Sermon: First Sunday in Lent, Mark 1:9-15
February 18, 2024
Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman
On Ash Wednesday, we began our Lenten journey. Lent is a season that lasts forty days, which is intended to correspond to Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan, the adversary, and was waited on by angels.
Thus, it’s a tradition that the Gospel reading on the First Sunday in Lent is the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. You may not know this, but Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospel books in the Bible. Mark gets to the point with fewer words and much less elaboration than the other gospel writers, Matthew, Luke and John.
So, in Mark, the story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is only two verses long: “And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.” (Mark 1:12-13). That’s it. No record of any confrontational conversation with Satan. No description of how it is that the angels waited on Jesus. And we don’t know if the wild beasts were friend or foe to Jesus. With no elaboration, this leaves a lot to the imagination.
Because this passage is so short, those who put together the Sunday readings included in today’s gospel passage Mark’s brief account of Jesus’ baptism and then also the beginning of his public ministry in Galilee. Maybe they did this to make a very short reading a bit longer….
So, we in fact have three distinct stories in today’s 7 short verses. Which is a good thing, because Mark’s brevity allows us to see in bold relief the inter-relatedness of the stories of the baptism, the 40 days in the wilderness, and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
Which is to say, we can see how Jesus’ baptism led promptly to the wilderness time of testing – “the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness” – which then immediately resulted in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when he proclaimed the good news of God saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the dominion of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:13b-15)
One story leads naturally to the next and then to the other in logical, causal progression. And this linking of stories is a perfect way for us to begin our 40-day Lenten journey. You see, Lent is no longer understood as an extended Holy Week or a 40-day long observance of Good Friday.
No. In the ancient church, Lent was the time for the final preparations on the part of catechumens for baptism at the Easter Vigil. So, we have in recent decades rediscovered and reclaimed Lent’s baptismal focus and contextualization.
So, for the account of Jesus’ baptism to be read again on the first Sunday in Lent helps us see in bold relief Lent’s baptismal focus. And insofar as the forty days of Lent parallel Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, what happened to Jesus is what happens to us as his followers.
Like Jesus, we are baptized and in our spiritual and theological imaginations, we see the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon us. And with the ears of faith, we hear the voice: “You are my child, the Beloved; with you I am well-pleased.” (cf. Mark 1:10-11)
The covenant that God establishes with us in baptism, when our sinful old Adam is drowned in the flood of sacramental waters, hearkens back to the story of the flood in Genesis and the covenant that God made with Noah and his family and all the animals that were in the ark. Here’s what we heard in today’s first reading: “When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (cf. Genesis 9:14-16). Likewise, God’s covenant with us in baptism is an everlasting covenant of embrace of us as a new creation – just as our rainbow banners reveal God’s welcome to all people here in this place.
The author of 1 Peter helpfully reveals the connection between Noah and the flood and what Jesus accomplished on the cross for our salvation, which is also realized for us in the waters of baptism. Listen to it again:
“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.” (1 Peter 3:18-22)
What saving wonders are accomplished for us in baptism! Thanks be to God!
But baptism doesn’t just save us – which, of course it does – it also sends us on a mission. Which is to say, when we are baptized, the effect is that the Spirit immediately also drives us into the wilderness of testing in our own lives and circumstances.
The truest and deepest meanings of baptism go beyond the niceties of cultural Christianity where having babies baptized is just part of traditions that honor the wishes of grandparents. And baptism authentically understood cannot be reduced to an insurance policy against going to hell – hence the medieval concern that if you’re not baptized, you’re doomed to eternal punishment. No, baptism saves us and then initiates us into being followers of Jesus Christ who invites us to take up the cross when following him.
Again, living our baptism rightly understood drives us into the wilderness of our lives, those desolate places where we may find wild beasts. Baptism propels us into a world of sin and brokenness where we are challenged and meet opposition in our endeavors to love others unconditionally, and show compassion and mercy and live our lives in humility – all of those values which seem contrary to the spirit of our times.
But just as the angels waited on Jesus in the wilderness with the wild beasts and Satan, so too are we ministered to by the Spirit and our own angelic messengers.
The angels of our lives, those who are messengers from God for us, may well be sitting right next to you right now, or in the pew in front of you or in back of you. That’s the gift of the covenant God makes with us in baptism to “live among God’s faithful people.” It’s the gift of Christian community which we enjoy.
And the angels of God wait on us and minister to us in our covenantal relationship with God in baptism as we “hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper.” Which is what we’re doing right now, God’s angels ministering to us in word and sacrament.
These angelic visitations strengthen and renew our faith, giving us hope and good courage to resist the trials and temptations and testings of our desolate wilderness journeys of life in discipleship of Jesus. This is good news, friends!
And just as Jesus ended his wilderness time of testing by returning to Galilee to begin his public ministry, so, too, do we go public with our ministry after our baptism and amidst times of wilderness testing. In short, our baptismal covenant beckons us “to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”
Thus, in our own loving words and deeds, we in our own ways proclaim the good news: “The time is fulfilled, and the dominion of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
This is what Lent is all about. And this is what the Christian life is all about as we are driven by the Spirit to live out the gift of baptism in worldly wilderness all the while trusting and proclaiming that indeed in Christ, God’s dominion is close by. Amen.
