Sign of the covenant

In today’s first reading (Genesis 9:1-13) we hear of God’s covenant with Noah after the Flood. Some things remain the same from God’s words to man at creation:

Be fertile, then, and multiply;
abound on earth and subdue it.

Some things appear different: an explicit reference to the eating of meat (while excluding the eating of blood) and to the death penalty (whereas Cain’s life had been protected from retaliation).

Then there is the sign of the covenant:

This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth.

It is a significant moment in salvation history – the long relationship between God and his people – foreshadowing the covenant in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that will continue beyond all the ages of this world:

He is the image of the invisible God,
the first-born of all creation;
for in him all things were created,
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or principalities or authorities
-- all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead,
that in everything he might be pre-eminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of his cross.
(Colossians 1:15-20)

The cross is our rainbow: the great sign of what God has done to establish forever an everlasting covenant of love with his faithful people. Indeed, it is more than a sign, for it is by the blood of his cross that Christ has brought salvation and the peace beyond all understanding.

The rainbow in the sky gives us hope and delight at the passing of storms.

May we always look to the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in all of the storms of our life, for in the cross is the infinite power of God’s eternal love and almighty salvation.