First Sunday of Lent, cycle B

Mark 1:12-15

My father and his dad were avid fishermen. During the season, they would get out on the rivers and streams as often as they could. They disdained people who fished from boats on lakes; their method had a lot of walking and climbing involved; it seems as though the best fishing holes were where it was inconvenient to actually get to. I never caught the fishing bug, though. I can remember all the details of my first fishing trip. I think I was about five. It was early spring and Dad asked if I would like to go fishing with him the next day. I jumped at the chance. He had purchased a kid-sized fishing pole for me for Christmas and this was my first chance to try it out. I also felt honored because my father had several friends and his own dad and always went fishing with one of them. So the next morning I was awakened from a sound sleep and staggered out to the car in the dark. We drove for what seemed like a couple of hours, hiked through brambles and the damp morning cold, and finally reached the stream. Dad helped me put a worm on the hook and make my first cast, and then told me he was going upstream for a ways and I was to stay there. Again, time passed very slowly. I was hungry and cold and a little frightened, because I had imagined bears and wolves hiding in the brush. Finally Dad came back, triumphant. He had three good sized fish. He seemed a little disappointed that I hadn't gotten a nibble. From then on I tried to find excuses not to go on any more fishing trips.

Today we hear about another unwanted trip to the wilderness. If you remember, Mark starts his gospel with Jesus' baptism, in which the heavens are opened and Jesus hears the Father tell him, “You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased”. But the very next thing that happens according to Mark is that Jesus is driven into the desert. The only other time Mark uses this word is when Jesus drives the money-changers out of the temple. I wonder what was going through Jesus' mind? Did he just for a moment regret having been baptized? It's clear in human terms, and Jesus is human, just as much as you and I, that he did not choose the wilderness – being driven into the wilderness implies that given a choice he wouldn't have chosen this. But you and I are driven into the wilderness, often more than once. Illness, the death of a loved one, a child who goes astray, a child who suffers, the end of a career we loved – there are so many times when we are in a situation we would rather not be in; we too have been driven into the wilderness.

The second thing we notice is that Jesus is there for forty days. Forty for the Hebrews, represented a long time. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, King David reigned for 40 years; Noah rode the ark for 40 days. So it isn't important whether those forty days are literal or figurative; Mark wants us to know that Jesus was there a long time. During that time, Mark says Jesus was tempted. Unlike Matthew and Luke, he doesn't tell us a detailed account of who did the tempting and what the temptations were all about. It just says, he was tempted. When we are in our own wilderness, and even when we aren't, we are subject to many temptations. I may feel worthless if I was passed over for a promotion; I may feel unloved if I am having a quarrel with my spouse; I may feel helpless if my child is suffering and I can't do anything about it. And of course beneath all these feelings I may feel that God is not on my side. But even when we aren't in an obvious wilderness experience, we are still assailed by other temptations; the temptation to believe we are in control; the temptation to define ourselves by our relationships, by our profession, by our political party, by our race or gender. Because all temptations are trying to make us forget that there is only one thing we need to keep in mind – You and I are beloved sons, beloved daughters, in whom God is well pleased, even before we've done anything.

The third thing we see in this story is that angels minister to Jesus. When we are in the wilderness, there will be angels. I don't know what Jesus' angels were like – maybe they wore white robes and had wings but more likely they were more subtle; as our angels are. The point is that we are never alone in our wilderness, if we choose not to be. We have our friends, our families, and our church. There are always good people who will reach out if we but ask. God provides angels to minister to us, but very often we turn away from them.

Lent is supposed to be a wilderness experience which is why this gospel appears. That's why we fast, that's why we try to do something to mortify ourselves – giving something up, taking on a new spiritual practice, making the stations of the cross, something different, something that jolts us a little every day. It's when we step back and look at our lives – what are our temptations? Who or what is telling us something that's different from what God told Jesus and God tells us, – You are my beloved. Lent is to regain that perspective, that knowledge deep in our souls – we are His beloved. And Lent is oddly enough a time to remind ourselves that we are not alone in confronting our temptations. There are ministering angels. Angels are messengers from God, agents of God. I like many men, have a very hard time accepting help from people, although I can usually be counted upon to give help. Jesus accepted the ministering of angels. I think we need to look very carefully at our own lives and see that we are not alone in our struggles, and God, through his people, is always willing to help.