First Sunday in Lent, cycle B

MARK 1:12-15
TODAY WE HEAR MARK'S VERSION OF THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS AFTER HIS BAPTISM. YOU REMEMBER HOW MATTHEW AND LUKE BOTH TALKED ABOUT THE DEVIL OFFERING VARIOUS TEMPTATIONS TO JESUS, AND HOW JESUS ANSWERED EACH ONE. MARK DOESN'T MENTION ANY OF THAT. HE JUST SAYS THAT THE SPIRIT SENT JESUS INTO THE DESERT, WHERE HE WAS TEMPTED BY SATAN, LIVED AMONG WILD BEASTS, AND WAS MINISTERED TO BY ANGELS. AFTER THIS, HE COMES BACK TO CIVILIZATION AND BEGINS PREACHING THE CALL TO REPENTANCE AND THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. SO WHY DIDN'T MARK MENTION ALL THOSE DIFFERENT TEMPTATIONS – MAKING STONES INTO BREAD, JUMPING OFF THE TOWER OF THE TEMPLE, BOWING DOWN TO WORSHIP SATAN SO THAT HE WOULD MAKE JESUS THE RULER OF THE EARTH?
PERHAPS MARK WANTS HIS READERS TO CONTRAST JESUS WITH ADAM. AFTER ALL, ADAM WAS WITH WILD BEASTS, AND SUCCUMBED TO THE TEMPTATION OF SATAN, AND WAS DRIVEN OUT OF THE GARDEN BY AN ANGEL. HE WENT FROM A SITUATION WHERE HE WAS THE RULER OF NATURE, THE ONE WHO NAMED THE BEASTS, THE ONE WHO TENDED THE GARDEN OF EDEN, TO A SITUATION WHERE HE WOULD EARN HIS BREAD BY HIS LABOR, WHERE THE BEASTS NO LONGER OBEYED HIM, AND WHERE HE WAS CUT OFF FROM CONTACT WITH THE HEAVENLY POWERS. JESUS TRAVELS IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION – HE REJECTS SATAN'S TEMPTATIONS, HE IS NOT HARMED BY THE WILD BEASTS, AND HE IS MINISTERED TO BY ANGELS. JUST AS ADAM WENT OUT OF THE GARDEN TO BRING SIN AND DEATH TO HIS DESCENDANTS, JESUS LEAVES THE DESERT TO BRING THE GOOD NEWS OF SALVATION AND THE CALL TO REPENTANCE TO THE DESCENDANTS OF ADAM.
WELL, THAT'S INTERESTING, BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AND I? MARK WAS WRITING TO THE CHRISTIANS OF ROME. THEY WERE A MIXTURE OF JEWISH AND PAGAN CONVERTS. THEY WERE PERSECUTED BY THE ROMANS, AND DESPISED BY THE JEWS. THEY WERE SHUNNED BY FRIENDS AND RELATIVES, THEY WERE DENIED GOOD JOBS, AND EVERY NOW AND THEN THE EMPEROR WOULD LAUNCH A PERSECUTION AND ROUND UP A FEW CHRISTIANS TO FEED TO THE LIONS. IN OTHER WORDS, IT WAS NOT SURPRISING THAT MANY OF THESE CHRISTIANS RELAPSED. THAT WAS THE TEMPTATION THEY FACED EVERY DAY, AND SOME OF THEM GAVE IN.
GIVING IN TO TEMPTATION IS NATURAL TO US HUMAN BEINGS. IT IS SO NATURAL THAT THE BOOK OF GENESIS SAYS THAT IT IS PART OF BEING HUMAN; ADAM AND EVE GAVE IN TO TEMPTATION EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE SINLESS, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD MUCH BETTER BRAINS THAN WE DO; AND EVEN THOUGH THEY WALKED AND TALKED WITH GOD HIMSELF. AND YET JESUS OVERCAME TEMPTATION, SO WE KNOW THAT IT IS POSSIBLE. JESUS WAS DRIVEN INTO THE DESERT BY THE SPIRIT TO UNDERGO TEMPTATION, AND HE RESISTED. HOW WAS THIS POSSIBLE? IF WE READ THE STORY MATTHEW WRITES ABOUT JESUS TEMPTATION, THE DEVIL TEMPTED HIM AFTER HE HAD FASTED FOR FORTY DAYS. AND THAT IS THE SECRET FOR RESISTING TEMPTATION.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FAST? IT ISN'T JUST GIVING UP FOOD OR EATING LESS. IT ISN'T JUST SAYING MORE PRAYERS OR DOING MORE SPIRITUAL READING. IT ISN'T JUST GIVING MONEY TO THOSE WHO NEED IT MORE THAN WE DO. FUNDAMENTALLY FASTING IS FINDING SOMETHING IN OUR LIVES TO WHICH WE ARE ATTRACTED, AND GIVING IT UP FOR A PERIOD OF TIME. THIS MAY BE FOOD, OR TOBACCO, OR ALCOHOL. IT MAY BE READING THE BIBLE INSTEAD OF WATCHING SPORTS ON TELEVISION. BUT WHATEVER IT IS, THE POINT IS THAT WE ENTER INTO A BATTLE; WE CHOOSE DELIBERATELY TO NOT DO WHAT COMES NATURALLY. AND THERE ARE TREMENDOUS BENEFITS THAT COME FROM THIS SORT OF BATTLE.
FIRST, WE STRENGTHEN OUR ABILITY TO CONTROL OUR OWN BEHAVIOR. SECOND, WE INCREASE OUR ABILITY TO CONTROL OUR OWN DESTINY. THIRD, WE LOOSEN THE TIES WHICH KEEP US FROM GIVING OURSELVES TO GOD; OR TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY, WE MAKE SPACE FOR GOD TO ENTER OUR LIVES. AND FINALLY WE HAVE LESS TROUBLE DEALING WITH TEMPTATION IN THE FUTURE, BECAUSE WE HAVE BECOME STRONGER. ADAM AND EVE, TWO INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD TREMENDOUS ADVANTAGES OVER YOU AND I, DID NOT FAST, AND THEY FELL. JESUS FASTED, AND HE TRIUMPHED.
AND THOSE ARE ADVANTAGES TO US. WHEN JESUS FASTED, AND OVERCAME TEMPTATION, THE FATHER USED HIM TO BRING THE GOOD NEWS TO THE WORLD. AND WHEN WE FAST, THE SAME THING CAN HAPPEN; GOD CHOOSES TO USE THOSE WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THIS SPIRITUAL BOOT CAMP TO BUILD UP HIS KINGDOM.
SO HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FAST THIS LENT? LET ME GIVE YOU A POSSIBILITY. IF YOU DON'T SAY THE ROSARY, WHY DON'T YOU MAKE IT A POINT TO SAY IT EVERY DAY DURING LENT? THE POSITIVE SIDE IS THAT YOU WILL MAKE A TIME EVERY DAY TO PRAY FOR WHATEVER YOU WANT – YOUR FAMILY, HEALING FOR YOU OR A FRIEND OR RELATIVE; OUR COUNTRY, WHICH REALLY NEEDS PRAYERS. YOU WILL MEDITATE ON THE LIFE OF JESUS EVERY DAY – IT WILL BE LIKE READING THE GOSPEL, AND MAYBE IT WILL LEAD YOU TO READ THE GOSPELS. YOU WILL DISCIPLINE YOUR WILL, BECAUSE IT IS NOT EASY, EVEN FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE BEEN SAYING THE ROSARY FOR YEARS, TO BE STILL AND CONCENTRATE. RIGHT AWAY YOU BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT THINGS YOU WOULD RATHER BE DOING. THEN YOU PUT THOSE THINGS OUT OF YOUR MIND, AND OTHER DISTRACTIONS COME. BUT YOU DO THIS OVER AND OVER, AND GRADUALLY YOU BEGIN TO DEVELOP SPIRITUAL MUSCLES. AND WHEN YOU ARE TEMPTED, YOU REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE SAYING THE ROSARY LATER, AND YOU HAVE MORE STRENGTH TO RESIST THE TEMPTATION.
WE COULD TALK ABOUT MANY ACTIVITIES THAT WOULD ACCOMPLISH THE FAST TO WHICH WE ARE CALLED. THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT WE CHOOSE SOMETHING THAT SHAKES US UP, SOMETHING THAT HELPS US DETACH OURSELVES FROM THINGS THAT HOLD US DOWN; SOMETHING THAT MAKES US STRONGER. AND THEN, AS WITH JESUS, GOD WILL GIVE US A GREATER ROLE IN PROCLAIMING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN THROUGH OUR LIVES AND OUR WORKS.