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.
