First Sunday in Lent
Category: Lent
Speaker: Grace Atherton Pratt
May the words I speak be those You want spoken, may the words we hear be those You want heard, may we live to Your glory. Amen.
Everything happens very quickly in Mark’s gospel and this morning’s reading is no exception. I have often thought that Mark’s style is like a newspaper reporter’s style. You only get the headlines in Mark. This morning, we hear about Christ’s baptism, his first public appearance, his identification as the son of God, his temptation by Satan, the arrest of John the Baptist, and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Whew! That is a lot of plot and character development in six verses and it is all really important stuff for us to know about Jesus’ life.
In fact, the plot of this morning’s gospel reading should be familiar to most of us because it has inspired many other famous stories about heroes, like the Star Wars trilogy, the Harry Potter, or the Lord of the Rings series. To illustrate this point, let me compare Jesus’ story in Mark to that of another hero: Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars trilogy. Just as the Roman Empire oppresses the Jews, the Evil Empire oppresses the galaxy. Jesus is from the backwater town of Nazareth and Luke lives on his Uncle’s remote farm on Tatooine. Jesus is baptized and identified as God’s son, the Messiah who will save the Jewish people, then retreats into the wilderness. In the wilderness, Jesus is tempted by Satan and tormented by wild beasts, but he is also cared for by angels. Luke takes a cryptic message to a spiritual advisor Obi-wan, only to learn that he holds the plans for the death star and discovers who his father is. But despite the care of Obi Wan Kanobi, Luke decides to retreat to his aunt and uncle’s farm rather than leave his planet. John the Baptist is arrested and Jesus leaves the wilderness and goes to Galilee. Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed and he leaves his planet to travel with Obi-Wan to deliver the plan for the death Star. Jesus begins his public ministry and starts to share the good news. Luke and Obi-wan hire Han Solo and Chewbacca and begin their journey to save the galaxy. I share this connection between Jesus and Luke Skywalker in hopes that you can all enter into this narrative from wherever you are. The important similarity in these stories is that these two heroes (though obviously quite different) were called to help make a change. At first they may have been reluctant or held back because of family reasons, but they took time to themselves in the wilderness to think about their call. After their time in their own wildernesses, they emerged to answer their calls and begin their work. We have all experienced similar moments in our own lives, when we feel pulled to something, have a crisis over whether or not to commit, and then eventually decide what to do. I sometimes feel like I am doing a constant loop of this cycle.
By now you are probably wondering what all of this has to do with Lent? And you are right - I am getting to it. While we are always called to follow Christ’s journey, in Lent we are called to follow Christ into the wilderness for forty days. But what actually happened in the wilderness? Mark gives us very little to go on. We know that he was tempted by Satan and was with the wild beasts. We also know that angels waited on him. Matthew and Luke tell us that he fasted, and that Satan tempted him with food, power, and wealth. But Mark leaves it open to our own interpretations. What do you think happened in the wilderness? I imagine that it was time of solitude, prayer and discernment. I imagine that it was hard work, and that Jesus was tempted to go back home and eat his mother’s cooking. But he remained in the wilderness. I think it was during this wilderness time that he accepted his identity and call.
Lent is a time to explore our own wildernesses. Obviously we won’t be packing up a tent to sleep in the woods for 40 days, but there are many different ways to approach the wilderness. The first thing we can do is prayerfully discern where our own wilderness is and ponder that. Maybe you are in a wilderness time of life, where you aren’t certain if you are doing the right thing with your life. Perhaps you are wondering if you are in the wrong job, or living in the wrong place. I have certainly been in a place like that. Or maybe you are in a wilderness period in a relationship? Is there someone you have drifted from and can’t find your way back to? I think all relationships have these moments. Lent is a time to prayerfully reflect on our wildernesses, and also to identify the beasts and angels in our lives.
Discovering our wild beasts can be tricky. It may help to think about whatever is distracting you from your best self. Maybe it is food, alcohol, online shopping, gossiping or whatever. Maybe it is something less tangible that we will only discover during this time of reflection. We can try to give up our beasts for Lent. And yet our reflection in the wilderness does not need to be completely negative.
This Lent we can also think about our angels. Who are the angels that wait on you? Is there a close friend, spouse or parent that cares for you in your wilderness? Or maybe there is someone who has been helping you in your wilderness and you have not realized it? An angel might also be an important activity in our life that calms us. We must try to identify and make more time for our angels this Lent.
The work of Lent is hard and not necessarily cheerful, and requires a lot of prayer and reflection. But the good news is that after his time in the wilderness Jesus is incredible. He emerges from the wilderness after resisting Satan and he immediately begins to proclaim the good news of God. He begins his public ministry with a bang! He is unstoppable as he heals, preaches and teaches. The hard work Jesus did in the wilderness gave him energy and courage for his call. This points us back to our own Lenten wildernesses. What do we want to be like when we emerge from our wilderness of Lent?
Whatever wilderness we are in, this gospel reading tells us that God will be there. He will not abandon us in the wilderness, and he will be there when we get out. God promises to be with us, even in the wilderness. This is the good news we can look towards as we begin our journey into the wilderness.