Noah and the flood is a major story, not only in the Old and New Testament, but  also in our liturgy and our summaries of faith. Jesus says you have to understand the times of Noah to understand his times. (Matthew 24:37) To understand baptism, you have to appreciate the story of Noah and the flood, the Letter of Peter says. ( 1 Peter 3:20)

The patristic tradition is filled with commentaries on the story of Noah. He’s an image of Jesus, the Savior. He’s the new Adam, who brings humanity to the safety of a new creation. The wood of the ark prefigures the saving wood of the cross. The ark is a symbol of the church. Are those who enter the arch the righteous, or are sinners part of the church as well? The waters of the flood, are they waters that destroy, or are they waters than bring new life?

Noah and the ark is one of the most popular images in the catacombs. The story elicits questions  about death and life through the simplest symbols. 

At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark,
and he sent out a raven,
to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.
It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.
Then he sent out a dove,
to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.
But the dove could find no place to alight and perch,
and it returned to him in the ark,
for there was water all over the earth.
Putting out his hand, he caught the dove
and drew it back to him inside the ark.
He waited seven days more and again sent the dove out from the ark.
In the evening the dove came back to him,
and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf!
So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth.
He waited still another seven days
and then released the dove once more;
and this time it did not come back. (Genesis 8:6-14)

Noah sends out a raven and a dove to discover whether it’s safe to land and disembark. The raven is a bird that feeds on dead things. It sees no sign of life.  The dove, on the other hand, finds a sign of life, the olive branch. Not  quickly or easily,  we should note. 

Two ways of looking at the world of Noah and the world of the Son of Man?  Two ways of looking at the world of today. Like a raven, or like a dove?  

The last words of our reading, God’s promise, are blocked off for emphasis:

” As long as the earth lasts,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
and day and night
shall not cease.” (Genesis 8: 20-22)