Good News for Lent (February 22, 2015)

Good News for Lent

Mark 1:9-15

February 22, 2015

Mark is the “USA Today” version of the Gospels.  You don’t get many details—Mark is in a hurry so he “immediately” gets to the point.  (You will notice that Mark frequently uses words such as “immediately” or “at once.”  Time is important to him.)  Jesus is baptized.  There is a voice from heaven, affirming Jesus with those words, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Mark’s baptism story doesn’t end with doves and voices.  Jesus doesn’t get time to savor the moment.  Mark tells us that “At once, the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.”  (Mark 1:12-13).  Once again, Mark gets right to the point.  We don’t hear the details of Jesus being tempted to turn stone into bread or jump from the pinnacle of the Temple or to bow down before the Tempter.  We get the abrupt transition—“At once, the Spirit sent him out into the desert”—and we get the headline informing us that Jesus was tempted.

Although the abrupt transition and the limited details may seem puzzling at first, I noticed something this week that I might not have noticed if Mark had given us more detailed information.  I noticed the link between Jesus’ baptism and His testing.  At His baptism, Jesus received clear affirmation of His identity as the Son of God.  It was an intense moment, to be sure, but it also was an intimate moment.  A moment in which the Father affirmed His love for His Son, and that His Son brought Him joy.  At His temptation, the sense of affirmation, the spiritual mountaintop that Jesus experienced at His baptism, His sense of identity, was brought into question.  He moved from “Really!” to “Really?”  From exclamation to question mark.

It seems that we become more vulnerable to testing when we finally begin to make progress.  It’s happened in my life.  Perhaps it has happened in your life, as well.  Maybe it happens because we let our defenses down.  Maybe our pride makes us think that we are stronger than we really are.  Whatever the reason, there is a real danger that in our moments of spiritual consolation, we are in great danger.

Mark does not give us the details about this time of testing.  He simply tells us that Jesus was tested. For Mark, the details were less important than the reality of the testing.  Yet, there is an important message in the details.  To get the additional details, we have to turn to Matthew.  When we do, we see that the three temptations did not tempt Jesus to commit evil; rather, the three temptations challenged Jesus’ identity that had just been affirmed in His baptism:

•       “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  (Matthew 4:3).
•        “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” from the highest point of the temple. (Matthew 4:5).
•        And then, trying to induce Jesus to violate the most sacred element of the Torah, Satan tempts Jesus to trade away all that He has been given for material kingdoms of the world that the tempter can give Him. “All this I will give you … if you will bow down and worship me.”  (Matthew 4:9).  Satan is asking Jesus to trade away His birthright, to give up his identity, just as Jacob asked Esau to trade away his birthright for a bowl of stew (you can find this story in Genesis 25:29-34).  Jesus refused!  Instead, Jesus went on to proclaim the Good News.  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:14).

 In our Journey with Jesus, we see a direct progression from baptism, where Jesus’ identity as the beloved Son of God was affirmed, to wilderness, where His identity was challenged and questioned, to proclamation, where having overcome the challenges and questions, Jesus went to work proclaiming the coming Kingdom of God.

As you reflect on your own journey, perhaps some reflection on some questions might be in order:

1.     In what areas of your life are you most vulnerable to times of “testing?”  What does “wilderness” mean to you?  Are there times that you feel more vulnerable than others?

2.     What strategies to you use to keep strong during times of testing?

3.     How do you respond when you fail?

For me, the key is to find, even in the middle of our times of trial, reminders of who we are.  During the season of Lent (and beyond, as well), I invite you to surround yourself with reminders of who you are.  Remember always that you are a Child of God!  When we fail, we find that just as the Father of the “prodigal” son kept watching the horizon to see his son return (see Luke 15:11-32), our Heavenly Father is looking for us and calling for us to come home.  This is Good News for Lent.  Thanks be to God!

Pray:  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  Amen.