Reflection on the First Sunday of Lent, February 21, 2021, Year B.
Readings
Theme: A Covenant People
If there is one thread that runs through the entire fabric of the Bible, it is that of covenant. Genesis today speaks of Yahweh’s covenant-making with Noah for the benefit of all of creation. The first letter of Peter draws on the Noah theme in pointing to baptismal water as the saving element of God’s new covenant. Mark’s brief account of Jesus’ temptation concludes with Christ’s proclamation of the new covenant’s arrival. “The reign of God is at hand.” The beginning of Lent is a good moment to consider what it means to be a people bonded with God.
First Reading — Gen 9:8–15
The major moments in Israel’s history were marked by covenants. There is the central covenant of Sinai made with the people as a whole (Ex 19–24), preceded by that with Abraham (Gen 17:1–14), and the pre-history covenant with Noah, recounted in today’s first reading. In addition, there is covenant language in the God-Adam story (Gen 2), although the relationship is not specified in those terms. The covenant with Noah is singular inasmuch as it is unilateral. There are no binding conditions placed on Noah or his descendants. Yahweh alone binds himself in solemn promise.
This narrative is part of the Priestly tradition (P) of the Pentateuch. Some editorial “stitching” has taken place as seen in the frequent repetitions (vv 11, 15; 12:17). Biblical covenants are constructed along the lines of political treaties, common in the ancient near east. Noah’s covenant, however, is of a particular type. Where ordinarily the two contracting parties bind themselves to the terms, here it is Yahweh alone who is bound.
He allies himself with Noah, all of humanity, and all living creatures (vv 9f). The terms assure a certain tranquillity in nature which precludes any future destruction of all forms of life such as Noah had experienced (v 11). The subordinates in the covenant, here Noah and his sons, have no terms imposed upon them unless it be the prohibition against homicide and blood meats in the preceding section (9:4f), an unlikely possibility.
Another feature of the ancient treaty was the external sign, a permanent and lasting record that agreement had been reached. Today this is expressed in similar terms: “I want that in writing.” Here the visible pledge of Yahweh’s lasting intent is the rainbow (vv 13–16). Its over-arching character as it spans the sky is seen as joining heaven and earth. It appears at the conclusion of the rain, serving well as a reminder that Yahweh has established pluvial limits.
The significance of this pre-history covenant, part of Genesis’ theological retrojection to beginnings, lies in the stress it places on Yahweh’s relationship, not solely with Israel as in subsequent covenants, but with the whole of creation, or more precisely with all forms of life. Israel saw it as divine protection for all peoples of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm — Ps 25
This psalm, constructed on the Hebrew alphabet (each verse beginning with a subsequent letter of the alphabet), reiterates many of the key concepts of Israel’s faith. The ways of the Lord or his guidance are the terms of the covenant, the path of upright living, for which light is requested (v 5). It is God’s kindness (hesed, vv 6, 7, 10) or covenant love that binds him to his people as well as to individuals, bringing him to the remembrance of promise and a total forgetfulness of sin. The dispositions of the petitioner are those of the humble (anawim) (v 9). One can follow the Lord’s way and invoke his kindness to the extent that a lowly spirit is present. In treating of Yahweh or the suppliant, the psalm is covenant-centered.
Second Reading — 1 Pet 3:18–22
The first letter of Peter draws heavily on the baptismal catechesis of the early church. Here the experience of Noah’s “salvation through water” becomes a figure of Christian baptism (vv 20f).
Christ’s sufferings result in Christian deliverance (v 18). His offering was made to God in his weak and sufferable humanity (in the flesh); this with his resurrection led to his becoming a vivifier, the one who communicates new life (in the spirit) (Rom 1:3f). The spirits in prison (v 19): The reference is to an activity of Christ after his resurrection, when he was “in the spirit.” Who the spirits were to whom Christ preached remains unclear.
Ordinarily, unspecified “spirits” refer to celestial beings, in this case fallen angels. In context (v 19) this would point to the angels who had sinful intercourse with humans prior to the flood and were at least partially responsible for the punishing deluge that followed (Gen 6:1–4). They appear also in the early Christian apocrypha. Or the reference may be to those humans who died in the flood itself because of their wrong-doing. Elsewhere both the fallen angels and sinful humans of Noah’s time are treated jointly (2 Pet 2:4f). In any case the text relates Jesus salvific work to the pre-Christian era.
Mention of God’s patience during the time of the ark’s construction (v 20) is followed by the comparison of the two “saving waters.” Baptism is not an act of “the flesh,” a mere physical cleansing but rather a pledge (Grk: eperotema) to God of an unstained life made possible by the power of the Lord’s resurrection, the life in the Spirit (v 21). This same Christ now presides as Lord (Phil 2:9ff) over all the heavenly beings (Eph 1:20f).
Third Reading — Mk 1:12–15
In the synoptic tradition, the more primitive Mark presents only the essentials of Jesus’ temptation (vv 12f) in contrast to the more extended depiction of Matthew (4:1–10) and Luke (4:1–13). The same Spirit present to Jesus in his baptism (1:10) now leads him into combat with the evil one. The topical reference is to the Judean desert, the place of John’s ministry.
The forty days (v 13) echo the desert sojourns of Moses (Ex 34:28) and Elijah (1 Kgs 19:8) with a possible allusion to Israel’s forty years in the desert. Satan (v 13): Originally the prosecutor or the heavenly adversary (Job 1), he eventually became the leader of Yahweh’s opposition. It is in this latter role that he is present to Jesus. The mention of the ministering angels and protection from the desert beasts suggests the psalmist’s assurance of Yahweh’s assistance to his faithful one (Ps 91:11ff).
Victorious in the newly given Spirit, Jesus begins his ministry. It is important to note that his announcement of salvation takes place only after his forerunner is removed from the scene (v 14). Their ministries belong to different eras and do not overlap. Jesus leaves Judea and returns to his native Galilee.
The gospel of God (v 14) includes announcement of the time of fulfillment, i.e. the end of the era of Israel and the time of eschatological realization; the proximity of the reign of God, i.e. the time of God’s total sovereignty over the whole of creation; and finally the need to repent, i.e. to experience a radical change of heart in light of this final moment. Believe in the gospel (v 15): This is to be read in its full Christian sense, implying more than the gospel preached by Jesus. For Mark in a post-Easter setting it includes the work of redemption accomplished in Christ’s death-resurrection.
Since we no longer make covenants, it is at times suggested that we should find better terminology to describe this all-important relationship. But it is hard to do so. Contracts in modern parlance are legalistic and fall short in expressing divine largess. Agreement is too weak a word, and testament has become almost as obsolete as covenant. So we keep the word and try to give it meaning.
Covenant, properly understood, speaks volumes about God’s concern. In the covenant with Noah, coming so close on the heels of the flood, Yahweh comes as close to saying “I am sorry about all of this” as he could. Yes, sanctions were called for, but he foreswears forever this type of punishment.
The ark symbolizes salvation. It is a figure of the church and is related to baptism. We are all protected by God’s love as was Noah and his family. In addition, baptism confers the Spirit enabling us to cope with evil. Baptism is the seal of the new covenant made by the living God with each one of us and all of us together in his Son’s blood. “If God is for us, who can be against?” Only one question underlies it all: Do we really believe?
