The story of Noah and the great flood is a wonderful teaching tool that Jesus used for today’s lesson from Matthew.  In the Noah story only Noah was faithful to God’s desire for him.  The world of people had become corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.  The earth was flooded with violence, and only Noah and his family were left behind to begin again.  In the parable of Noah God asked him to take his family and a pair of every animal and plant.  Then God sent the waters to wash and purify his creation.  God swept up, carried away and removed the violent, sinful culture that began with the building of the first city and continued through the tower of Babel.

So Jesus uses the example of Noah to illustrate the coming of the Son of Man.  Saying that the Son of Man has come to take, to sweep away all that is opposed to God’s will and to leave behind the faithful, forgiven and in peace.

As at the time of Jesus’ arrest trial and crucifixion the world got caught up and swept away by a rising tide of violence that ended in the killing of God’s son.  Jesus remained faithful like Noah and was left behind or resurrected to triumph over the chaos and violence and be resurrected to ever lasting life.

In Jesus’ life from beginning to end he did not get caught up in the world’s sin.  He resisted the temptation of Satan in the wilderness.  He wouldn’t get caught up in the Jews petty arguments about the law.  Jesus was the innocent victim of the world’s sin, who in the ark of the tomb remained steadfast and faithful.  As those who have been washed in baptism we are also called to follow in the footsteps of his faithfulness.

We are Jesus people who because we are baptized have died and risen with him so that we will also be left behind, we won’t get caught up in the next rising tide of chaos and violence.  We are those who like Jesus resist joining in the ways of the world.  Living in faith of Jesus we do not get carried away.

Being left behind and not getting swept away is a very good thing and it is a gift from our Lord.  He never permitted himself to go along with the crowd or to conform to what was expected of him.  He remained faithful to his Father’s will and to his mission.  That wasn’t easy for him and it is not easy for us in our following.  It is always tempting to go along and to not make waves so that we will be accepted by others.  That kind of conformity is what the scriptures mean by getting swept up in imitating others and washed away. 

This is illustrated by the gospel story when after Jesus was arrested Peter wanted to fit in with the crowd gathered around the fire in the courtyard of the High Priest’s house.  He desperately wanted to get absorbed by the crowd and so he denied being a Galilean, he denied being with Jesus and finally he denied knowing Jesus, and so he got swept into the crowd and Jesus got left behind.

It is easy to get caught up and swept along.  But the empty tomb of Jesus is a promise to us.  Since Jesus has shown us and promised us that we can more than survive, we are able in faith to resist getting taken up in the flood waters. 

We wait for the day when the gospel message about Jesus transforms human life into the joy of Christ’s reign of peace.  The resurrection already shows us how God will finally win the day by forgiving us and making us anew.  So we look forward today to the Christ of Christmas.  We look to the wonderful counselor; the prince of peace that one day will come to bring us a new heaven and a new earth.

It is amazing how seeing the world through Jesus’ eyes changes the ordinariness of life into a perpetual flutter of hope. It lightens the darkness. It breaks apart the chains of sin and death with a lively life that leaps for joy. For it knows that the ordinariness with which we are surrounded every day is not the last word.  Into it and around it and through it there is a God who has transformed this ordinariness into an unexpected extraordinariness. The child who will be God’s means of changing the world is at hand! God asks us to be living birth announcements of this child, through whom God is bringing a totally new thing to pass upon the face of the earth! “Keep watch!” Wait and see what God has done will do and is doing!

 

1.  What is Jesus trying to show us by using the story of Noah which is basically a story of wiping everything out except a remnant and starting over?

2.  How does living in the faith of Christ make it possible for us to live already in Jesus’ new kingdom?

3.  How can we use these next few weeks before Christmas to think about what God coming into the world at Christmas means for our lives?