God’s Rainbow

The First Sunday in Lent

Today’s Readings: Gen. 9:8–15; Ps. 25; 1 Pet. 3:18–22; Mk. 1:12–15

There are times in life when the best approach to things is simply to start over. To a large extent, that’s exactly what this season of Lent is all about: we have a special chance to make a fresh start in our relationship with the Lord and with our neighbor. In fact, God himself shows us the way.

Our readings today start with the story of Noah. The human race wasn’t doing too well. Adam and Eve had been ousted from the Garden of Eden. Their son, Cain, murdered their other son, Abel. Cain’s great-great-great grandson, Lamech, also murdered a fellow for striking him. And as the Scriptures recount, human evil continued to multiply in many directions.

God decided that he had had enough. He saw that the wickedness of man was great. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them” (Gen. 6:6–7).

God’s plan was to start over. So he recruited Noah—who, by the way, was the son of the murderer, Lamech—to build the ark. We all know the story. Noah brought aboard his family and pairs of every kind of animal, and then God sent torrential rains for forty days and forty nights. The waters completely flooded the earth, wiping out every living creature. When the floodwaters subsided, it was a new beginning on earth. This is where today’s passage picks up. God promised that out of love for his people, never again would he send a flood to destroy all life. And as a covenant to seal and symbolize his promise, God put a rainbow in the sky.

The rainbow is an extraordinary symbol. In nature, it occurs when sunlight is refracted through water drops in the air. Like light passing through a prism, the white sunlight splits before our eyes into a spectrum of colors. In fact, the number of colors in a rainbow can’t even be counted. The infinite colors blend imperceptibly from one shade into the next: from the violets to the blues into the greens and yellows and oranges right through the reds.

What a wonderful representation of humankind! No matter how alike or different we may appear on the outside, the fact of the matter is, our race is pure variety. We are not clones. We differ in our physical traits, experiences, tastes, emotional make-up, and in countless other ways. But we are all some shade, some color, of light. And God loves us in all our variety.

One of the ironies of physics is that the sunlight that is the basis of a rainbow appears to be white. But science teaches us, of course, that sunlight is not white. Rather, it is made up of the whole gamut of colors that the eye can detect. This range of sunlight colors, when combined, just looks white to the eye.

What that means, of course, is that all of the diversity and variety in us is also in God—and in fact, originates with God. Jesus hints at this at the Last Supper when he tells the apostles: In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you (Jn 14:19–20).

It is a tremendous challenge for us mortals to comprehend and live in a world in which every person is different. The temptation is to like and associate with our own kind—the people we’re most comfortable with—and avoid or condemn or maybe even try to convert the rest. Jesus himself must have felt this kind of temptation. Don’t you think he would have preferred to be with people who loved him and appreciated him? Who wants to be laughed at, plotted against, bashed and crucified? Certainly not one who, except for sin, is exactly like us!

So we hear in the gospel that the Holy Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert—where he could be tempted by Satan, but also where he could get his bearings and fortify himself.

And that is precisely the way we should approach this holy season of Lent. That is how we can learn to make a fresh start in the Lord.

You probably remember that the three basic disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Today, let’s focus on prayer. I recommend some prayer of holy silence—just what you might experience in the desert. With the help of the Spirit, look inside yourself and see which people in God’s rainbow you have no love or even tolerance for. Can you overcome the temptation to hate or condemn? Can’t you find something lovable in them—even if it’s nothing more than to realize that God loves them and therefore I should, too? This might seem like a tiny step, but it isn’t. It is a major step! It is repentance. It is belief in the gospel. It is the very change of heart, the fulfillment, that Jesus commands today.

If you’re uncommitted, think back to the flood: all those dead people and creatures buried and rotting in the mud. Both Noah and God saw that this was not a pretty sight. Destruction and condemnation don’t lead to a better, happier world.

Instead, this Lent, remember the rainbow, and don’t be afraid to make a fresh start.