Into the Ark
A Christmas Poem by Thomas Ryder Worth
Genesis tells us that the earth was filled with so much violence
that God regretted having created human beings in the first place.
Judgment was coming; the flood could not be avoided.
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord...”
So began this major project to save humanity.
Noah would build an ark which would survive the flood,
preserving enough of terrestrial creation
to make a new beginning for humanity.
Once more, millenia later, Mary found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
“Hail, you who are full of grace! The Lord is with you!”
Does this innocent young woman, who has been faithful to God,
have any idea that when she conceives,
the whole creation will be conserved—
saved in a much greater way than when
those creatures marched two by two into Noah’s Ark?
And when the clouds recede and the flood waters abate,her water breaks and this new Human, who gathers all to himself, is born—borne into the earth, now given a second chance, a new future.
Now, marching into the ark, two by two,
are the Last Adam and the Second Man.
Nestled in the amniotic fluid of her womb,
floating on that inner ocean, in the ark of his person
is the One who is both the Man from earth and the Man from heaven.
Marching into this ark, two by two, are heaven and earth.
Into this ark are going the hopes and dreams of all the earth.
Into this ark are going all the plans and purposes of heaven.
Into this ark, into this One New Man,
are going both bond and free, Jew and Gentile,
Son of David and son of Adam.
Ultimately, finally, essentially into this ark,
are going two by two: God and Man.
And when the clouds recede and the flood waters abate,
her water breaks and this new Human, who gathers all to himself, is born—
borne into the earth, now given a second chance, a new future.
While the heavenly hosts sing overhead of our hopes and dreams—
two by two, love and faithfulness, mercy and truth, righteousness and peace,
God and Man—come forth in one grand unity, our Lord Jesus—
born in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.