I spent last week at a continuing education event in Colorado. If you saw my Facebook page, you might think the entire Continuing Ed event was skiing in Winter Park, since those were the only photos I posted! But there were about 50 mostly Lutheran Pastors at this event. And while we did do a lot of skiing, we also actually went to class (before the lifts opened and after they closed!)
And there were some good ideas and discussions in those class sessions. And perhaps because Lent was fast approaching, one of the professors from Luther Seminary asked us to consider today's Gospel reading from Mark - the shortest of all the versions of what we often call the "temptation story."
Except that, in Mark's version, there's no narration of any of Satan's temptations. Indeed, being tempted by Satan doesn't even seem to be the point of going into the wilderness. It's just one of the things that happens to Jesus while he's there.
Following Jesus' baptism, "the Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness." But Mark doesn't say why. He doesn't say "in order that..." So why would the Spirit drive Jesus into the wilderness? (That was the question we were asked to consider in class.)
Why the wilderness? After all, Jesus has just heard the voice from heaven that affirmed that he was God's beloved Son. That's pretty cool! So why not:
- Celebrate it with a nice baptismal party (as most of us do?)...
- Get to work and start preaching (since Jesus is now fully credentialed as God's Son...)
- Go someplace where there are at least some people around (you know, the ones God sent you to save...?)
But instead, the first thing the Spirit does after Jesus' baptism is to drive him into the wilderness - an uncomfortable, lonely and dangerous place. And since it's the Spirit, it's clearly part of God's plan and God's purpose. But what could that be?
So while I was skiing, I did think about that question. And it seems to me that perhaps the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to give Jesus the opportunity to:
- Demonstrate God's commitment to being in places where nobody expected God to be ... (that was what people thought about wilderness areas in those days - they were the haunt not only of wild beasts, but of demons. God was far away. But in Jesus, God was always showing up in places and among people that others thought God had forgotten about or abandoned. From the very beginning, the Spirit shows Jesus' commitment to being in the places where people feel God has forgotten about...)
- Practice relying on God ... being in the wilderness is lonely and dangerous, and you can't control things. And while the "angels waited on him," I don't think Mark means they made Jesus' life easy. They just provided what he absolutely needed to survive the experience. From the very beginning, the Spirit shows Jesus' commitment to living in a way that trusts in God instead of his own human power and abilities ...
- Focus on God ... that was, after all, why most people went on solitary retreats. In the midst of all the chaos and confusion of life, sometimes they needed a deserted place to have the "bandwidth" necessary to listen for God. And of course, when you clear the bandwidth, Satan can hack in, too, and that's why there were temptations as well. But from the very beginning, the Spirit shows Jesus' commitment to listening for God's will and God's voice, even in the midst of all the other busy stuff Jesus was going to be doing...
Lent is often understood as a time to return to our baptisms. That is, baptism is our incorporation into the death and resurrection of Jesus. So during Lent, that begs the question, "where is the Spirit driving us in our baptismal calling?"
And maybe for us, too, the Spirit is driving us, like Jesus, to:
- Be God's presence in the places where people don't expect God to be. That is, each of us is called to be the physical presence of God in the wilderness areas of our world. (And, to be sure, much of the world feels like wilderness right now.) And just as there were no dramatic moments in Jesus' time in the wilderness in Mark's Gospel, often the Spirit isn't calling us to do dramatic things - simply to be present and open to being God's instrument in a particular moment or place.... (even through simple things like sitting with someone in their personal wilderness or sharing a bag of snacks with kids...)
- Practice relying on God - and for control freaks like me, this is the hardest part of the program! In fact, for many people, as things feel like they're spinning more and more out of control, it's natural to want to carve out a little piece of non-wilderness area in our lives where no wild beast can bother us. And yet, that's often simply retreating into a false sense of security. And relying on God doesn't mean nothing bad will happen if we trust God (spoiler alert - at the end of Mark's story, Jesus gets killed!) But relying on God does mean developing a deeper sense of the transcendence of God in our lives, which sustains us even through our wilderness experiences... (fasting isn't mentioned (or almsgiving) but that was originally one of the points of fasting during Lent - practicing giving up things we so often cling so tightly to for our sense of security...
- Focus on God - to actually work on carving out some bandwidth in our lives to listen and study and reflect. And some of that work needs to be done together (it's not just for introverts!)... (whether it's personal devotion and reflection time or gathering with others for worship; or just walking the labyrinth with others - it's about opening up bandwidth for God to use to guide your life...)
So in this year's Lenten journey, pay attention to where the Spirit is driving you in your baptism. Use these 40 days to be renewed in your relationship with God. And be open to the possibility that, like with Jesus, the Spirit may be driving you be God's physical presence in a place that really needs it. Like with Jesus, the Spirit may be driving you to let go of some of the security you cling to so tightly, so that you can practice relying on God. And like with Jesus, the Spirit may be driving you to open up bandwidth in your life, so that long after these 40 days are over, God can continue to guide and move you to be his instrument in the life of the world.
Amen.
