2407AFC021624 – How do we know?
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Genesis 9:11, 15 – 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 15 “I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
Psalm 25:4-5 (GNT) [1] –
4 Teach me your ways, O Lord;
make them known to me.
5 Teach me to live according to your truth,
for you are my God, who saves me.
I always trust in you.
1 Peter 3:18-19 – 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison [2]
Mark 1:12-15 – The Temptation of Jesus 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Belovéd, the Time has finally come. The season of Lent is upon us! In Cycle B, the Gospel readings are – for the most part – from the Gospel of Mark. You may recall that this Gospel is the oldest, and the one from which the Apostle Matthew and his followers borrowed, but then expanded upon, a good deal of material (without plagiarism). I really hope you read the above Scripture passages attentively because today we are going to hear several familiar themes, and probably a few definitions, too. Let’s begin with the word Covenant.
Last week we said:
God gave us himself In The Beginning – “I will be your God and you will be my people.” God gave us a Covenant – and exchange between persons – before he gave us Commandments. God formed and hallowed a Relationship before he gave us any rules about living that Relationship. God made us to be Eternal Beings like him (Yup. YOLO-F) and God made us to be wholly Holy like him as in Leviticus 19:2 – 2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Why would he do that to us? Why would he expect us to be Holy when it is clear we are sinners? So, Belovéd, how does a covenant work?
A covenant is an agreement between two (or more) persons. It is not a contract because 
in a contract, the establishment sets the requirements and rules and measures the workers’ compliance. The workers agree to adhere to the stipulations of the contract. In biblical terms, a covenant is a shared agreement between God and his chosen creations, namely, those who solemnly promise through their sworn oath to live according to the qualifications set by God. God sets forth promises regarding his future actions. He spells out the terms of those promises and the rewards (whether positive or negative) for compliance. The terms of a covenant between God and his chosen ones require a commitment of one’s life to the Covenant Maker. The Covenant Maker gives a Symbolon, an equal and equitable sharing in the benefits of the Covenant. The Symbolon was originally a physical object like a coin, a parchment or a token which was split in half and carried by each member of an agreement as a form of identification. Both participants agree to keep their part of the covenant, and can confirm their right using the Symbolon. Our Creed is the Symbolon for Christians.
The sacrifice is sealed in blood as part of the covenant holder’s redemption in faith – a full 
acceptance of the covenant. I’ll take a quote from Fr. Mike Schmitz here: “At the heart of religion is worship, and the heart of worship is sacrifice.” God promises to give us his Life in exchange for our lives. In the covenant set with Noah, God promised the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. Once was enough because enough was completely effective! On Noah’s part, the Symbolon of the covenant was the sacred sacrifice of the conserved animals. On God’s part, it was the rainbow. (Incidentally, folks, God wants his rainbow back and used for what he intended it!) what we really need is a source of learning about this covenant. That’s why we turn to the B.I.B.L.E., the teaching of God in his Church, and the traditions handed down to us by the Apostles.
God’s steadfast love (that means Mercy) is always available. (Remember Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation?) Because that is true, the Psalmist’s words are also true: Teach me your ways, (↔ Music Link) Lord; make them known to me. Teach me to live according to your truth, for you are my God, who saves me. I always trust in you. That is F.A.I.T.H. in action! I remember the first time I actually listened to that passage. I was trying to figure out how to answer that perennial question, “What does God want?” Well, surprisingly he wants us; even as messed up and broken as we are, he wants us, and he wants to repair the damage we’ve done to ourselves so we can be more like him. Like the guy said, “Go figure.” That also applies to Noah and the Ark. How long did it take to build that thing anyway?
We know for one thing that it was a big enough project that it had to wait until Noah’s three sons (Shem, Japheth, and Ham) were old enough to marry. Shem was born when Noah was 500 years old (really!) In all the reading I could dig up, the best estimate is around 75 years to build that, get the animals and food on board, and gather together Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives. There is no mention of Noah having daughters, and I have no idea how a five-hundred-year-old man could generate progeny. Those folks back in the book of Genesis had some amazing genes! Still, if it took 75 years ± a few, you’d think other people would notice. Apparently, everyone was just ignoring “that crazy old man and his whole tribe of loonies.” The whole story is available in Genesis 5-11. When I reflect on that long span of information there are a few things that stick with me every time:
First: it was a long time coming. In Genesis 5, we have a list of 10 generations between Adam and Noah. Second: there was plenty of warning before the beginning of the deluge,
and only 8 people acted on those warnings. Third, it did not just “rain cats and dogs” (they were in the Ark 😉). You know the story – it rained HARD for 40 days and nights, and “all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened” so that the Earth was covered in water. Check out Genesis 7:11–24 – especially verse 16 – for a description of this. This was really – and literally – over the top. Every tall mountain was covered to a depth of 15 cubits (close to 23 ft or 7 m). It rained so hard that it took 110 days for it to run off and expose land. Fourth, after the total of 150 days, the covenant was fulfilled and remains in place to this very day. We know this because in many areas of the Earth, there are geologic layers that separate pre- and post-flood life. (See this link for an interesting look into this idea.) Fifth, and most surprising, God shut the door to the Ark after all he commanded to be preserved was onboard. Then everything that had breath in its nostrils outside the Ark died. That was God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan. There’s more!
The evil earthlings of the prior Earth were all dead, and some among them, we can suppose, might have not been entirely evil, and perhaps were only slightly less righteous than Noah. Then – after many more generations and a few other covenants – there finally came the Perfect Covenant, Jesus. You probably can recount many episodes of his life, his ministry, and his Passion. But after the Passion, what came to be?
Jesus joined the dead. He went to Sheol – Hell, Hades, the Abode of the Dead. How do 
we know? John 5:25-29 – 25 “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; 27 and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 1 Peter 3:18-19 – 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison. 1 Peter 4:6 – 6 For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.
How do we know? The B.I.B.L.E. tells us so! (↔ Music Link) As we go through this Lenten Season, we will travel with the Lord on his way to Jerusalem. There’s a link at the top of this post that tells you the route we will take. All along the way we will be encouraged to use the M.A.P. (Follow this link) – your Measure of Actual Progress. We will think about the Three Pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; maybe not in that order and possibly more than once depending on what the Holy Spirit says about Living Lent. (←This is a really cool link!)
So, that’s how we know – Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and around 2000 years of the Teaching in both of those. We need all three in order to arrive at a stable and balanced knowledge and understanding of how God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan includes and affects – perhaps effects as well – every living soul with his breath in their nostrils. Next time, though, it will not be water but fire that cleans up our mess. Get ready for that! It might be closer than you think. YOLO-F!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible
[2] This short online article (↔ Click Link) at the Catholic Answers website give some additional information on the phrase in the Apostles Creed, “He descended into Hell.” See also CCC §631-637 (Follow this link)
