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First Sunday in Lent

Mark 1
9In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 12And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”


What are you giving up for Lent? Bloggers are making lists:

A number of young people suggested they are giving up Facebook for Lent, owing I expect to the addictive quality of the site. One person in Chicago said they were giving up Rod Blagojevich for Lent. A handful mentioned giving up carbon, which sounds very trendy and good, but somewhat impossible at minus 12.

At least one person said they were giving up abstinence for Lent--a delightful paradox--and one that I expect describes most of us. Now that scientists tell us that many of the things that were once bad are now good (red wine, chocolate, coffee) it might be a safe bet to give up giving up.

At one time, not that long ago, the entire topic of Lent would have been completely foreign to our fellowship. Lent, you see, is in the realm of recovered tradition: long considered too Catholic for the United Church. When the 60’s and 70’s brought ecumenical conversations and a rediscovery of liturgical tradition, Lent came back. And with Lent, of course, came the entire conversation of abstinence. So perhaps we have given up denominational differences for Lent, refusing to abstain from the tradition of seasonal abstinence.

One of the reasons that many of my predecessors on the wall out there would be shocked that we are engaging in Lent is that it is not biblical. Lenten themes appear throughout, but the season itself is an invention of the church. At the Protestant Reformation all the good non-biblical stuff like unction (I’ll leave it to you to look-up unction) went out the window and we were left with almost no tradition. In the absence of tradition, then, we are left to recreate Lent and make it our own.

The first theme is temptation. The journey we make up to Jerusalem is symbolic, and the church in her wisdom begins the journey in the desert. John baptizes Jesus: the heavens part, the Spirit speaks, and the action begins. There is a remarkable economy of language in Mark, with each verse driving the narrative forward. Mark can’t wait: he has a story to tell. So while Matthew and Luke devote 25 verses between them, Mark does it in two:

12And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now economy of language is often frustrating for the preacher, accustomed as we are to pouring over the details of the text. Nothing preaches easier than a long rambling story, with lots of places to enter the story and look around. Not so in Mark: he is all business, telling the story with little elaboration. Mark is Carnation milk (if you are looking for a metaphor) or anything else distilled which you have given up for Lent.

Back in Matthew and Luke for a moment, temptation is more of a contest. Satan offers this and that, Jesus resists with the help of scripture, and we look on. With specifics like bread from stone, we are able to make symbolic meaning, or contemporary parallel, or something that allows the story to speak. In Mark we have a different task, an opportunity perhaps, to enter the story in an entirely different way.

We can’t be Jesus in the story, but we can be tempted. One of the opportunities in Mark is to look within, recognize your own temptation and enter the story. Imagine the wilderness strewn with whatever might lead you away from God: whatever bitterness, envy or pride that gets in the way of your relationship with the Most High. Worthwhile, to be sure, but maybe not what Mark had in mind. Looking to the next verse, we may find a clue:

14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

This seems to be as close as Mark comes to giving us a manifesto for his Gospel: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” And coming on the heels of the temptation, we can assume that one develops the other. In other words, whatever was tempting or Satanic during those 40 days and 40 nights was certainly not “of the Kingdom.” Whatever counter-Kingdom temptation Satan served up on in the wilderness would have had a clarifying effect: adding to the imperative to get the people to repent.

Now we have a full-blown mystery, as we seek counter-Kingdom ideas, or activities, or themes worthy of Jesus’ desert sojourn. And knowing that Jesus’ will one day take on the sins of the world, we can imagine that these counter-Kingdom themes are in a category all on their own. And that being the case, the first and most obvious might be idolatry:

I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.

The atomic age began with these words, as Robert Oppenheimer quoted Hindu scripture to try to sum up the implications of the first Los Alamos test. I can think of no greater idolatry than to assume the power formerly reserved for God alone. But we did. Sadly, the remaining chapters of human history will be a continuous game of cat and mouse between those who commit this form of idolatry and those who would like to. I can’t say for certain if Jesus’ desert sojourn included a glimpse of the power we would one day possess or simply the awareness that possessing that power is a constant human theme.

What about blasphemy? Are the words spoken when hammer meets thumb worthy of a desert sojourn? Is it a temptation worthy of mention, or has it become so commonplace that it never really mattered in the first place? At its root, blasphemy is a sin against dignity. Whatever is worthy of our respect, whatever deserves a measure of reverence or dignity can be the object of blasphemy. The earth is our mother. Is it blasphemous to mistreat the only home we have? With 1.7 trillion barrels of oil locked in sand, we are the greatest energy superpower the world has ever known. When is it a sin against the dignity of the world God made to extract carbon from the earth?

Finally, what about apostasy? Whatever else happened in the desert, I can guarantee you that Satan encouraged Jesus to abandon his faith, to commit apostasy. What greater coup could exist that getting the son of the Most High to speak against God?

We all experience moments of doubt, because doubt is at the heart of being human. But when we take the next step, and begin to seed the doubt of others, we have entered the realm of apostasy. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and others will not rest until they have convinced you that your trust in God is misplaced and that we humans are utterly alone. They are willing to disregard your religious experience, and credit themselves for being clever and endowed with gifts.

I say we give up apostasy for Lent, and give God the glory.
I say we give up blasphemy for Lent, and give God the glory.
I say we give up idolatry for Lent, and give God the glory.

Whatever temptation surrounds us, I believe that God alone can save us. Whatever doubts confronts us, I believe that God alone can save us. Whatever trials await us, I believe that God alone can save us. We come together in Lent to care for one another, to support one another, and grow together in love. God will tend us, in these days of desert wandering, and forevermore. Amen.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 3:22 PM