B: 1st Sun in Lent (21 Feb 2021) - POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW (Gen 9:8-15)

A popular saying goes, “There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.” This expression may have been influenced by several tales on the origin of a rainbow. For example, there is an Irish legend that some leprechauns (i.e., supernatural dwarf-like creatures) hid golds beneath the ground where the rainbow ends. Of course, everybody knows this story to be fictional. Yet, even if it were true, the real problem is the location of the culmination of a rainbow. Scientifically, a rainbow does not have a definite terminal point since it is simply a reflection of light produced by the waterdrops in the air after a rainfall. Additionally, the vision of a rainbow varies from person to person, dependent on the perspective or horizon of the viewer.

The biblical text of Genesis 9 does not carry along the same mythical representation of a rainbow. Rather, it is a sign of God’s covenant with humankind. In concrete, God said to Noah after the Great Flood, “I set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth” (Gen 9:13). What this discourse tells us are three things concerning the biblical usage of the image of a rainbow, viz., it is from God (= Divine Power), it serves as a fixed sign (= Direct Prompting), and it functions as a lasting covenant (= Declaration of Peace).

Divine Power. The rainbow is initiated by God and his gift to humanity. He is the only one who can make this celestial entity since he has the sole power over anything, viz., rains, floods, earthly calamities, human catastrophes, and even supernatural forces. By his mere singular decision, the Great Flood ceded: “So God made a wind sweep over the earth, and the waters began to subside” (Gen 8:1). The rainbow that followed it is also his creation as he is the only one who could make it appear over the clouds (vv. 14-16). Incidentally, today’s gospel in the First Sunday of Lent affirms God’s power over all things, as he has dominion over temptations, Satan, and even wild beasts (cf. Mk 1:12-13). Nothing is impossible, hence, for him.

Direct Prompting. The rainbow is explained in the biblical narrative as a concrete reminder of the things that happened in the distant past. We read that the Flood began as a result of God’s anger over the “great wickedness of human beings… and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil” (Gen 6:5). While the rainbow is explicitly a sign of the conclusion of human collective punishment, we should not forget that it is equally a notice of the evil ways of mankind that can offend God. Appropriately, Jesus, in our gospel, calls for the radical atonement of everyone: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). Lent is the time to cleanse our hearts from sin.

Declaration of Peace. Many Old Testament scholars believe that the biblical tale of the origin of the rainbow was adopted from concurrent Ancient Near East myths that depict the end of wars as illustrated in the putting down of the bow. As nobody can shoot an arrow with the bow lying on the ground, this picture symbolizes an armistice between warring tribes. Similarly, by the so-called laying-down-of-the-bow in the allegory of the rainbow, God was sealing a pact of truce with his people, assuring them that he would destroy the world no more, promising: “there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth” (Gen. 9:11). The rainbow, hence, is a declaration of peace, which encourages us all to be tranquil amidst any form of suffering.

- Rex Fortes, CM