Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to remember the love and kindness, the grace and mercy which God has generously given to us all throughout history, by saving us from certain death and sparing the righteous ones amongst us from destruction. He also provided us all with the means to seek Him and His forgiveness, His mercy and compassion above all else. That He has done all these for our sake proved to us beyond any doubt that we are truly beloved and precious to God, and if we come to seek Him and His mercy, God will surely welcome us all most joyfully, leading us away from the precipice of darkness and destruction into a new life filled with His love and grace.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis in which the Lord ended the Great Flood that He had sent into the world at the time of Noah, allowing him and his family, and all the animals taking shelter in his Ark to gain reprieve from the Flood. Noah obeyed God’s commands and built the Ark over a period of many decades, providing the means by which to survive the great catastrophe sent by the Lord to cleanse the whole world from all the wickedness due to the sins which had come about from the children of Cain and other mankind, who had been totally bereft of good conduct and moral, and which had led to the corruption of the whole world. God truly loved all of His people, as He had created us all out of love, and yet, at the same time, He also despised the sins and the corruption of evil that we have allowed ourselves to be corrupted with.

And that was why the Great Flood happened at that time, because in all the whole world, there was no longer any good or virtue among all of mankind, save that which was found in Noah and his family. That was why God chose Noah and his family to save them all from the cleansing Flood that He would send into the world. He did not wish for the righteous to share in the fate of the wicked, those who have consistently and constantly refused to listen to Him and follow His path. He guided and protected them through that storm and flood, which lasted for a whole period of over a year, including the period of rain and when the flood covered the whole world. And we heard in today’s first reading of the account of the time when the Flood finally receded and all the occupants of the Ark could finally walk on the dry land safely once again.

After the Flood, as we heard from the Book of Genesis, Noah made an offering to God on the Altar at Mount Ararat where the Ark landed at, making a Covenant with God between Him and his descendants. God made a solemn vow and promise not to destroy mankind again with the Great Flood, after that Flood had cleansed away the whole world and wiped out all those who were wicked and evil, sparing only Noah and his immediate family. The rainbow, which usually appears after the rain as mentioned, is a reminder of God’s promise to man, that He would remember not to send another world destroying Flood again, a reminder that ultimately, we are all beloved and dear, precious and important to God. Nonetheless, this does not mean that we can then act and live with impunity, disobeying God’s commandments and Law, as it was our wickedness and sins that led to the Great Flood in the first place.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus performed a miracle at the town of Bethsaida where a blind man was, and we heard how the Lord made the blind man to be able to see again. He healed the man from his affliction, and showed the love that God has always had for each and every one of us, His desire to be reconciled and reunited with all of us. At the same time, He also showed His power and might, His authority over all things, over life and death, diseases and all, in opening the eyes of the blind, something that no one even up to today can truly do, as even there is something that our medicine and technology can do, showing the limit of our human intelligence or power, which were ultimately derived from the power of God.

No one for example could bring anyone back from death into life, as this is something that the Lord alone can do, and He Himself has shown this on several occasions, with the dead daughter of the synagogue official Jairus, with the dead son of the widow of Nain, and with His own deceased good friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. With the Great Flood and the Covenant that God had made with Noah afterwards, the Lord wanted to show and remind us all that He alone is the Lord and Master over all things, over life and death, and over our whole lives, our fates and existence. Therefore, it is important that we remind ourselves of how small, insignificant and weak we are, despite our many achievements, glory, fame and all the other things that we often boasted about in our lives.

At the same time, we are reminded of how fortunate we are that God, Who is our Lord and Master, great beyond our imagination, is also our loving Father, Who is always ever concerned about us, seeking to be reconciled and reunited with us, ever being patient in leading and guiding us all towards His eternal Kingdom and the salvation which He has repeatedly promised and reassured us. He has given us so many opportunities and paths for us to reach Him, and it is indeed sad to see how many people spurned these opportunities and chances that the Lord has generously provided to them, preferring instead to remain in the state of corruption, in wickedness, darkness and sin. Many among us had fallen into the temptations of worldly pleasures and desires, all of which had distracted us from God and His love, and from everything that He had done for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to do our best in living our lives in each and every moments most faithfully and strive to be righteous, worthy and good in our every words, actions and deeds so that we may truly be worthy to be called as Christians, as God’s own beloved and holy people. May the Lord bless us in our every good works and endeavours, in our every efforts so that by His blessings and guidance, we may continue to grow ever stronger in our love, faith and dedication to God, and be ever closer to the eternal kingdom of glory, everlasting life and true happiness that God Himself has promised us, distancing ourselves from the taint and corruption of sin that can lead us astray into our downfall and destruction. May God be with us always in our respective journeys. Amen.