Lent 4, 2024

             In those days, Jesus came from nowheresville to Galilee, the place of commerce and politics.  He was one of the crowd, baptized in the river Jordan with all of the other people of Jerusalem.  He crossed the waters as Moses and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, entering a new beginning.  Just as he came up out of the waters the heavens were torn apart, the separation between heaven and earth was breaking, just as the temple curtain would be torn apart as he died upon the cross.  Jesus heard the voice of God saying, “You are my Son, and I love you.  With you I am well-pleased.”  This could have been the moment, the momentum to send Jesus out into public ministry, to make his debut, full of praise and ready to take on the world.  Instead, the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness.  He goes to the place of testing and learning, where all allegiances are cut.  He is completely unobliged.  He isn’t obligated to anyone. He doesn’t owe anyone. He has no boss, no community, no rabbi or pastor.  He is exempt from paying taxes which fund war and inequality.  He is liberated from unjust laws.  As he is washed in the waters, soon after he is washed of his attachments.  Jesus is discovering, when he is by himself, who is he? When he doesn’t have food or shelter or a comfortable bed or friends or family nearby, who is he?  He needs to know, because he will be without these things and he has to have a strong enough foundation to know who he is when he is tired, pestered, abandoned, or tormented.  The wilderness is the place where the Israelites learn to trust.  They, too, lived without many comforts there and had to learn who they were if they weren’t slaves and they weren’t comfortable, but they had just enough of what they needed.  Noah, too, had to learn who he was with no friends, no comfortable place, as he first built the ark and withstood many people mocking him, and then when he stayed on the ark and trusted God to bring his family through. 

Mark is brief in his description of the time in the wilderness.  Mark is famous for being quick-paced.  This shows the urgency of the moment, that there is reason to make haste and hurry, that the nearness of the Kingdom demands quick movement and action. 

Mark doesn’t say he fasted.  Maybe the angels brought him manna.  It seems maybe basic needs were met.  He was vulnerable and surrounded by danger, especially in the form of wild beasts, but we’re reminded maybe of Daniel in the Lion’s Den, how God kept the mouths of the lions shut and they could do him no harm.  Here is the same thing.  Jesus trusts God.  Just as Noah had to live in balance and harmony with the wild beasts upon the ark and not be consumed, so Jesus follows suit. It is also prophesied in Isaiah, “The wolf shall lie down with the Lamb.”  In this case Jesus, the lamb of God, is enacting the peaceable Kingdom, as he lies down next to the wild beasts in the wilderness.

This wilderness temptation and deprivation is the way it is for God’s beloved—not continued accolades or positive attention, not friends and riches.  This is what God has in mind for God’s beloveds, yet that “I love you,” goes a long way to sustain Jesus in the wilderness and in re-entry back into this twisted world.

John the Baptist is arrested, foreshadowing of what will happen to Jesus, and also getting John out of the way so that people realize that Jesus, not John, is the one.  And Jesus ends up where he started coming back into Galilee, a new creation, connected with God, assured in who he is, and ready for ministry.

So what does this Gospel say to us?  God’s Kingdom is close by.  Look for it, work for it, receive it.  God’s Kingdom is in each flower, each person, each raindrop, each rainbow, each slug and mosquito, in with and under all creation.  Look for God’s Kingdom and it will renew you, fill you up with gratitude, and motivate you to get to work.  Work for God’s Kingdom.  Where there is inequality, stand with those who are oppressed.  In bystander training, one learns not engage the one who is being abusive, but to ask the victim, “Are you ok?”  I saw it happen once in the grocery store when a customer was berating a clerk.  It was such a powerful act.  We are invited to work for God’s Kingdom, greening up the parking lot, distributing food at Zarephath and Snow Cap, calling and writing your legislators.

The Gospel says, if you are in the wilderness, you may be in actual danger, but you are not alone.  God’s angels are with.  The reassurance that you are loved is with you.  Many others have walked in the wilderness and some of them can help you, will accompany you.  We are beginning our Lenten Wildneness, where we spend 40 days like Jesus did, forsaking comforts, being tended by angels, remembering who we are, and learning to trust God.  There are wild beasts of war and division, disease, hatred, hunger, temptations, etc., but we have angels, too.  Be ready to be an angel and be ready to receive from angels.  Be ready to look for the rainbows after the ordeal.

The Gospel says, while we’re in the wilderness, let’s not panic, but learn to trust God.  Let’s remember where all good things come from.  Let’s remember God made all of this and us to be a blessing.  Let’s learn not to trust the wild beasts who are always telling us to fear.  Let’s keep our wits about us and listen to that message echo, “You are my beloved,” that we are assured of in our baptism.

I remember when I was 4 or 5, my sister was 1 or 2, and one day there was a big rainbow in the sky after a rainstorm.  My parents rushed my sister outside and into our quiet street to give her the best possible view.  They were urging her to look and pointing vigorously at the sky.  At first she looked around blankly and looked at them to try to figure out what they were so excited about.  And then she saw it.  It was her first rainbow and I got to see her see it.  Her face just lit up with joy and wonder. 

God regretted the flood so much that God took God’s weapon, the bow, and hung it in the sky where it couldn’t hurt anyone anymore.  God made a covenant.  It’s rather a one-sided covenant.  It doesn’t say, if you people do this then God will never cut off all flesh again.  The covenant says that’s not what God does anymore.  God chose that moment to work for life and not for death, for love and not destruction.  This lent, let’s be realistic about the beasts, the barriers, the challenges.  We’ve got some storms to ride out before we experience the blessing of the rainbow.  And let’s feel the urgency of the coming Kingdom.  Let’s look for the angels and be the angels.  Let’s forsake destruction and fear and take our place with God in the covenant to work for life and love trusting in the promise of our savior Jesus Christ.