hear about the covenants that God has established with the Hebrew people or with the Jewish people, we rarely hear about the covenant with Noah.  But it is here.  It is a promise of a new creation – that there will be life, even when it seems that nothing can survive the powers of chaos.

Remember Noah – the one who “did all that God commanded him” and was righteous and blameless in the eyes of the Lord.

When you think that you cannot survive, remember Noah and the promise that God gave to him.  “I will establish my covenant with you and your descendants … You will survive the flood; the waters of chaos will not destroy you.”

Remember this promise.

Rejoice in the power of God.

Amen