First Sunday in Lent
Mark 1:9-15
"Do What God Requires of us"
9 ¶ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove;
11 and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."
12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.
14 ¶ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,
15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour< Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
There are a few verse from the Bible I would like to share that goes along this gospel lesson. There are two verses in the gospel lesson that we will concentrate on this morning.
They are: 12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.
And then from the book of Deuteronomy:
8:2 And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.
And Deuteronomy 13:3
for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Our lesson from Mark is the familiar story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. Mark leaves out many of the details which Luke and Matthew have in their gospels. But then it gives us a chance to dwell on the key concept of this story.
The idea that Jesus was tempted. "To tempt" means to try and convince someone to do something. Or I think in this case with Jesus’ temptation, God was wanting to see if Jesus would do what was required of him.I believe that this is God’s purpose in times of testing. At the same time, Satan has his own purpose -- to turn the testes away from God -- to "tempt" them to sin.
God wanted to see if Jesus knew what was going to be required of him as he set his face to Jerusalem and the cross. Would Jesus waver from his path? Would Jesus give in to all the temptations along the way? Would Jesus give in to the temptations of the devil out there in the wilderness?
As we put this story in context, we see that Jesus had just been baptized by John, a dove had landed on his shoulder and a voice from heaven had declared Jesus to be the Son of God. Pretty far out stuff wouldn’t you. Stuff of Star Trek, stuff on the Twilight Zone. Stuff not of this world.
So then as Mark’s gospel says, "The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness." Jesus left this place of the unreal and went into the real world were the common people reside. The world of temptation, the world of sin, and God wanted to see if Jesus would do what was required of him. To see if Jesus would reject sin and follow the path to the cross.
Here in the wilderness. Jesus was tempted not so much with giving into the Devil, but with the idea of forsaking the undeserved suffering and death. that awaited him on the cross of Calvary.
Lent is the time when we follow this journey of Jesus to the cross. We follow as he is tempted, as the Devil tries to convince Jesus to steer away from this course of undeserved suffering and death. We see Jesus come through this period of temptation with His face renewed. Along the way, we see Jesus set his face, and we see those who would minister to him as he faces the cross of Calvary.
Then that brings us to the question, what does temptation mean for us? Are we tempted in the same way as Jesus was?
And I believe that yes, you and I are tempted by all the sinfulness of this world to turn away from what is required of us by God.
And what is required of us by God. That is simple of at the same time most difficult. We are required to follow the two great commandments Jesus speaks about in the Bible as it says in
Mark 12:28ff
28 ¶ And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"
29 Jesus answered, "The first is, ’Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one;
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this, ’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."
Our commandments to follow are simple to love God and to love our neighbor. That is what is required of us. Nothing more and nothing less.
But the temptations of this world lead us to follow other gods, the god of self, the god of power, the god of greed. The other gods of this world tempt us to ignore our neighbor and to dwell only on our self, our own needs and desires.
The other gods of this world, or the devil will tempt us to sin, or maybe he doesn’t have a chance.
Listen:
"The Evil Spirit once came dejected before God and wailed, "Almighty God -- I want you to know that I am bored -- bored to tears! I go around doing nothing all day long. There isn’t a stitch of work for me to do!"
"I can’t understand you," replied God. There’s plenty of work to be done only you’ve got to have more initiative. Why don’t you try to lead people into sin? That’s your job!"
"Lead people into sin!" muttered the Evil Spirit contemptuously. "Why Lord, even before I can get a chance to say a blessed word to anyone he has already gone and sinned."1
The temptations of this world are all around us. We are as Luther says, "Saint and sinner at the same." Saint because of the saving power of Christ, and sinner, because we don’t always do what is required of us by God.
A closing story tells of a young man who had that same glorious feeling that Jesus had at his baptism, that out of this world feeling, but then he had to go into the real world, and would he do what God required of him?
Listen:
"Michael was both excited and scared all at the same time. Tonight was his big night, for tonight he would stand up in church to be enrolled in the Christian faith. Michael wondered what would happen, and how he would feel. His Sunday school teacher had warned him that he might not feel any different, but deep down inside Michael was sure his life would utterly change. After all, he was committing himself to Jesus for life, so something wonderful was bound to happen.
It was an inspiring service, and when the time came for Michael and the others to stand up and profess their faith, all fear and anxiety left Michael. He suddenly felt full of confidence, calm and strong, and he knew that God was holding him.
After the service, everybody crowded round congratulating all the youngsters, and offering to help whenever they could. Michael couldn’t see that he’d ever need help again, for now he was a Christian surely everything would be all right. As he walked home with his parents, Michael was overflowing with excitement. He couldn’t help chattering, with the words falling over themselves to fly from his mouth.
"Now I know what eternal life is all about," he informed his parents. "I feel terrific, and it’s because Jesus is inside me."
His mother shot a glance at his father, but replied mildly, "That’s nice, dear."
When he went to school next day he was full of a newfound confidence. There was a zing about him which people couldn’t help noticing. A group of boys gathered round him, and asked him what had happened to make him so different. Proudly, Michael bore witness to his Christianity and to his Lord, grateful that God had given him this opportunity so soon after his commitment.
But to his astonishment all the boys began to laugh and jeer at him. One of them pushed him and he fell down in the mud, then he felt someone kicking him in the ribs. Michael tried to defend himself, but soon the whole gang of boys was on top of him, kicking and punching, tearing at his clothes and his hair, and all the time shouting nasty words into his ears.
When they eventually left him alone, Michael was covered in mud and blood was pouring from his nose and from a nasty cut in his cheek. He staggered home, hurting all over and feeling sore and humiliated inside.
It wasn’t an isolated incident. After that, the boys used to lie in wait for Michael and attack him as soon as any of them set eyes on him. Michael began to dread going to school, and he didn’t know what to do. He prayed and prayed and prayed, but it didn’t make any difference. The boys were still there, and they still beat him up at every opportunity.
It went on for weeks and weeks, and Michael began to wonder whether there really was a God, for how could a God of love allow him to be treated in this way? Michael continued to attend church on Sundays, but his spirits became very low, for Jesus seemed to have completely deserted him. He began to wonder whether he’d been mistaken, and whether there was nothing in Christianity after all, as all his friends constantly told him.
One Sunday, an elderly man approached Michael. Michael recognized him as one of those who had been at his commitment service. "How are you doing, Michael?" asked the man.
Michael shrugged and stared at the ground. The man didn’t say anything for a while, then he nodded towards Michael’s face. "Nasty bruise you’ve got there," he observed.
Michael felt very close to tears. "It’s nothing," he said, in as casual a voice as he could muster.
Then the man began to talk. "I was about your age when I made my commitment," he said. "It was tough going even then, although in those days most people made commitments. But I remember I was so full of myself. It felt so good, and I felt so sure of myself that I wanted to tell everybody, so that they could all share in my experience. I guess maybe I bragged a bit. It was quite the wrong thing to do." He laughed softly to himself, and for a moment seemed to have forgotten Michael, as he continued with his story. "Of course I wanted to witness to my Lord, but I hadn’t quite realized that there are ways and ways of witnessing. The way I had chosen was just putting people off, and they resented my attitude. I’d thought I was following God’s will, but in fact I wasn’t listening to God at all, I was just following my own way."
Then he seemed to remember Michael, for he came to with a start and said, "Dear me, what am I thinking of? All this reminiscing! I came over to ask if you would go on the sidesmans’ rota? When it’s your Sunday, you just have to give out hymnbooks and service sheets and welcome people into church. It’s a really important job, because if people aren’t welcomed properly they soon lose interest. What do you think, will you do it?"
Michael found himself nodding and was surprised at how pleased he felt.
One of the best things about being a sidesman, was that Michael got to know the old man really well. He found he could talk to the old man, who really listened to him, and before long he was pouring out all his difficulties and problems. Nothing he said surprised the old man, who seemed to understand exactly how he felt. And although the old man hardly ever gave him any advice, somehow or other the situation at school got better and better for Michael.
He stopped trying to tell everybody about Jesus at every opportunity, and instead discovered a new sort of inner strength. He was calmer too inside, and the taunts of the other boys didn’t seem to matter quite so much. He found he was laughing more, and life was fun again.
When Michael told the old man what he had discovered about himself, the old man simply nodded and said, "You see, there is a God after all!"
And Michael suddenly realized how God had heard his prayers. And he threw his arms round the old man and hugged him."2
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale March 3, 2003
1A short story from _A Treasury of Jewish Folklore: Stories, Traditions, Legends, Humor, Wisdom and Folk Songs of the Jewish People_, Edited by Nathan Ausubel, Copyright, 1948, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York
2From Sermon and Stories by Revd Janice Stott (http://www.sermons-stories, co.uk)
