Jesus Comes Into Our Wilderness Lent 1 - February 26, 2012 Old North Abbey The lenten journey

is underway, and this year popular culture is joining the pilgrims. The Independent reports that Lent will be observed by more than one in five people in the U.K.1 In the United States, more than 70 Episcopal parishes in 18 states will offer Ashes to Go in train stations, on street corners, coffee shops and other public areas.2 Huffington Post is running a special lenten blogging section throughout the season.3 For those who like social media, the Pope is twittering lent ( @Pope2YouVatican). Some priests have decided to add a little excitement to lenten observations by running a Lent Madness brackets based on saints instead of basketball teams.4 Even the atheists are lining up for lent, so far, Ive read at least four different articles about lent from a secular perspective.5 Once atheist caught my attention with her sardonic observations about lenten observers. Shannon Burgdorf suggests, that Lent seems to be a PR routine wherein those who practice go around touting what they are giving up for Lent. She compares Lent commitments to New Years Resolutions with one major difference, Lent is giving something up for Jesus. Shannon continues, Lent gives you 40 days and then says, Now you can go back to partaking in that vice because Jesus is risen. I confess that I literally laughed out loud when I read that. She thinks many lenten sacrifices are really just refraining from bad habits. It seems so odd to liken giving up junk food for 40 days to the systematic public brutal torture and execution of that the man they believe is their god went through. If I were Jesus, Id be offended. Heck, if I were Jim Caveziel, Id be offended! In the end, Shannon offers her own list of recommendations for gestures of kindness that could actually make the world a better place. I actually celebrate this cultural embrace of Lent. Even if people dont connect with the source of the observances now, they may wake up and suddenly discover that Source.6 At the same time, I sense there may be some confusion as to the focus of Lent. It appears the focus is on us, our willpower, our service, our faith. I would like to suggest that the focus of Lent is actually upon
1 Martha Linden. Lent to be observed by more than one in five in UK adults. The Independent, Tuesday, February 21, 2012 <http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/faith/lent-to-be-observed-by-more-than-one-in-five-uk-adults7237528.html>. 2 Cathy Lynn Grossman. Episcopal priests offers Ashes to Go as Lent begins. USA Today, February 21, 2012 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-02-21/lent-ash-wednesday-ashes-to-go/53195664/1>. 3 See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/lent 4 Staff reports. Join Lent Madness. Democrat and Chronicle, February 19, 2012 <http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120219/LIVING/302190013/Join-Lent-Madness->. 5 See Tim Grobaty: Lent as a concept appeals to nonbelievers as well <http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_20014513>; Andrew Sullivan. Why Atheists Should Observe Lent. February 26, 2012, <http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/02/why-atheists-should-observe-lent.html>; Shannon Burgdorf. Lent: New Years Resolutions for Jesus. February 23, 2012, <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/02/23/lent-new-years-resolutions-for-jesus/>; Leah Bresco. Atheist Lent and False Unity. February 26, 2012 <http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unequallyyoked/2012/02/atheist-lent-and-false-unity.html>. 6 G.K. Chesterton. The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day suddenly wake up and discover why. On Christmas, Generally Speaking

Jesus, his calling, his obedience, his faithfulness. Our participation in Lent is actually a response to his action in history and his action in our lives. Lent emerges as a time of fasting for catechumens prior to baptism sometime in the early fourth century. Catechumens where those preparing to enter into the church. They went through a time of catechism under the teaching of the priests and bishops and a time of personal repentance and reflection that preceded their baptism during Pascha (Easter Day). Catechism is the teaching of the faith. To catechize literally means to sound down into the heart.7 The truths of our faith must penetrate deeper than the mind to the heart over time by rehearsing, remembering, reflecting on Gods redeeming action in history. Thus catechism was not simply for new converts, but the rest of the church as well. Many older believers joined the catechumens and sat under the teaching and entered into a time a personal reflection and repentance. This yearly journey became a time for returning to the source of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ and his redeeming action in our lives rooted in the work of the cross. Today we follow this ancient practice by returning to the source of our faith, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. In todays reading from Mark, we encounter Jesus being baptized and then immediately sent into the wilderness for forty days, facing temptations by Satan, living among wild animals and being ministered to by angels. To enter into Marks witness of the Gospel, lets briefly revisit his opening words. 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camels hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. (ESV) Mark opens his account of the Gospel in the wilderness. He starts with the prophecy of Isaiah about a voice of one crying in the wilderness, then he introduces us to John the Baptist in the wilderness, wearing camels hair and eating locusts. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Before Jesus appears, Israel is in a time of renewal.
7 This word comes from an ancient Greek term, katche, meaning to sound from above(Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 3, Page 637) or to teach by word of mouth (Encyclopedia of Christianity, Vol 1, p 360). Two Greek words from this word, kata meaning according to, after, against, in, down (Strongs, 2596) and echos meaning sound and sometimes used to speak about the roar of the waves (Strongs, 2279).

There are at least four renewal movements at work in Judaism: the Jews who observe Temple sacrifices and worship (Sadducees); those who study the Torah and seek to live by the way of the Law (Pharisees); those who have withdrawn into communities in the wilderness awaiting a spiritual renewal (Essences); and those who seek to restore the land by revolting against Rome (Zealots). Each of these distinctive movements are seeking some form of renewal. Marks opening indicates the hope of transition. All Judea and Jerusalem are coming to wilderness, confessing their sins and being baptized in hopes of Gods restoration. Israel is under Roman occupation. Herod is a false king sitting on the throne. Since the fall of Jerusalem, God has not re-established a king on the throne. So a usurper sits on the throne. At the time of Christs coming, the wealthy in Israel have known a time of prosperity. It looks good on one level, but Mark reveals a wilderness where people are truly longing for a change, for the true king, for a new time of Gods favor to commence. Jesus joins the people of Judea and Jerusalem in the wilderness with Mark. He comes to Mark to be baptized, and when he comes up out of the water, Jesus sees the heavens open, hears the Father speak, and is anointed by the Spirit for service. The crowds do not see or hear. They are still blind and deaf in the wilderness. Jesus hears the Father say, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. R.T. France emphasizes that though the allusions are important to explore, we as the reader must first hear the Father acknowledging Jesus identity as His Son.8 Then we can proceed to explore the three essential references connected to this announcement: Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to lthe land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. (Genesis 22:2 ESV) You are my Son; today I have begotten you. (Psalm 2:7 ESV) Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1 ESV) According to France, the Genesis reference is closer in manuscript to the Mark 1:11 verse.9 But this verse about Isaac seems the least related. The Isaac story culminates the story of Abraham
8 Gods voice declares that Jesus is his son. There is a danger, in the complex scholarly debates over the scriptural background and the precise connotations of the words used, that we fail to hear what the voice actually says. There are intriguing (if sometimes speculative) implications for the parameters of Jesus mission to be drawn from the analysis of these ten pregnant words, but one thing is clear beyond doubt: Jesus is here explicitly identified in the terms used in Marks heading, . In the narrative that follows there will be secrecy and paradox, but here in the prologue there is open declaration. The reader need be in no doubt, whatever the reactions of the actors in the story. France, R. T. (2002). The Gospel of Mark : A commentary on the Greek text (79). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press. 9 The wording of Gn. 22:2 LXX taken on its own is, as we have noted, closer to that of Mk. 1:11 than the LXX of either of the other two passages cited, but whereas they were both clearly understood as messianic prophecies, the story of Isaac is at first sight less obviously relevant. France, R. T. (2002). The Gospel of Mark : A commentary on the Greek text (81). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.

who in Genesis 12 is called by the Lord to leave the land of his family and go to the place where God calls him. Through Abraham, the Lord promises to bless all families of the earth. This blessing is dependent on a the coming of the son of promise, but Abraham and Sarah are barren. They cannot produce this son of promise by their own strength. It requires the grace of God. When the Lord finally blesses them with child, Abraham is told to offer the child in sacrifice. We know the story. The Lord ultimately takes a ram instead, and Isaac is spared. This son of promise gets to live again. Now if we think of that story in relation to Mark 1:11, we see that Jesus comes as the long awaited son of promise. He will ultimately fulfill the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12. Through Jesus all families on the earth will be blessed. Unlike Isaac, Jesus will offer his life as a sacrifice, and through his self-offering on the cross, the power of sin and evil will be broken and all families in the earth will be blessed. With an allusion to Genesis 22:2 at the baptism of Jesus, we see both a promise of blessing and the ultimate direction of his ministry: a path to the cross. Psalm 2 is a psalm about the coronation of the king. Pope Benedict XVI suggests that the language of verse 7 (You are my Son; today I have begotten you) is a distinct transformation of the eastern notion of kingship. In Jesus of Nazareth, Benedict explains that when a king rose to the throne in Egypt and Babylon, he became the begotten son of god.10 In Egyptian, he is begotten in a mystical way and actually becomes the son of god. In Babylon, he is legally adopted as the son of god. When God calls Moses to confront Pharaoh, he shifts the idea of son from king to people.
22

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, Let my son go that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. (Exodus 4:22-23 ESV) The family of Israel is declared to be the firstborn or begotten of God. Through Moses, the idea of the son of god is connected to election. Israel is elect by God to be the firstborn son, and through Israel, God will reveal Himself to the nations, and through Israel, God will realize his redemptive plan for all nations. When Israel eventually has kings, the king is not a separate son of god from the people, but rather he is the embodiment of the nation. The King of Israel stands on behalf of all the people. In fact, Deuteronomy warns Israel that when they get a king he must submit to Torah and not be exalted above his brothers.11 The connection between the king and the people might be likened to the tale of the Fisher King. When the king is sick and dying, the land is sick and dying because the king and land are one.12 In Israel, the king and the people are one. The king embodies Israel. So Psalm 2 is a coronation
10 Jospeh Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), translated by Adrian J. Walker. Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration. Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 2007, pp. 335-338. 11 See Deuteronomy 17:14-20 12 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_King

psalm focused on the king/Israel as son of God. The king is anointed by God to go and fight the enemies of God. The Psalm 2 reference implies that Jesus is being coronated as king. He is the long awaited Messiah come to defeat the enemies of Israel, heal the people restore the land, and purify the Temple of God. Finally we come to the passage in Isaiah. The Isaiah passage refers to the servant of the Lord. He is raised up to bring justice to the nations. Now if we follow the rhythm of Isaiah, the first 39 chapters focus on judgment. Israel and the surrounding nations are all judged and found wanting. They are exposed for idolatry, corruption, oppression and all manner of dehumanizing activity. In chapter 40, Isaiah begins to offer a picture of restoration. There are a series of songs the focus on Gods servant being raised up to restore, comfort, heal, and bring justice to the nations. The promise of redemption is not limited to Israel, but to all nations. In chapter 49, we hear the song opening Gods salvation to the nations: And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to himfor I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strengthhe says: It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:5-6 ESV) Jesus is the servant of the Lord who has come to restore not only Israel but all the nations. Now we have three similar images bound together in one proclamation. The Father proclaims that Jesus is His Beloved Son in Whom He is well pleased. This Beloved Son fulfills the promise of given to Abraham. This Beloved Son will lay down His life as a sacrifice. In His self-offering, He will rule as the true King gone to war with the evil one. He will defeat evil, bring healing to the nations and restore the entire cosmos. With that picture in mind, we return to Mark. Immediately after the Father speaks, the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. (Mark 1:12-13 ESV) Jesus begins his ministry by entering into a wilderness where he will be tempted by Satan, live with the wild animals, and be ministered to be angels. In one sense, Marks story of the temptation gives a glimpse of Jesus whole ministry. He comes to the world that the Father created in and through him to redeem this same world in and through him by the power of the Spirit. Some of the Church Fathers see this entrance into the wilderness as a return to the Garden of Eden. But the garden is now a wilderness. The animals are no longer in submission to man but are wild animals. And demons inhabit the waste places.

This picture makes me think of C.S. Lewiss novel, Prince Caspian. In the opening pages, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy return to Narnia. They only been away one year. When they left, they had established Cair Paravel as the glorious palace that ruled this wondrous kingdom of peace. They return a year later, but something is wrong. Centuries have passed in Narnia. Cair Paravel is no longer a glorious palace but a wasteland. An invading force called the Telmarines now rules the land. The talking animals have been banished. Darkness covers the land. The children must unite the animals, defeat the Telmarines and restore the land. It is this image that may now help us begin to think properly about Lent. Instead of starting with a focus on our self-discipline or on fasting or penance, we start with a focus on Jesus who has come to the wilderness of His creation. His good and wonderful Garden of Eden is now a wasteland. The enemy gained a foothold through sin and now the true children of God are banished, enslaved by false and evil powers. Jesus comes as the anointed of God to defeat the power of evil and restore the wasteland. But I would suggest that He doesnt simply enter a wasteland outside of Judea. He comes to the wasteland of the human heart. During Lent, we celebrate our Savior who did not abandon us in our own wilderness. For we ourselves have known the wasting impact of sin. We ourselves have been attacked by wild animals and demons. We ourselves need redemption. Fasting helps to strip away the illusions of our false paradises. Just as Mark peels back the veneer of Herods kingdom to reveal a wilderness, the Spirit reveals the emptiness of our empty hopes outside of Christ. During Lent, we meet Christ in the wilderness as He leads us to the cross, our hope of death and resurrection. We follow Jesus as He retraces Adams steps back to the Garden and defeats the serpent. We follow Jesus as He meet Abraham, fulfilling the promise to bless all nations through him. We follow Jesus as He fulfills the call of Israel to be the firstborn of God, the kingdom of priests. We follow Jesus as He brings justice to the nations. We follow Jesus into the wilderness of our own hearts as He exposes, heals and redeems our broken places, waste places, hidden places. During Lent, we return. We come back to our catechism. We relearn who we are in Christ. We rediscover what is means to be human. We reconnect with the heart of our faith hidden in the cross. Our Lenten meditations, fasting or other practices our simply ways of listening, of waiting, of hearing the Word of God echoed deep into our hearts. For those who want to practice a way of Lent, I would suggest you think of fasting as feeding on His faithfulness. For man does not live by bread alone but by every word the proceeds from the mouth of God.13 I would suggest watching and waiting upon Jesus. Listen and respond.
13 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV)

Let Him lead you inward and outward. Let His light reveal the waste places in your own heart that need His healing touch. As He convicts, yield to His Spirit of repentance. For repentance is truly a work of His grace. At the same time, let Him lead you in the wilderness places around you. Our workplaces, our communities, and our world are filled with dark places, waste places, hopeless places. Jesus is present in these places and He may be calling you to join Him. Let Him lead you into the places and among the people who need you to reveal His lovingkindess through your action and your embrace. As we follow, He will lead us by way of the cross into life more abundant. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit, Amen.