Somewhere Under the Rainbow

In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision supporting gay marriage, many people took to Facebook with pictures of themselves or others behind a rainbow filter. Some were obviously showing their support for the decision, while others were clearing mocking those who opposed gay marriage.

FB made this app available for its users.

For instance, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a vocal opponent of gay marriage, turned up on FB with a new rainbow shrouded pic. There were also rainbow filtered pics of the White House, the Supreme Court and various state capitals, churches and courthouses.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about that in the last several weeks—specifically, about the irony of it.

You see, as a Christian, I long for every person I know to be covered by the rainbow. Perhaps I should explain.

The rainbow is God’s idea and God’s amazing creation. The story of how and why God made the rainbow is found in Genesis 9:8-17. In short, it’s a symbol of God’s grace. God placed the rainbow in the sky as a sign of his covenant with humanity–a covenant we neither earned nor deserved–promising that he would never again destroy all living things because of the sinfulness of man. It was a sign of God’s promise to extend grace and mercy to us, instead of responding to us as we deserve.

It was a sign, a forerunner, of the cross.

The rainbow is a symbol of God’s faithfulness, his goodness, his relentless love for sinners and of his willingness to extend forgiveness, grace and mercy to anyone who will ask for it.

It’s ironic that the gay community has chosen the rainbow as their symbol, as it’s the grace and patience of God the rainbow represents that enables them to practice their lifestyles without facing the immediate judgement and wrath of God.

And in further irony, the “rainbowing” of their pics and their opponents’ pics is actually a picture of what God desires for every person–gay or straight. He longs for them to be covered by his mercy and grace, the mercy and grace made possible by the death of his Son Jesus. He longs for us all to be under the covering of the grace represented by the rainbow, not out of manipulation or rebellion or a redefining of God’s laws, but by simple obedience and submission to him.

I pray that the day will come when every person, every government leader and government agency, including the White House, the Supreme Court, every every church, statehouse and courthouse in the land, will be identified with the message of the rainbow–not a symbol of our getting to live anyway we want, but rather of God’s promise not to destroy us when we do.

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