1 Peter 3:20-22
May 21, 2017
Easter 6A
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus~
As a parent, you always have regrets of some kind or another. You can always look back at how you raised your children and think, “I should have handled that differently,” or “What was I
What was I thinking? I placed into my children’s little hands a toy that commemorated the deadliest event in all of human history. With that Noah’s ark play set I gave my children hours of fun and enjoyment based on the most catastrophic, cataclysmic act of divine wrath that has ever been leveled against the inhabitants of planet earth. To make a children’s play-toy out of Noah’s ark is to rip the ark right out of its true, Biblical context. For unless this Noah’s ark play set included bloated corpses and terrified sinners clinging to the sides of the ark like barnacles as the waters rose to swallow them, then this toy is only telling half the story. At best this is a toy that’s in bad taste, and at worst it ranks right up there with a playmobile set commemorating the holocaust or a toy tsunami simulator. Not even Toys-R-Us would have the audacity to sell something like that.
Children and Noah’s ark came to mind because of today’s epistle reading. There St. Peter was writing to children—well, to children in the faith, that is—newborn babies who had just recently been born again in the waters of Holy Baptism. They were converts—mere infants in the faith, just beginning to learn the basic, elementary teachings of Christianity. And among the many things that Peter laid out for them in this letter, we learn today that Peter wanted to set these children straight concerning both Noah’s ark and the meaning of their baptism—two watery events with two wet messages.
Peter first uses Noah’s ark to teach these new Christians a thing or two about God’s patience. He points them to God’s patience in the days of Noah. Do you remember from Genesis just how bad things were? There it says, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. It’s hard for us to imagine just how bad things must have been—to envision a time when humankind was engaged continuously, exclusively in wickedness and evil. The only exception was Noah, who found favor with God—not because of his perfect church attendance or his sin-free lifestyle—but through faith.
It was because of that faith that Noah built the ark at God’s command. And that ark is, first and foremost, a demonstration of God’s great patience. We don’t know exactly how long it took to build the ark. What we do know is that Noah had around 500 candles on his birthday cake when his three sons were born, and that he was six hundred years old when the flood finally came. It’s likely that for decades Noah was building the ark. And you don’t build an ark in your backyard privately. To build an ark is to make a public profession. As that ark was being built, it proclaimed a message of watery judgment to come—of the need to repent and turn. That ark was a sermon not of words, but of gopher wood. And as it came together, cubit after cubit, it called everyone who saw it to turn from their sin and flee to the grace of God—or face a terrible day of judgment.
Both baby Christians and veterans of the faith can learn from this that God is patient—that He desires not the death of sinners but that they turn from their sin and live—that He wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. But the ark also teaches us that God says what He means, and He means what He says. His threats and His warnings should not be taken casually. Do not presume upon His patience. Do not mistake His patience for the permission to go on sinning casually and carelessly. Planned repentance is not repentance. The ark teaches us that there will come a day of reckoning—a day of colossal, cataclysmic, catastrophic reckoning. And know this: God’s wrath against sin in the flood—this watery judgment—is but a preview of the Final Judgment, when the earth and the heavens will be destroyed not by water, but by fire—and when all the unbelievers will be punished, while the believers will join Noah and all the righteous in their heavenly home.
But just as the flood reveals God’s wrath against sin, the ark also reveals God’s love for humanity. Noah’s ark is not only a story of judgment, but also of salvation—not only of Law, but also of Gospel. The ark, like the cross, shows just how much God loves His children and how deeply He desires to save them. This is the second main point Peter makes in today’s text: It was in the ark “in which a few, that is, eight persons were brought safely through water.” The ark proclaims—simultaneously—a tale of death and destruction, and of life and deliverance.
Several years ago my family attended a theatrical production of Noah’s Ark at the Sight and Sound Theater in Branson, Missouri. And it was quite a production. The closing scene of the first act was terrifying. On stage, inside the ark, were Noah and his family. And as soon as God closed the door of the ark, the sounds of rain and thunder and rushing waters were heard. And those sounds were quickly followed by the terrifying screams of those outside the ark, those being swept away, those who had rejected God’s gracious offer of deliverance. And then there was only darkness and silence. But as the second act opened, there was light and life all around. The entire theater had been transformed into the interior of the ark. Everywhere you looked were living creatures, great and small, bathed in light—a floating zoo delivered from destruction by a gracious and loving God.
Most importantly, there were eight people on board that ark: Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives too. The same water that had drowned a sinful and evil world, that same water lifted up the ark to preserve faithful Noah and his family. The same water that killed and destroyed—that same water brought life and deliverance to eight people. And here’s the good news that Peter wanted to convey to his readers about the baptism they had recently undergone: Just as eight people were saved by water in the ark, “baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you.”
Baptism now saves you. Peter writes that baptism saves you “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God.” Baptism now saves you because baptism now unites you with Jesus. All that Jesus accomplished in love for you—His suffering for your sins—His crucifixion and resurrection—your baptism applies that power to you personally. Your baptism cleanses you with Christ—His righteousness, His innocence, and His blessedness. Your baptism drowned and washed away all that is sinful and evil in you, while preserving you high and dry and safe and secure in the holy ark of the holy church—until that day when you reach the safe harbor of heaven. Your baptism placed you safely inside the ark with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Noah’s ark was pretty impressive, you have to admit. You can travel down to the Creation Museum in Kentucky to experience a real life replica of what the ark was like. How did eight people manage and feed and care for such a wide array of living creatures? But that ark was nothing compared to this ark. For this is Jesus’ ark—the place where the water of your baptism washes you clean and bears you up each day, living in the grace and forgiveness of God, confessing your sins and enjoying a good conscience. Here in Jesus’ Ark the Lord feeds and cares for a great multitude of people that cannot be numbered.
Noah’s ark is long gone. Lots of people have looked for it. Lots of people have claimed to have found what remains of it. And you smart-alecks from Wisconsin always like to tell people that “Noah’s ark” is located two hours west of here in the Dells. But don’t waste your time with Noah’s ark. Baptismal waters have given you a new birth into the ark of Jesus, which is the church of Jesus. It doesn’t take much imagination to sit where you are right now and to envision that you are sitting below deck in a great ark. You’re sitting in that part of the building we call the “nave,” which comes from the Latin word for “boat.” You are surrounded by death and destruction; but here in the ark of Jesus you are safe and secure. Because Jesus lives, you shall live also. Here you live on every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord, and here you dine on the bread that is His body and the wine that is His blood. Here Jesus gives you His resurrection life in the flood of water that flows from this font.
This ark of Jesus—the one, holy, Christian, and apostolic church—it will endure forever. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. What unites you with Noah, and with believers of every age, is faith in Jesus, the Son of God. He suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God in this holy ark. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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