We tell the Noah story to children as if it is about happy animals two by two, all being rescued in the midst of a terrible flood. We hardly ever mention all the people dying in the flood, but when we do we make it sound as if it was because of their wickedness, or at least their negligence. But none of these people in all the earth were ever going to be saved. God promised to preserve only one family, Noah and his wife, his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japeth, and their wives, eight people in all (Genesis 6:18).

We read that after the flood was over, “the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth’ ” (8:21). This is the same insight that God had before the flood: “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5). So as far as changing people for the better, nothing had happened. Noah, the righteous man who found favor with God, got himself drunk, passed out naked in his tent, and cursed his grandson Canaan, in order to get back at his son Ham for embarrassing him (9:20-27).

The story of Noah serves as a parable to show us that the wipe-it-all-away-and-start-over strategy doesn’t actually work. Why not? Because even after blotting out all the sinners in the rest of the world, the people on the ark were still sinners. We want to think that if God just got rid of all the evil people out there, then everything would be fine for us and our family. But it probably wouldn’t be our family that got rescued: we’d be among those destroyed like everyone else. And even if we were the chosen family, we’d still be the same self-centered and self-righteous people when we got off the boat.

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(In one of his parables, Jesus says “the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ” (Luke 18:13). Do we think the heart of the Bible’s message is about condemnation of the wicked, or about mercy for the sinners?

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Teach us, Lord, to turn away from our sins in repentance, and to turn toward you, trusting in your grace. Help us recognize that in all the world we share one common life, in covenant with each other. Just as much as my neighbor, just as much as my enemy, I am a sinner in need of redemption.

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