February 18th,
2018 “In the Wilderness”
Rev. Heather Jepsen
Mark 1:9-15 with
Genesis 9:8-17
The First Sunday of Lent is always a
recollection of the temptation of Jesus, and Mark’s version of the story is so
brief it leaves a lot to be desired.
Matthew and Luke both give us a better version of the story. They both offer conversation between Jesus
and the devil, as well as ideas of what the actual temptations might be. By contrast Mark gives us very little, hardly
any details at all. As a preacher, it is
not much to go on. But as a person of
faith, there is something about Mark’s sparsity and silence which can really
draw us in.
The period of temptation actually
begins in Jesus’ baptism; it is from that moment that he is driven out. In Mark’s gospel, the vision and voice, the
dove and declaration, they are all just for Jesus alone. No one else sees the signs, and no one else
hears the message. Only Jesus is given
the vision, only Jesus hears the voice; I imagine within his own head, “You are
my beloved Son.” And after that strange
and great moment, Jesus wanders off alone into the desert. Or, as the writer tells us, the Spirit drives
him out into the wilderness.
I think that this was a time of
personal struggle for Jesus. Who was
he? Who was God calling him to be? What shape should his mission and ministry
take? Mark tells us that “Jesus was in
the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts;
and the angels waited on him.” It sure
sounds like a personal search for identity to me. Don’t we all experience those times in our
lives, times when are trying to decide who we are, times when we are trying to
determine what our next steps will be.
When we are faced with challenges, or with new information, we are
forced to redefine ourselves. This was
that moment for Jesus. 40 days alone in
the desert, trying to determine the shape of his future, trying to decide his
response to this new information “You are my beloved son”. Jesus was trying to understand his sense of
call.
Mark is the only gospel writer who
mentions wild beasts in his temptation story, and I have been wondering just
what exactly he meant by that. I suppose
the writer of Mark would have us imagine literal wild beasts that might roam
the lands of ancient Israel. Lions,
bears, jackals, leopards, and wild boars were said to have once lived
there. Were these the kind of wild
beasts Jesus was with or was it something more sinister?
I like to imagine that the wild beasts Jesus
faced were more like the wild beasts we face in life. I’m talking about struggles of self-identity,
decision, and direction. I am talking
about battles with cancer and long term illness. I am talking about how we deal with suffering
and pain. I am talking about the fact
that we live in a country where mass shootings in our classrooms are an
everyday occurrence. I am talking about
addiction. I am talking about greed and
apathy and selfishness. I am talking
about broken and abusive family relationships.
Are these not the wild beasts that we face?
Some of the minor wild beasts I am
most familiar with are my children on a grumpy day and my own exasperated
response to their bad behavior. It may
not sound like a big deal but I am often at my worst when I am dealing with my
children. This is my temptation and
mothers, we know the struggle is real.
When I lose my patience I know I am at my worst and I become the wild
beast.
Mark tells us that angels ministered to
Jesus and I know they often minister to us as well. I had a hard week this week, for many
reasons, but throughout my days there were angels lifting me up. From an unexpected and heartfelt Valentine
card from a member of this congregation, to the encouraging words and smiles of
friends, there have been angels ministering to me in my difficulties. I am sure you too can look around and find
times when others reached out to you when you were low. Be it a home cooked meal, a ride to the
doctor’s office, or a simple phone call to check in, we have the power to be
ministering angels to those within our midst.
Sometimes we just want to know we aren’t alone in the wilderness, and
maybe that’s the point of Mark’s whole story after all.
The thing about the temptation story of
Jesus is that it demonstrates the depths that God will go to in order to be in
relationship with us. In the beginning,
God gets tired of us pretty early on. By
chapter 6 of this “Good Book”, God is sorry that humankind was made to walk
about on the Earth. God was disappointed
with us and sorry that we were created.
God regretted us, and after the events in our country this week I am not
surprised. God had had enough of us and
so God wiped us all off the face of the planet in the great flood.
By chapter 9, God appears to have
changed God’s mind again. God promises
not to destroy us anymore. God hangs
God’s weapon up forever, the bow in the clouds, and declares that no matter
what we do, we will not be destroyed by God’s wrath in this way ever again. Even when we kill each other’s children, even
when we say that the right to own a weapon is more important than the right to
live in safety, even then God promises not to destroy us.
Amazingly, miraculously, as the ages
pass, God appears to grow to love humanity even more. Despite our continued sinfulness and
wickedness, God continues to reach out to us.
So much so in fact, that God comes to us in the nature and person of
Jesus Christ. God comes to live among
our wilderness spaces, to personally witness to our wickedness and strife. Jesus is driven by God out into the wildness,
is accompanied by wild things, is tempted, and is still called beloved. Jesus is driven into the classrooms riddled
with bullets. We are the wild beasts and
Jesus comes among us. How deep and vast
and broad is this love of God?
Today, as we collectively consider
the period of trial and temptation for our Lord, I invite you to think about
where you are on your own journey of faith.
What wild beasts surround you and threaten to throw you off your
path? What angels draw alongside you to
minister to you in your time of need? Where
do you find God in these wilderness places we have created?
To tell each other that the journey
of faith will be a cake walk is a lie.
We all know that deep struggles will come. Real challenges with wild beasts will
threaten us. There will be days when we
feel like we will be in the wilderness forever, wandering around lost. There will be days when we lose our patience
and act out like the wild beasts around us.
There will be days when we will face temptation and we fail. There will be days when we give up hope.
And yet, this story reminds us that
God’s love will never fail us. God will
never again regret us and destroy us.
God will be with us in suffering, in all of our suffering, as Jesus was
with the wild beasts. God’s angels will
minister to us, through our loving actions offered to each other. We may be in the wilderness, but we are never
alone.
The story that Mark tells us of Jesus
is a short one, and yet he records several times that I would consider
wilderness journeys for our Lord. Jesus
wrestles with his identity throughout the gospel of Mark. After his 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus is
seen proclaiming the good news of God “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of
God has come near.”
Like Jesus, our own lives move in and
out of this holy struggle. Who are we in
the wilderness and who are we in the kingdom of God? Where is our place of love and belonging and
how do we understand our own identities as beloved children of our God? The season of Lent is a time to honor and
remember that this wrestling with identity is real. Like Jesus we are all led into wilderness
places. Lent is a time to be honest
about our own sinfulness. Lent is a time
to search our hearts for the wild beasts that live there. And Lent is a time to embrace the deep love
that God offers us despite our brokenness.
May God bless us on our 40 day journey in the wilderness. Amen.
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