First Presbyterian Church
February 18, 2024, Lent 1B
Waters and Wilderness (and Wild Beasts)
For some, this reading for the first Sunday of Lent, from Mark's gospel, is a disappointment. "Where are the actual temptations?" they might ask. "Where's any temptation at all?" Part of the qualm is that, where Matthew and Luke have extensive temptation accounts, each with three specific tests named and played out - not just the temptations themselves (yes, including the temptation to turn stones to bread), but Jesus's answers to them - "man does not live by bread alone..." for example. While Matthew's account expands through eleven verses and Luke's covers thirteen, Mark's temptation account only takes two.
In fact, today's reading is somewhat padded by material that's already been covered in the lectionary. Verses 9-11 came up on the Sunday on which we marked the Baptism of the Lord, and verses 14-15 appeared on the Third Sunday after Epiphany. Those two meager verses about the temptation are indeed our only "new" material for this first Sunday of Lent.
However, one can also point out that this combination of verses is new, and it may have something to teach us. These verses also clue us in on how Mark is presenting this Jesus character in ways that resonate deeply with the religious tradition they know.
First we return to the Jordan River, where John, who typically baptized for the repentance of sin, baptized Jesus, who (as our faith reminds us) didn't sin. In another gospel this becomes a point of contention, as John protests the roles should be the other way 'round, but Jesus convinces him to do it anyway, and the baptism happens. Mark's account skips all that but adds some drama to what Jesus sees as he comes up from the water - memorably describing the heavens as "torn apart" before the dove-like Spirit descends on Jesus.
Waters have a pretty interesting track record in Hebrew scripture, beginning somewhat mysteriously at the very beginning of Genesis. As early as the second verse darkness covers "the deep" and a wind from God blows over those waters, which are still later separated and eventually the oceans are formed. Early in Exodus we see a mother hiding her newborn son in a basket and setting it loose in the waters to keep a Pharaoh's soldiers from killing him; he is found and taken in by an Egyptian princess, but eventually Moses becomes the one who leads the Hebrew people out of Egypt. Those Hebrew people pass through both the Red Sea and the Jordan River en route to the promised land. Even the prophet Jonah spends a little time underwater, thanks to the efforts of a great fish, before being deposited at Nineveh to do the work God had called him to do.
Those are just a few examples. It's not a surprise that water, and immersion in it, becomes a part of an important religious practice, but the act of being immersed and then raised up works out pretty well as foretelling the ultimate earthly fate of this fellow that John was called upon to baptize.
Before Jesus has even had a chance to dry off after the baptism, he is "compelled" into the wilderness. Matthew and Luke (and this verse in the NIV) offer words like "led," but nothing so gentle here; the NRSV offers "the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness" (emphasis mine). And no, we don't get any kind of account on how Jesus is "tested," which itself is a different interpretation than "tempted"; it suggests that one's strength or skill or faithfulness is being specifically tried, instead of one being lured or enticed into some sort of sin.
Testing in the wilderness is, again, not new. The Hebrew people faced plenty of it on their way to the promised land, and they didn't always pass those tests. The prophet Elijah faced his times of trial in the wilderness, and David had to go on the run from Saul before becoming King himself. Again, the wilderness, like the water, have a history in the history of the Hebrew people, but there are new things here too.
Take those angels, who were present to minister to Jesus. That's not something you find in those Old Testament stories. That again adds something new to this story even if it starts out looking or sounding familiar.
And then there are those wild beasts.
Yes, I know, the NIV uses the technically correct translation "wild animals." But let's be honest: "wild beasts" as found in the NRSV and other translations, just sounds cooler.
While it might seem an obvious thing to expect wild animals in the wilderness, it's not the kind of thing that typically comes up in those accounts in Hebrew scripture. Also, for all the attention-getting quality of the inclusion of the "wild beasts," there isn't any particular indication that these wild animals actually did anything; no suggestion that Jesus had to wrestle with them or any such thing. The verse simply says "he was with the wild animals."
This might be something to think about. It was noted above that wild animals weren't typical of those earlier stories, but they aren't totally absent. There is the story of Daniel, who ends up in that den of lions but comes out unharmed. On one of Elijah's times in the wild, ravens actually came to bring food to him.
What if, instead of being a part of the threat and peril of the wilderness, the "wild beasts" were really there to, well, be with Jesus. What if what we're seeing here, instead of a threat to Jesus along with all of Satan's testing, is the "wild beasts" - indeed, creation itself - recognizing their Creator, the one who in the prologue of John's gospel was "in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being"? If we take this possibility, it really does set Mark's temptation story apart from those in Matthew and Luke. No less that creation itself was at Jesus's side in his time of testing. Later in this chapter we see that unclean spirits know exactly who Jesus is, with plenty of fear; maybe the creatures of the wilderness know who Jesus is as well.
And speaking of those unclean spirits or demons; while Mark doesn't specifically say anything about how this testing came out, the way those demons react to Jesus later in the chapter suggest Jesus passed those tests just fine.
So, we've had "three w's" - water, wilderness, wild beasts - in this account so far. Verses 14-15 give us one more "w": witness. When this testing is done Jesus is out proclaiming. He goes back to Galilee and begins to bear witness. It's really the theme of Mark's gospel, his "topic sentence," his "mission statement":
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near; repent, and believe in the good news.
There it is: Jesus's message in a nutshell, and not at all a bad theme to hold in mind throughout this season of Lent. We get the "repent" message plenty in this season, with all of the emphasis on penitence and reflection, but maybe we would be well served to hold on to that "believe" part of Jesus's proclamation as well; to know that the time is fulfilled, or at hand, and the kingdom of God has drawn near to us. In Jesus, repentance is never a hopeless act, not with the reign of God at hand.
So make that part of your Lenten discipline; repent, with hope in God's sovereignty. Like those wild beasts, recognize the Creator with us. See the Spirit descending like a dove. Know that even - no, especially - in this season of Lent, God is with us.
Believe in the good news.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Hymns (from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal unless otherwise noted): #166, Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days; #---, When Jesus came from Nazareth; #410, God is Calling through the Whisper
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