“Our Lenten Journey Begins”

First Sunday in Lent 2006 B

Mark 1:9-15

              Today our Lenten journey begins.  These Sundays in Lent provide us with an opportunity to walk with Jesus through many places and events that ultimately leads us to a destination, the cross.  It is there that Jesus accomplishes for us what we could not do for ourselves, give to us salvation through the forgiveness of our sins, providing us with new life. 

              We begin our journey in a familiar place, on the banks of the Jordan River with John the Baptist.  Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John.  And as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rip open and the Spirit of God descending upon him like a dove.  And Jesus heard a voice come from heaven that said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  The time had come for Jesus to begin his journey.  In his baptism, Jesus is declared the Son of God and given the power of the Holy Spirit.  In this event, Jesus receives his calling and purpose in life.

Baptism is a good place to begin our Lenten journey, because it is the place where we begin our journey as Christians.  It’s our starting point too.  Although Jesus didn’t need to be baptized because of sin, for he was sinless, we are baptized for the forgiveness of our sins.  In the baptismal waters, our sins are washed away, giving to us complete forgiveness.  In fact, it is more than just a washing, it is a drowning, a putting to death our old sinful self so that a new person might arise.  In baptism we go from death to life.  That is the image given to us in the first and second lessons for today.  The floodwaters, which destroyed all but Noah and his family, are contrasted with the baptismal waters of the present day, which bring life and salvation to all who believe.  Another key passage that also talks of this reality of passing through death to life in baptism is found in Romans 6:4: “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  So our Lenten journey begins with baptism.  We are reminded who we are. We are Children of God, cleansed and forgiven. 

Having been given this new identity and new life in baptism, we are ready for the next stage of the journey as we are cast out back into the world to struggle in the wilderness and against temptation.  It is something that comes to all.  The way in which the gospel writer of Mark tells how Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan suggests that Jesus has no choice in the matter.  “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan.”  Nothing is said about this temptation experience in the wilderness, except that there were wild beasts.  Unlike Matthew and Luke, we don’t know how Jesus was tempted or what the temptations were about, but I suspect that Satan tried to tempt Jesus away from his purpose and calling that he just received in his baptism.  It is in Satan’s best interests to stop Jesus from going on his journey and so stop the plan of God for the salvation of the world.  We are not even told if Jesus overcame his battle with temptation, although we assume that he did, as the angels came and ministered to him. 

              What I think we can learn from this short reference to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness is that because Jesus is tempted throughout his life, it can only mean that we will be and are tempted throughout our lives as well.  We have little choice in the matter either, as we are thrown into temptation without ever willing it or even consenting to it.  On this Lenten journey, we must realize that it is in Satan’s interest to tempt us away from our baptismal identity and calling.  It’s hard to think of Red Wing as a wilderness, but it is a kind of wilderness, and our temptations are just as great.  Most of us are not tempted to the awful and great sins that we read and hear about on the news, such as corruption, deceit and murder.  No, I think Satan is more subtle, tempting us inch by inch further away from God and our concern for our fellow human beings and all of creation.

              C.S. Lewis in his book, The Screwtape Letters, has a wonderful passage that highlights this very thing.  Srewtape, the head devil gives some instruction to his nephew Wormwood about his patient.  “You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness.  But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy (that being God).  It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing.  Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.  Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.  Your affectionate uncle….Wormwood.

              In the wilderness that we might call Red Wing, I see the temptation to close our eyes to those in need, the poor and oppressed, the hungry and homeless.  I see the temptation to turn inward and protect our own self-interest, to become less compassionate and caring, to become tight-fisted when it comes to our finances and the needs of others.  I see the temptation to give into society’s preoccupation with image and self-promotion, a concern raised by Jesus in our text for Ash Wednesday in how we participate in the devotional acts of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.  In a society in which “image is everything,” there seems to be no limit to the energy and resources used in satisfying our every need at the expense of others.  Full of ourselves, we are tempted to forget God, thinking that everything that I am and everything that I have is a result of my own effort and abilities. In chasing these other gods, we fall into the power of sin and we forget that we cannot do anything without God’s tender mercies.

              Traveling through this kind of wilderness can be tricky and difficult, causing many to stumble and fall.  But knowing that Jesus has made this journey helps us in our times of trial.  In fact, with his help, we can overcome temptations to sin, enabling us to move on to the next stage of the journey, proclaiming with Jesus that the kingdom of God has come near.  Baptism and the temptations in the wilderness are the preparation for the most important part of the journey, proclaiming the good news of salvation to all people.   God sent Jesus into the world in order to reclaim all of creation for Godself.  It is at this point in our text that I came to a realization, that it really is not my Lenten journey at all, but Jesus’ journey.  The road that Jesus travels is done for me.  He goes to the cross, dies, and is raised from the dead so that I might be set free from the powers of sin and death and have the opportunity to live a new life.  Jesus makes this journey for me.  As he proclaims this good news of the kingdom of God and its presence in our lives, he tells us how we can walk with him along the way, through repentance and faith.  “Repent,” Jesus says, “and believe in the good news.”

              To repent means being sorry for our sins and the wrongs we have done.  It means amending our way, of letting go of our self-indulgent, self-serving attitudes and letting God take control of our lives.  Repentance is being honest with God and ourselves, that we are sinners, and seeing ourselves as who we are: needy, broken people, unable to do as we know we ought.  Where there is repentance, God comes with his forgiveness, mending the broken relationship we have with God and others.  And where there is forgiveness, there is new life.  That’s the good news of the kingdom.

              So our Lenten journey begins on this first Sunday in Lent.  Through the waters of baptism we are given new identities and provided with a purpose and calling.  As we travel through the wilderness, facing many dangerous temptations, we rely on Jesus to lead us and get us through.  We are then given the promise of the kingdom, the good news that is found in repentance and faith.  Jesus is on his way.  The journey is long and hard, a journey that ultimately leads to the cross.  But it is there at the end of the road that Jesus will provide us with the greatest of all gifts, our eternal salvation.  The cross is our focus, it is our signpost., it is our destination.  As Jesus goes on this journey, may we follow him to the end.  Amen.