First Lent
Mark1:9-15; I Peter 3:18-22; Genesis 9:8-17
No one has ever accused me of being a person of few words. It comes with the calling--a pastor tends to have more than just a complete answer to any question asked. We tend to also have a couple illustrations and a story or two. Most of the young people in the congregation have learned that even the simplest question can lead to a fifteen minute answer. I receive various comments about my sermons but the one I have honestly never heard is "Pastor, your sermon was a little short this morning."
On questions of God and theology there is for most clergy an answer and the more complete preferred long answer. I doubt that there has ever been a real theology book written that was less than three hundred pages in length and if there was it was probably called an introduction to theology. When it comes to preaching the challenge is to find ways into the words of scripture that provide insight, meaning and some value. Which I will admit at times means the text gets over-talked. One professor once observed that most academics, of which clergy usually strive to number themselves, tend to feel that they need to keep talking until everyone in the room is either nodding in agreement or nodding off to sleep. I still remember one of my homiletics professors at seminary--that's a class in preaching--lecturing us about the importance of sermons being appropriate in structure, theme, design and even length. He noted that a sermon on the shortest verse in the Bible "Jesus wept" should probably not be thirty minutes long. With that observation in mind, I found myself reflecting on the Gospel lesson for this morning. Our text is from the Gospel of Mark.
The shortest and some would say the simplest Gospel at least in terms of details and description. Our lesson for today should have a certain déjà vu feel to it not only because our lectionary texts repeat every three years but because this morning is the third time in the last two months that at least some of the verses in this morning's lesson have been read. Mark just doesn't offer enough verse to be spread over an entire year
without some overlap and repetition of texts.
As for economy of words, there are few writers who compress so much into so few words as Mark does. In just seven Bible verses we are told that Jesus came from Nazareth to begin his ministry, went to the Jordan river to be baptized by John where he was declared the Son of God after which the Spirit drove him into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted by Satan which was followed by the announcement that John had been arrested so Jesus began his ministry proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand so repent and believe in the good news. There is a bit of understatement at work in Mark's writing style which challenges the preacher's skills. Compared to the other synoptic gospels of Matthew and Luke we have almost no details of the event that is normally expected to dominate our reflections this morning as we enter the season of Lent. The story of Jesus' forty days in the wilderness being tempted are intended to parallel the forty days that reach from this past Ash Wednesday to Holy Week and Easter. Key questions are expected to be "What do the forty days mean? How are we to survive them as people of faith?" And to make sure we are properly focused the Old Testament lesson captures the moment that Noah comes out of the ark after forty days of rain. The repeated theme of forty days flows through our lessons suggesting that Noah also was tempted to doubt God yet God remained constant and saved Noah and his family.
In Matthew and Luke we get details of the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness including details of three particular temptations. We see and hear the tempter's words and Jesus' response. Not so in Mark's gospel. Just the facts. "And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him." Two sentences. Forty days of temptation by Satan among the wild beasts with angels about And we get two sentences. What are we to make of those few words. Jesus was tempted forty days and then began his ministry. It's like telling someone from Africa that Chicago is just another city or Shakespeare was a script writer or telling someone it's nothing serious, just a tiny little tumor on the brain. Forty days of temptation, no big deal. It reminds me of when I was growing up in Minnesota in the winter and my father would wake me so I could head out on my morning paper route as he left for work. I remember one of his all too common morning greetings being, "Better wear a coat today, it's a little cool out" at which point I knew that the odds were pretty good that it was at least 10 below outside and I would need more than just a coat to stay warm. Mark simply says, "He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan". Almost as if nothing happened. Forty days, tempted, and then we move on with the story. Only the whole story to follow points back to those forty days and that word "tempted".
We ask the confirmation students when they study the beginning of Jesus' ministry "Why was it important that Jesus was tempted?" If they seem unsure of what to say I then ask, "Do you think there has ever been a human being who was not tempted?" That question usually produces the "ah-ha" that temptation is a part of our humanity. To be human is to be tempted. To be human is to know again and again the experience of the forty days. It is important that we not confuse temptation with sin. Temptation is not sin. Temptation is a product of our creative and dynamic life force. The possibility of having, doing or being other than what we have, do or are. To prove that we can control temptations we often decide to give up something for Lent. The idea is to sacrifice a part of ourselves to remind us of how Jesus sacrificed himself for us. Usually this takes the form of giving up some favorite food item like chocolate or meat or some part of our life that we can sacrifice like television. This we do with a certain self congratulatory nod. We strive to prove our superiority over the temptation. The key, we believe, is the strength of our will power and our success at selecting the right item to sacrifice so we will triumph over temptation. Such thinking is actually a very dangerous direction for our Lenten discipline to follow. Giving up certain foods or distractions in our daily lives may make us healthier and more focused during Lent but it will not address the core issue of the forty days.
Sin. That which separates us from God, self and others. Sin. The reason why Jesus' message contained the word "repent". These forty days of Lent lead us to Holy Week and Easter. The reason there is a Holy Week and Easter is not because of temptations but sin. The reason why we repeat the Lenten cycle of forty days year after year is that we don't do so well with sin.
To be honest, we don't do so well with the temptations unless they are the ones we have chosen to handle. Surely we can survive forty days without chocolate or television or asparagus. But life doesn't usually let us pick our temptations. The fact that Jesus resisted temptation for forty days was not an end to evil's challenge. It was only the beginning.
After surviving the forty days Jesus returned from the wilderness to find that John had been arrested. Sin, human sin, was real and active in the world. An innocent man was whisked away by the military authorities to be imprisoned without charges other than the fact that his behavior and religious practices did not fit the norm of the society of the occupying military. John's message was stilled. Jesus could not remain silent. He began his ministry.
The first words he proclaims are to call us to turn around, to let go of everything that has a hold on us. To turn from the way we have been going, to repent, to turn in a new direction. Over the last few weeks of the epiphany season our gospel lessons have shown us what happened when people, disciples, turned and followed Jesus. Fishermen left their boats, tax collectors abandoned their duties. To our eyes their actions looked fiscally irresponsible, vocational suicide. They left jobs, families, homes. We are told Jesus took up a ministry that left him nowhere to lay his head. He was misunderstood. Constantly challenged by the scribes and Pharisees. He was misquoted, ultimately betrayed, crucified and killed. Yet Jesus also healed the sick, comforted those who mourned. He demonstrated a new way of caring. He offered himself as a servant example. He brought God into the lives of people. He revealed God's presence not in might but in mercy, not in grandeur but in grace.
As we enter the season of Lent the tradition of the church would say that we are to be preparing ourselves for Holy Week and Easter. Such preparation usually means we convince ourselves that we need to be more disciplined in our faith life. Often we are tempted to play "Let's Make A Deal" with God thinking that if we give up something to God then God will reward us for the sacrifice. The truth is that our lives can become wildernesses of temptation. The blessings and joys become overshadowed by pains and sorrow. No life is perfect. No happiness lasts forever. There come questions, doubts, crises. There will be those who suggest we look for a power to prevail. We will be tempted to try to out smart the problem. We will be tempted to buy our way out, provide a payoff. We will be tempted to bargain, to deal. To deny our past and maybe even who we are. But scrub as hard as we can, cut off as much of ourselves as we can, there will still be disease, loneliness, sorrow, failure and sin.
Jesus turned in a new direction and said "Follow me" He did not ignore disease but touched those who were sick. He fed those who hungered. Sat down with the outcast, wept with those who mourned, served others, and ultimately suffered and died to reveal to us the promise of resurrection and God's grace. This is the good news in which Jesus invited people to believe. This is the truth that he found in the journey of forty days in the wilderness.
What do you have to do to be made right with God? Jesus said "repent". Turn around. How do you become part of God's kingdom? Jesus said "believe in the good news", the gospel. It's as simple as those few words--repent and believe. It's as simple as holding out your hand and finding that someone has placed a wafer of bread in it saying "This is the body of Christ".
Amen