If the fact that every year the reading for the first Sunday in Lent is some version of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness wasn’t enough, Mark always feels a little harder for the preacher, as all but two verses in this reading we have already heard this year. That’s why this may sound so familiar; you heard it last month. Verses nine through eleven we read on Epiphany Sunday, which was January sixth. And verses fourteen and fifteen were just a few weeks ago, January twenty-first, when Jesus called the first disciples. What is a preacher to do, preaching the exact same text three times in two months! And it’s not like Mark is particularly wordy, and there’s a whole lot in this passage. I mean, the new part is barely two complete sentences.
At least, that’s what I thought on Wednesday morning, when David and I wrestled through a rather uninsightful Bible study. But here’s the thing that never fails to amaze me about scripture. Like Jacob wrestling with an angel at the ford of the Jabbok, if I struggle with a text long enough, I have, at least so far, always come away blessed. And this was the case again this week, when I came across something in a commentary I’d never noticed before.
As we’ve already noted, one of the main ways Mark differs from Matthew and Luke is its brevity. While both Matthew and Luke have these extended stories of exactly how the devil tempted Jesus, with Mark all we get is “he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” We don’t know what he was doing while in the wilderness. Matthew and Luke say he was fasting, Mark just says he was there. And in Matthew and Luke, the temptation by Satan came at the end of the forty days, but Mark isn’t that specific. Was Jesus being tempted the whole time? Which doesn’t make a lot of sense. Considering how easily Jesus will banish demons throughout the rest of the Gospel, it doesn’t seem like it would take him a full forty days.
These are interesting questions, and we could spend a lot of time filling in details about how this scene unfolded. But just this once, I think this is a time when we are not supposed to use our scriptural imagination and fill in the details. I know I’m usually big on scriptural imagination, but I think here we ought to let the unknown be unknown, because it seems like Mark really doesn’t care about what exactly took place between Jesus and Satan while he was being tempted. Instead of focusing on this conflict between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God, Mark seems to be using this very brief scene to continue the revelation begun at Jesus’ baptism and show us a glimpse of what the kingdom of God looks like.
Our reading started with the great cosmic description of Jesus’ baptism, where the heavens were torn apart, the Spirit descended on him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved.” The whole scene is just dripping with allusions to the prophetic promise of the coming reign of God. In case you missed it, the writer is yelling, this guy, this guy right here, he is the one the prophets foretold. All those times the prophets talked about the Son of God and the coming of the Spirit, here he is. This voice from heaven also satisfies one of the expectations of ancient biographical writing, that the hero would be identified by a sign of divine favor. Whether you’re Greek or Hebrew, the writer of Mark’s gospel wants to make sure you cannot miss the message.
And then immediately after this divine revelation, the very same Spirit who just descended on Jesus at his baptism drove him out into the wilderness. One of the perks of Mark is we get these two stories together, so we don’t miss that detail. It is the Spirit who drove Jesus into the wilderness. Not Satan, the Spirit of God. This wilderness testing is also important on two levels. First, and for us probably most obvious, the forty days is a clear allusion to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years and Elijah in the wilderness for forty days. Yet again, the writer of Mark is not-so-subtly pointing out, in case you missed the prophetic hint when the heavens opened, Jesus is the prophetic promise. This temptation scene also fulfills another expectation of ancient biographical writing. After the hero is revealed, the hero has to be tested, thus from the voice of God to wilderness and temptation.
So that’s all interesting, but here’s the thing that’s really cool. Jesus is in the wilderness, and he’s being tempted by Satan and, wait for it, he was with the wild beasts. I’ve read this passage probably hundreds of times, and I always glossed over the wild beasts part, but here’s why that’s important. Think way back to the creation story. Genesis chapter two tells us that God created every animal and bird to be companions for humanity. But then, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of good and evil, the relationship with animals and the earth was broken and God sent them out of the garden. And ever since then, wild animals have posed a danger to humanity, especially in such a harsh, desolate place as the Judean wilderness. But in this story, Jesus is described as being with the wild beasts. Not opposed to them, not protecting himself from them, but just with them. Even though this is way too anthropomorphic, and also the wrong region, I kind of imagine Jesus, a lion, and a wildebeest all hanging out together roasting s’mores around a campfire while they wait for the forty days to be up so Jesus can begin his ministry. The point is, for Jesus the conflict between humanity and creation that sin created simply doesn’t exist. Jesus in the wilderness with the wild beasts is a glimpse of what life was like before sin entered the world, what life will be like in the kingdom of God. When, as the prophet Isaiah wrote, “the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the cow and the bear shall graze, and a little child shall lead them.” And there’s angels there too, another sign of Jesus’ relationship with God the father. Mark’s description of the wilderness is not one of fear, it is a glimpse of what paradise will be like, it is a foretaste of the day when, said Isaiah, “justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruit field. The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.”
And then, because it’s Mark, just as abruptly as we entered the wilderness, we’re out. Verse fourteen, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, ‘the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.’” And remember for Mark what the good news is. Remember the good news is not news as we think of it, it’s not words or a message. The good news is physical, tangible, tactile, it is something you can see, and touch, hear and smell and even taste. The good news is Jesus himself, the Word made flesh who dwells among us. So when Jesus says “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near,” he meant that literally. The time is fulfilled because Jesus, the one foretold, is here. The kingdom of God has come near because the kingdom of God is Jesus, standing in our presence.
That, dear friends in Christ, is what we celebrate in Lent. These forty days are not about a time we have to endure in order to get to the good part on the other end. This is the good part, because the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near. Jesus is here. Every time we dip our hands in the font, every time we eat the bread and drink the wine, we are experiencing the kingdom of God in our midst.
You might notice the banner from epiphany is still up in the corner between the trees. I confess part of the reason it’s still up is I forgot to take it down before the noon Ash Wednesday service, I didn’t notice it until during the service, at which point it was too late. But, once I noticed it, I actually decided I liked it and decided to leave it up. Because I like the way the white and gold glitters through the bare trees, it felt like a reminder that God is with us in the wilderness, a foretaste of the coming resurrection.
Wilderness times can be frightening times. We have been raised to believe that the wild beasts are threats, that wilderness is risk. But Mark’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus is not telling us about the good news of God, he IS the good news of God. The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is not coming near, it has come, it is here already. In water and word, in bread and wine, the promised reign of peace is now. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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