In today’s First Reading the Lord looks upon his creation and sees that it is almost completely polluted by sin. It renders his creation so ugly that he wonders if it would have been better to not have created it at all. Sin is like pollution and toxic waste; it seems containable at first, but with neglect it grows to such proportions that it becomes more of a question of containment than eradication. Yet it started small.
The Lord decides that it is easier to contain the last unstained elements of his creation in order to protect them and start anew. The Ark is to protect them from the evil that has overcome the land. However, he does not just seek containment; like a car wash at a gas station, it’s windows up and closed while the Lord washes away the muck of sin. The flood is considered a pre-configuration of Baptism; just as the flood washed away the sin and its pollution from the earth, Baptism washes away all the filth in us due to Original Sin and our own sins.
We were born into a polluted world. Our Lord has the remedy. Once we’ve cleansed ourselves through his grace, let’s keep it clean.
Readings: Genesis 6:5–8, 7:1–5, 10; Psalm 29:1a, 2, 3ac, 9c–10; Mark 8:14–21.
