Abstract
Covenant
Covenant is a foundational theme in the scriptures. One need only think of how the Bible is divided between the ‘old covenant’ and the ‘new covenant’. In the broad sweep of biblical narratives there are several distinct covenants; some historical, some primordial. In the ancient world covenants were solemn agreements between two parties, often between kings and kingdoms. There were obligations to keep on both sides. However, in the covenant between God and representative human beings, the agreement was not between equals. God gracefully initiated the covenant relationship with chosen souls who were thereafter partners in love and faithfulness. Tragically, humans were often fickle partners and it was not until Jesus that humanity found a representative faithful to the covenantal calling. In the anointed One, love responded to love from the heart of humanity.
To return to the biblical timeline, the more familiar covenants are those of God with Abraham and between God and Israel. Both illustrate particularity and universalism. God chose a specific individual, Abraham, so that he would ‘be ancestor of a multitude of nations’ (Genesis 17:5). This point is developed by Paul in his revolutionary claim that the gentiles, outsiders and ‘ungodly’, are included in God’s covenant love. (Romans 4:5). The Mosaic covenant was equally specific. It was a relationship established with Israel at the time of Exodus; but prophetic souls insisted the covenant must not be inward looking; rather, Israel was to become a light for all nations. Isaiah 2:3 reads: ‘many people shall say come let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, he will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths’. This point was not always taken by the zealous; in fact, it was a recurring point of contention between the prophets and priests, between radicals and conservatives, between Jesus and the pious of his day.
Today’s lesson draws our attention to God’s covenant with Noah. If divine generosity is the core value in the covenant relationships, then the cosmic covenant may be considered the ‘bonniest of them all’. Here the generous love of God extends to the whole world; not merely to humans but to every creature and to creation itself. This covenant is both primordial and eschatological. The dove, a symbol of the Spirit, points both backwards and forwards. The Spirit that ‘hovered’ over the chaos at creation would one day symbolise the Spirit’s presence and power at the baptism and commissioning of Jesus.
The Irish theologian, James P. Mackey, sees this covenant with Noah as a recapitulation of the covenant of creation. God, who brought form out of the void at creation, brings land out of the watery chaos; and the call to Noah repeats that to Adam and Eve: ‘be fruitful and multiply’. God seemingly passive, or powerless, has let the whole world come to the brink of destruction; but now, grace comes to the rescue. God saves Noah and his family and a pair of every living species. Divine providence, cosmic and personal in range and depth, will bring the universe through all travail to the final peace and fulfilment in God.
This cosmic covenant has been neglected in the history of covenant theology. Only in the twentieth century did it find a place in creation-centred spirituality. Happily, this interest continues. The specifics of this covenant, however, are not without ambiguity. On the one hand, it is a covenant of total grace. God stipulates no obligations on the human side as a condition of his promises being honoured. In this respect, it resembles the ‘new’ covenant that Jesus, the great high priest of humanity, would inaugurate and fulfil. But, somewhat alarmingly, this covenant derogates from the ideals of Eden. There the animals were safe from human harm; but here every living thing shall be food for Noah and ‘his sons’. Alas! ‘The sighing of the creatures begins!’ There has been a paradigm shift from paradise to earthly existence, with its attendant woes.
But in this new earthly habitat there are practical spiritual benefits. God’s covenant grace comes to human beings in their real human predicaments. Neither they nor creation will be abandoned by God; suffering and death will remain; but the presence of God will prevail in and through all ills. The rainbow in the clouds speaks of ‘God with us’. Life will not be without clouds, but life will not be without sustaining grace and the nurture of love. Human relationships are to be free from fratricide and there is no sanction of judicial murder. It is to God that account for the taking of human life must be given. Interestingly, in the Bible the word translated ‘bow’, keseth, refers to a bow for shooting arrows, though sometimes it is used metaphorically for strength and power. Perhaps there is double imagery intended! God has hung up his war-bow in the clouds to re-assure mortals that he has as it were made peace with humankind. God’s anger is consigned to the dust bin of history.
This cosmic covenant is indeed rich in suggestions for faith and life. It recapitulates themes from the creation myth; it affirms a providential, graceful, ordering of life; it addresses the exigencies of human existence, though what of the vulnerabilities of the animals, birds, etc?; it prepares the way for a more complete revelation to come.
On this first Sunday in Lent our hope is quickened through the hearing of the gospel. The baptism of Jesus with his commissioning is a prelude to a new covenant. The ancient symbols and motifs recur: the dove of presence and peace, the dark side of creation represented in the wilderness experience, the Kingdom of God is at hand, eschatological fulfilment has arrived. This Lenten season the theme of ‘covenant’ merits contemplation. Covenant thinking is realistic about the wilderness experiences that becloud our lives; but it also lifts our eyes to behold the rainbow. Peter reminds the Church that the grace that saved Noah prefigures the grace of baptism. (1 Peter 3:18) Like the covenants of old, baptism is a particular blessing with a universal horizon: ‘there is one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all’. (Ephesians 4:5). Lent is an invitation to gladly embrace the graceful covenant that Jesus brings forth to the world, as old as the hills and as new as the dawn. To be ‘in Christ’ is to embrace the world as it is, to the benefit of creation and for the glory of God. Some strands in Christian spirituality deepen the covenant relationship with Christ into one of mystical solidarity. To be in Christ is to be in the world; to be in the world is to be in Christ.