Proper 4A

This morning our first lesson takes us to a story we learn from childhood, one that seems on the surface cute and quaint (even the subject of a Bill Cosby routine) until we delve into the underlying theological issues. There we must struggle with questions about God’s goodness and subsequent wrath that is so great that God decides to destroy the world as people knew it at the time. How can this seemingly good God destroy what God alone has created? One then has to think about what was going on in the history of the Israelites (namely, the Exile) when the story was written to understand why such a story would make any sense. It comes from a genre of stories, called etiological stories that strive to explain some of life’s mysteries — the origins and sources of things — in readily comprehensible terms, an oxymoron. Nonetheless, this story attempts to deal with suffering, sin, punishment, redemption and the fact that this unchanging God changed his mind.
Sometimes it takes hearing a too-familiar story from a different perspective to gain a new understanding. Rabbi Marc Gellman with humour gently retells the Genesis story of the flood, ‘Noah’s Friends,’ in his book, Does God Have a Big Toe? Stories about Stories in the Bible. Listen to this retelling and think about which person or perhaps which persons you are in the story, and their response to what is happening.

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Like most people, Noah ignored bad news. For example, when God told Noah that only his family would be saved from the big flood, Noah figured, “God is very busy. Maybe the rest of the passenger list is in the mail. After all, this ark God wants me to build is huge. I’m sure there will be more than enough room for all my friends.”

Later on, when God told Noah to take pairs of all the animals into the ark, Noah understood right then that there would be no room for his friends.

Noah didn’t have the heart to come right out and tell his friends. But he did try to tell them in a roundabout way. He said to his pal, Jabal, “You know Jabal, this might be a very good time for you to take those swimming lessons you have been talking about for so long.”

And to his friend Jehaz, “Jehaz, ol’ buddy, take my advice and move your house to the top of that very high mountain. The view is great over there, and it’s much cooler in the summertime.” But Noah just could not bear to come right out and tell his friends about the flood.

Noah’s friends didn’t pay much attention to his advice. But they became very curious about the huge pile of wood in Noah’s front yard. Noah told them it was just a statue. And even after the thing really looked like a boat, he said it was just a statue of a boat.

Noah’s friends thought he was nuts. But then they thought that Noah was nuts even before he started building the ark.

Then the animals started to arrive. Noah still could not tell his friends the truth. So he said the animals were just there to pull the boat to the sea. But his friends did not believe him.

“Chipmunks?” asked one.

“Rabbits?” asked another. And they shook their heads.

On the day the rains began, the animals all ran into the ark. The water began to cover the ground. And Noah’s friends all ran to the ark, banged on the door, and called up to Noah, who was peeping over the side of the ark: “Hey, Noah, you rat, let us in! We’re your friends! You can’t float off and leave us here to drown. Save us, Noah! Save us!”

Noah looked down with tears in his eyes and said, “I didn’t pick me. God picked me. What can I do?”

Noah’s friends Jehaz and Jabal came to the ark dressed in a zebra suit. They demanded to be let in. Noah knew it was them. They were too lumpy to be a zebra. “Let us — I mean, let me in,” they said. “You forgot me when you gathered in all the animals. I am a Jehaz — I mean — a zebra.” Noah looked down on his friends and spoke through his tears.

“My dear friends, I don’t know how I can live without you. The world was not this bad when God gave it to us. I don’t know why God is saving me. Maybe God needs somebody to tell the story of how we messed up the world. Maybe God wants some of the old life to grow up in a new clean place. Honestly, I don’t know. All I know is that I didn’t pick me. God picked me. I will remember you always. And I will tell the story of how to live in the right way. The story we were all told by God and by our parents but that we forgot. Maybe my children’s children will learn the story. And then maybe the world will not turn bad again. And then nobody will ever have to say good-bye to his friends again. I love you. I am sorry for you, sorry for the animals, sorry for me, and sorry for God.”

Then the great rains came and flooded all the earth.

Some say it was just rain, but others say that it was God’s tears. (1)

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How would you tell the story of how we messed up the world? How would you tell the story of how to live in the right way? How would you tell the story of God’s tears? Think about it… and then start sharing in words true to you.

END NOTE
(1) NY, NY: HarperCollins, 1989, 31-33.

[photo from the web of Palermo]