mgpcpastor's blog

I wrote this for publication in our local paper, The Border Watch, today.
As you hopefully will see, it is not really about the movie, but the real story from the Bible.

The premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah has sent some folk back to their Bibles to see if there was a whole bunch of details that they’d forgotten.
Apparently not. Where the Bible’s story has left some gaps, Mr Aronofsky has provided plenty of creative and speculative details. Rock monsters, stowaways and much, much more.
Do those additions help us understand the story more clearly? Well, if the original author thought that the point of the story could be made with the details provided, it would seem not.
Will those changes detract from the story? To the extent they cloud or change the point of the Bible’s story, it seems a real probability.
So, here are a few points to remember about the Bible’s Noah.
He is described from the outset as being a righteous man, blameless in his generation, who walked with God. This description doesn’t mean he was perfect, but his character is distinctive, set apart from others. That detail is important, we’ll come back to it later.
The building of the ark was God’s idea, not Noah’s. Noah was told by God what would happen and Noah responded to God’s instruction. God always intended to preserve humanity.
The whole time that Noah was building the ark was a warning of the impending judgement to come. There was nothing secret about the activity, nor did Noah discourage anyone from preparing for the coming flood themselves. There’s no indication that anyone would have been stopped from joining them on the ark.
Noah’s family was with him, and the point of their being there was that the intention was always to repopulate the earth with humans and animals.
Now, whatever you may think of the Bible’s Noah or Mr Aronofsky’s Noah, remember the intended point of the genuine story.
The Bible’s Noah is about accountability, judgment, salvation and restoration. In a world where generations suffer under injustice these themes have resonated for centuries.
The narrative, though amazing, is also surprisingly down to earth. Apart from God’s words, there are no otherworldly beings, spiritual experiences or the like. Though the highest of drama, the situations are altogether human.
It is God who preserves Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark. God shuts them in. Noah provides a generations long object lesson and no one else believes and comes.
The story of Noah affirms a theme of human beings living in a renewed creation after judgement. The story concludes with a sign that the judgment of flood is past.
But remember, those who repopulate the earth are just as human as those who perished. The pattern continues again. The capacity to start all over again is beyond humanity.
So, the narrative of the Bible continues as God reveals his purpose to save humanity by giving them refuge from final judgment. Only that this refuge will not be in an ark of wood, but in his own divine Son.
Christians will remember this salvation from ultimate and final judgment at Easter in a couple of weeks.
Rather than a rainbow, we will give thanks for the ultimate sign of victory, the empty tomb.
So, if you watch Noah and see a lot of additional details, don’t think that it means you’ve got more of the story. Instead, be careful that all the extra details don’t obscure the true and timeless story of God’s saving power that culminates in Jesus.