First Sunday in Lent March 1, 2009 The Rev. Charles Henrickson “From the Water to the Wilderness” (Mark 1:9-15)
Today is the First Sunday in Lent, and that means our Gospel reading today is an account of the Temptation of Our Lord. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this early episode that took place right after Jesus’ baptism. But whereas Luke takes thirteen verses to tell us about the temptation, and Matthew takes eleven, our evangelist for this year, St. Mark, as is his style, covers the temptation of Christ in just two verses, as follows: “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.” Notice also that this account is recorded right away in the first chapter of Mark’s gospel. That’s the way Mark tells the story of Jesus. He gets us right into the action, very direct, straight to it, plunging Jesus right into the conflict and opposition that will mark his ministry and lead to his death. The word “immediately” stands out in Mark’s gospel. When Jesus was baptized, “immediately” he saw the heavens opening. And then the Spirit “immediately” drove him out into the wilderness. Wham! Bam! Straight to it! “Immediately”! And so then Jesus goes “immediately” from his baptism in the Jordan to his temptation in the wilderness. And what I want you to see today, friends, is that this is how it is for us, too. We who have been joined to Jesus in Holy Baptism, we the baptized are also the tempted. There is no escaping it. We go immediately “From the Water to the Wilderness.” But first, before we go, it is Jesus who goes from the water to the wilderness. And he starts at the water, being baptized by John in the Jordan. Jesus sees the heavens opening--literally, “being torn open”--but instead of fiery judgment coming down, there comes the Spirit descending on him like a dove, coming in peace to empower the Christ for his mission. And there comes also a voice from the opened heavens, the Father’s voice, declaring, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Now we know who it is who is being baptized. This Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the Spirit-anointed deliverer sent from God. More than that, this Jesus is “the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds.” He is the eternal divine Son, come in human flesh, loved by the Father and well-pleasing to him for taking on this saving mission. This is who we meet in the water. But immediately Jesus is sent out into the wilderness. Indeed, the way Mark puts it, the Spirit “drives” him out into the wilderness. Matthew and Luke say that Jesus was “led” by the Spirit, but Marks states it more forcefully: The Spirit “drove” him out. It’s the same word that’s used for when Jesus drives out demons, when he casts them out! That’s what the Spirit does to Jesus: “drives” him out, out into the dark and foreboding wilderness. The language throughout here is stark and jarring, almost violent. Jesus is not going out for a walk in the park. It’s a wilderness out there, where Jesus is going. A wild, savage, bleak place. In the Bible, the wilderness is a place of danger. Desolate, remote. A lonely place, a place of isolation. Where a man will be exposed to danger, but also a place where God will test his prophets, or in this case, even his beloved Son. And so Jesus will go through this ordeal. “And he was with the wild animals.” Mark is the only evangelist to mention this detail. The wilderness may be uninhabited by humans, but it is a place for wild animals to prowl about. The haunt of jackals, the home of wild beasts. The lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent. This is their turf, and you go there at your risk. But Jesus goes, obedient to his Father’s will and the Spirit’s driving. He’s got work to do out there. Jesus must endure, and overcome, the temptations of the devil. “And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.” Matthew and Luke give us the details of the individual temptations; Mark just sums it up: “being tempted by Satan.” Somebody had to do the job, some representative of the human race had to face down Satan and win. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, had blown it in the Garden. Jesus prevails in the wilderness. Israel was in the wilderness, too, and for forty years, but they blew it when they were tempted toward sin and unbelief and compromising their identity as God’s people. Jesus does not blow it; he withstands the tempting and carries on with his mission. All this lies in the mystery of Christ’s unique person, of course. He is God in the flesh, both true God and true man in one person, really tempted, yet without sin. There had to be a man, a second Adam, a faithful Israel, who would stand the test and prevail against Satan. Jesus is it. And he does it in our place, for us, staying faithful where we so often fail. Jesus is tempted by Satan, our text says. “Satan” is another name for the devil, the evil one, the tempter. So Satan will go after this new Adam, this new Israel, just like he went after the old ones. “The Satan” is the Adversary, the Enemy, the accuser of the brethren. But this time he has met his match, and then some. For Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. Those works include temptations to sin and unbelief and other great shame and vice. Temptations to pride and hypocrisy and refined godlessness. Temptations to tune out God and his word. The temptations that we so often fall prey to and give in to. But Christ would have none of it. He stays on course, locked in and focused throughout the ordeal, and he comes out of the wilderness, proclaiming the message he came to fulfill: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” From the water to the wilderness and out again into ministry, Jesus is the true and faithful one, staring down the danger, overcoming Satan and his temptations, and bold enough to preach the message that got John the Baptist arrested and killed and will do the same to him. Yes, make no mistake, the temptation in the wilderness is but a warm-up for the way of the cross that Jesus will walk. His faithfulness tested in the wilderness, it will continue all the way to the agony in Gethsemane and the cross itself at Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. For Jesus has work to do there, namely, to pay the price for all our unfaithfulness, the sin that brings death with it--that is what Jesus takes on himself at the cross. And that is how he finally defeats Satan in the process. The serpent he will trample underfoot, even as that serpent strikes out at his heel. Sin, Satan, death, and hell--all defeated and destroyed by the man who remains faithful from the water to the wilderness and to the wood of the cross. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil and to replace them with his own heavenly works--forgiveness, righteousness, resurrection, life victorious, life everlasting. Yes, here is your divine Champion, my friends! This is the man you need with you to make it through the wilderness. And make no mistake on this, either: You are in the wilderness. Immediately, as soon as you were baptized, you were set in the midst of a wilderness. This world is that wilderness, and Satan is on the prowl here, like a roaring lion, looking for whom he can devour, like a deadly serpent ready to strike. From the water to the wilderness--that’s how it goes for those baptized into Christ. You know, Luther once said that when we baptize an infant, this is not some quaint and cute custom, this is serious business that will place that child into danger. He writes: “Remember, therefore, that it is no joke to take sides against the devil and not only to drive him away from this little child, but to burden the child with such a mighty and lifelong enemy.” Satan hates Christians. He is our lifelong enemy, the Adversary, the old evil foe who now means deadly woe--and he is aiming for you. You have a target on your back, and it was placed there as soon as the sign of the cross was placed on your forehead and upon your heart at your baptism. Satan will tempt you to whatever he can use to try to get you away from Jesus. He knows he cannot beat Jesus, so if he can just get you away from him. . . . Satan will tempt you to let God’s word go in one ear and out the other. Satan will tempt you to think that you have better things to do with your time, more fun things than going to church or doing daily devotions. Anything to get you away from Jesus. Because when you’re on your own, you become vulnerable. And not only do we have Satan to contend with, we are living in a wilderness. This world is the wilderness in which we are spending our forty or eighty years or so. This world is a lonely and desolate place, a hostile environment for Christians. We are surrounded by nothing that will reinforce our faith, only by wild beasts that threaten to rip our faith to shreds. Christians are made to feel isolated, alone, out of place. As we move through this life, we are walking through a wilderness, the wilderness of this world. Therefore we need one another. The church is the great caravan, the company of travelers walking together along the way, caring for and supporting one another. And most of all, we need to stick close to Jesus. The devil cannot touch us with Jesus by our side. And Christ supplies us with all that we need to remain strong in him. We are fortified by the Word and the Holy Sacraments; that is our food and nourishment for the journey. Dear friends, as soon as we were baptized, immediately we went from the water into the wilderness. We have Satan tempting us. We have the world against us. You and I walk in danger all the way. But we are not alone. The valiant one, our Champion, Jesus Christ is by our side as we walk through the wilderness of this world. Therefore we will not fear, but rather we will be fortified in our faith, filled with courage and hope, as we walk from the water through the wilderness toward the glory of the world to come, walking with Christ all the way. Charles Henrickson 4749 Melissa Jo Ln St. Louis, MO 63128 (314) 845-8811 (home) (314) 779-8108 (cell) [email protected] ___________________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_ _attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected] Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected] Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at: Rev. Fr. Eric J. 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