In the Wilderness
This sermon was preached the first Sunday in Lent in 2012 at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Tucker, GA
The Text was Mark 1:1-13
This week we begin our Journey into Lent with Jesus going straight from Baptism to being tested in the wilderness. Mark provides a graphic rendition of Jesus’ Baptism. Our very first glimpse of Jesus in this Gospel is when he’s being pulled up from the waters of the Jordan. This is being done by John the Baptist, who was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Mark is a Gospel known to be skimpy on details, but he spends an entire chapter right before our reading describing the person who Baptizes Jesus. I think Mark did this to give us a glimpse of the wilderness through John. He dressed similar to Elijah, and his appearance reveals a life lived in the wilderness full time. He had camel hair clothing, a leather belt, and a diet of locus and wild honey. It is like he was the embodiment of the place where Jesus is about to spend the 40 days after his baptism. When Jesus rose from the water, the heavens were ripped open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove, and the voice of God boomed down below… Mark wanted to let us know in this graphic Baptismal scene that we have the right Jesus here. He wanted to leave no question in your mind right off hand who the Son of God is, Who is then immediately driven out to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tested. Jesus is there for forty days with wild animals, angels, and Satan. Can you imagine? It sounds like a cage match. No human beings to speak to in the wilderness, which, considering the geography for that area, was the hot sandy desert. Or as one commentator, Lamar Williamson, describes it, “The wilderness is the dwelling place of forces hostile to God, the residue of the primeval chaos that menaces human life.” It was not the most relaxing place for contemplation. God sends Jesus out into this chaos not to see if his Son can survive out on the lamb for 40 days, but instead it is to hone a deeper relationship with him. This time of separation from the human world in the worldly supernatural is a time when Jesus can fully develop his identity. Mark doesn’t say exactly what was going on out there, but we know that it couldn’t have been easy. This was not a time to strengthen Jesus physically. Jesus was fasting. Nor was it a wilderness boot camp. It is not about strength of arm but an act of discipline used to hone the mind on God through hardships.
This week my Facebook news feed as probably were yours was full of conversations about Lent. Frequently I would see people update their status to, “Giving up Facebook for Lent see you in 40 days.” I saw at least twenty of these posts right before Ash Wednesday, and this seems to be the craze this year. Many different online news sources wrote stories about it, and even Forbes chimed in. Lent is not typically a hot topic for online news sources. However, so many people this year want to disconnect from their status updates, their constantly updating news feeds, and their funny pictures of silly cats. They want to unplug from major distraction to reconnect to God. But, honestly… Are we really doing that? While this idea is very noble are we disconnecting from one distraction just to swap it out for something else worldly that occupies our thoughts? Or is this more a way we can become more efficient workers, and any time we have saved is now spent on new distractions. When does giving up something for Lent not look like a New Years Resolution? We at times confuse the two. Believing that whatever we have sacrificed for Lent is going to be an act of self-control. We pick things that we think would make us better human beings, if we could do such a thing. I did a bit of researching and compared common New Year’s resolutions to common Lent devotions. The themes were surprisingly the same, stop eating something bad, use less internet, or control some particular vice of ours. We make all these promises to better ourselves, but we need to ask, where is God in this? Is this really about God, or is this really about us? When our devotions become difficult, do we look to God to help us get through? Does it help us become more dependent upon God? Does this help you renew your baptismal vows? Where did this practice of giving something up for Lent come from? Why thank you for asking!
The practice of giving up something for Lent came from our church ancestors as either a preparation of parishioners for Baptism or to help them renew their baptismal vows. If you remember, our Baptism is a visible sign of our call to faith in God, God’s claim upon our lives, and to membership in the church. It was a time of serious self-examination, fasting, and prayer. It was a time to critically look at the relationship they currently had with God, and where that relationship was going. Our Lenten devotions were once meant to enrich and reinforce our Baptismal vows, in an extreme way that allowed us to contemplate our identity as part of our relationship with God. The self-denial was meant to be our way to follow Jesus into the wilderness.
So what do we do in the wilderness? Stop and don’t smell the roses. This is the one time it is not about intentionally slowing down to do a quieter activity. Instead of smelling roses, photographing birds, or making smores, use the fires and pains of the wilderness to temper your soul and refine your relationship with God. Stop busying yourself, and start by just listening. Follow Jesus into what comes next. Let yourself be led by God.
God’s not calling us to become John the Baptist who lived in only the wilderness. But we are being called to experience a taste of that of wilderness. This place is not a place we must be in permanent residence. It is not a place to be physically strengthened or to develop stamina against the world. It is not a promise of answers or direction. It is a land of temptation and loss where we can come to honestly develop a deeper relationship with God. The wilderness is the only place to escape the worldly without physically escaping the world.
The Text was Mark 1:1-13
This week we begin our Journey into Lent with Jesus going straight from Baptism to being tested in the wilderness. Mark provides a graphic rendition of Jesus’ Baptism. Our very first glimpse of Jesus in this Gospel is when he’s being pulled up from the waters of the Jordan. This is being done by John the Baptist, who was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Mark is a Gospel known to be skimpy on details, but he spends an entire chapter right before our reading describing the person who Baptizes Jesus. I think Mark did this to give us a glimpse of the wilderness through John. He dressed similar to Elijah, and his appearance reveals a life lived in the wilderness full time. He had camel hair clothing, a leather belt, and a diet of locus and wild honey. It is like he was the embodiment of the place where Jesus is about to spend the 40 days after his baptism. When Jesus rose from the water, the heavens were ripped open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove, and the voice of God boomed down below… Mark wanted to let us know in this graphic Baptismal scene that we have the right Jesus here. He wanted to leave no question in your mind right off hand who the Son of God is, Who is then immediately driven out to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tested. Jesus is there for forty days with wild animals, angels, and Satan. Can you imagine? It sounds like a cage match. No human beings to speak to in the wilderness, which, considering the geography for that area, was the hot sandy desert. Or as one commentator, Lamar Williamson, describes it, “The wilderness is the dwelling place of forces hostile to God, the residue of the primeval chaos that menaces human life.” It was not the most relaxing place for contemplation. God sends Jesus out into this chaos not to see if his Son can survive out on the lamb for 40 days, but instead it is to hone a deeper relationship with him. This time of separation from the human world in the worldly supernatural is a time when Jesus can fully develop his identity. Mark doesn’t say exactly what was going on out there, but we know that it couldn’t have been easy. This was not a time to strengthen Jesus physically. Jesus was fasting. Nor was it a wilderness boot camp. It is not about strength of arm but an act of discipline used to hone the mind on God through hardships.
This week my Facebook news feed as probably were yours was full of conversations about Lent. Frequently I would see people update their status to, “Giving up Facebook for Lent see you in 40 days.” I saw at least twenty of these posts right before Ash Wednesday, and this seems to be the craze this year. Many different online news sources wrote stories about it, and even Forbes chimed in. Lent is not typically a hot topic for online news sources. However, so many people this year want to disconnect from their status updates, their constantly updating news feeds, and their funny pictures of silly cats. They want to unplug from major distraction to reconnect to God. But, honestly… Are we really doing that? While this idea is very noble are we disconnecting from one distraction just to swap it out for something else worldly that occupies our thoughts? Or is this more a way we can become more efficient workers, and any time we have saved is now spent on new distractions. When does giving up something for Lent not look like a New Years Resolution? We at times confuse the two. Believing that whatever we have sacrificed for Lent is going to be an act of self-control. We pick things that we think would make us better human beings, if we could do such a thing. I did a bit of researching and compared common New Year’s resolutions to common Lent devotions. The themes were surprisingly the same, stop eating something bad, use less internet, or control some particular vice of ours. We make all these promises to better ourselves, but we need to ask, where is God in this? Is this really about God, or is this really about us? When our devotions become difficult, do we look to God to help us get through? Does it help us become more dependent upon God? Does this help you renew your baptismal vows? Where did this practice of giving something up for Lent come from? Why thank you for asking!
The practice of giving up something for Lent came from our church ancestors as either a preparation of parishioners for Baptism or to help them renew their baptismal vows. If you remember, our Baptism is a visible sign of our call to faith in God, God’s claim upon our lives, and to membership in the church. It was a time of serious self-examination, fasting, and prayer. It was a time to critically look at the relationship they currently had with God, and where that relationship was going. Our Lenten devotions were once meant to enrich and reinforce our Baptismal vows, in an extreme way that allowed us to contemplate our identity as part of our relationship with God. The self-denial was meant to be our way to follow Jesus into the wilderness.
So what do we do in the wilderness? Stop and don’t smell the roses. This is the one time it is not about intentionally slowing down to do a quieter activity. Instead of smelling roses, photographing birds, or making smores, use the fires and pains of the wilderness to temper your soul and refine your relationship with God. Stop busying yourself, and start by just listening. Follow Jesus into what comes next. Let yourself be led by God.
God’s not calling us to become John the Baptist who lived in only the wilderness. But we are being called to experience a taste of that of wilderness. This place is not a place we must be in permanent residence. It is not a place to be physically strengthened or to develop stamina against the world. It is not a promise of answers or direction. It is a land of temptation and loss where we can come to honestly develop a deeper relationship with God. The wilderness is the only place to escape the worldly without physically escaping the world.