Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, the Gospel reading is about the Temptation of Jesus. Jesus was in the wilderness desert for 40 days. He fasted. He was tempted by Satan to prove that he was the Son of God in ways that would break his trust in God his Father. He was tempted to give up suffering and death in order to save himself. But of course, in doing so, he would not be the Savior of mankind. And so usually have a sermon on how we can imitate Jesus and resist temptation that would destroy our faith in God.

I was surprised to find that the Old Testament lesson for today was from Genesis Chapter 9. That is the story at the end of the Flood when God promises to Noah and to all creation that he would not destroy the world again by a flood. And as a sign of that Covenant Promise, God set the rainbow in the sky. Then God said, Genesis 9:16-17. "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."/P>

I was wondering why this story about Noah and the Flood should be chosen for today, the First Sunday in Lent. Maybe it is because it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, just like Jesus was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights (Mt.4:2). The connection was not about fasting, because Noah took plenty of food for all the animals on the ark (Gen.6:21). That leaves the theme of temptation. Who was tempted? First, Noah was. In the Bible, the word "tempt"often means "test." Noah was tested to see if he would carry out God's command. Surely the people around him jeered at him. He warned them of the pending doom, but they ignored him. Then there was the huge task of building such a huge floating ark and preparing the food and the animals. But through it all, Noah resisted the temptation to quit working and he finished building the ark. Then the rains came for 40 days. Then came the 150 days of floating aimlessly on the sea. But Noah did not give in the temptation of despair.

In contrast to Noah who was a "righteous man, blameless among the people of his time and walked with God," (Gen.6:9), there were the millions of people on earth who gave in to temptation.

Genesis 6:5-8 tells it this way.

The Lord God saw the wickedness of the earth. So he decided to destroy the world and start over with Noah and his family. God loved his world that he had created. And so it grieved him, it pained his heart that it was so evil. And I am sure that it pained the heart of God to destroy the world, too. It was so painful that he promised never to do it again. God made a solemn promise, a covenant never to destroy the world again by a flood. And the rainbow was the sign of the covenant. The rainbow is like his signature, his official stamp. It was necessary to have a sign or signature on for this contract with creation. Because you see, I think that God has been tempted many times to destroy the world again and again and again. If God had not made that promise then I think he would have destroyed the world again. He has threatened and has made local cleansings. There is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah which were destroyed because of their wickedness. After the Exodus from Egypt, God threatened to destroy the unfaithful Israelites in the wilderness, but Moses reminded God of his promise. 500 years later, God did destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel when they turned to idols. He destroyed the city of Jerusalem for its unfaithfulness. God should have destroyed the whole world because of sin. I am sure the world after the flood soon became as sinful as before the flood. It is just as sinful today, too. Humanly speaking, I am sure God has been tempted to destroy the world many times.

But God did not forget his promise. Rather than destroying the world, he sent a Savior. This time it was not with an ark like at the time of Noah. It was with Jesus who on the cross was drowned in the sin of the world. We too are drowned in the water of Baptism. But because we die with Jesus, we rise with Jesus. We are cleansed in the water of Baptism. The Cross is our Ark. The Cross is our salvation in the time of temptation and sin and death.

We have times of temptation. We have times that test our faith in God. We wonder about God's love. We wonder if God will really forgive us. We wonder if we will go to heaven. We wonder if God will give us strength and health and love. However, we never need to wonder about the promise of God. God gave us wonderful signs of his promise. He gave the sign of the rainbow, the sign of the cross, the sign of the empty tomb, and the sign of the cross on our foreheads when we were baptized. And so Baptism becomes a flood to save us. And those whom we love are also on the Ark of God's love, mercy, and salvation.

Amen.

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