The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
12At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
The Calling of the First Disciples
14After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
A seeker after truth came to a wise and revered saint for guidance. “Tell me, wise one, how did you become holy?” TWO WORDS. “And what are they?” RIGHT CHOICES. The seeker was fascinated and could not contain his enthusiasm. “How does one learn to choose rightly?” ONE WORD. “One word! One word! May I have it, please? The seeker asked. GROWTH. The seeker was thrilled, “How does one grow?” TWO WORDS. “What are they pray tell?” WRONG CHOICES.
This is God’s purpose in times of testing- to help us grow- to show us we have the faith and ability by grace to stand up to the testing. That we will trust God in difficult times to strengthen our faith and Christian character. At the same time, Satan has his own purpose- to turn those being tested away from God- to tempt them to sin. These competing intentions- testing by God and tempting by Satan- are confusing, especially when they are at play in the same scenario. This is the case in Mark’s temptation story that comes at us today as terse, strange, and hazy.
The temptation story is only two verses but there is a lot to unpack. After being baptized in the Jordan with the Trinity all present and accounted for, the Spirit drives Jesus out, literally throws him into the desert. This is God’s will that Jesus be sent out to the wilderness to be tested. There Satan tempts Jesus. Satan has several names in Scripture that tell us all we need to know of his job descriptions. Satan means “adversary- to be hostile”. Devil means “the slanderer”. Other names/ job descriptions include “the destroyer, the accuser, the tempter, and the Evil One”.
The Greek word for tempt is the same as test. It has both meanings; to test and to tempt. To test means to learn the nature of something or character of someone by submitting to testing. To determine what they know or what they can do. The book of Deuteronomy captures this “for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your hearth and soul”. To see if our faith is for real. To tempt, as “the Tempter” does, means to obtain information to be used against such person to cause someone to make a mistake. To attempt to cause someone to sin. To entice us to want to do something contrary to God’s will.
Mark tells us that Jesus is out in the wilderness with wild beasts. This is the only place in the gospel this word that translates wild beast or animal appears. Imagine what it meant in Jesus’ day to be “out there”, outside the safety of civilization. In Revelation, the Anti-Christ is called “the beast”, the ultimate in evil personified. There is that feeling of wild beasts crouching, lying in wait, ready to overwhelm. In Genesis, in the story of Cain and Abel the Lord says, “If you do not do what is right, then sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
This is the first Sunday in Lent. We consider ourselves to be mature and modern for talk of wild beasts. We are no longer afraid of the dark and are too advanced for the devil. Is Jesus telling us we need to take the dark & the devil more seriously?
When I was in grade school on Saturday night I would watch Creature Features.
At 10:30 PM when the rest of the family had gone to sleep, I would tune in the monster movie of the week; Frankenstein, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Dracula, and Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster. The classics. I lived to be terrified Saturday Night. My family lived on a five acre farm with cats, dogs, chickens, and horses. It was my responsibility to feed the dogs and cats in the barn every day. The problem was by the end of the day it was dark at night. I would reluctantly make my way out there, alert for creatures of the night, and beasts in the barn. Most nights, I’d finish my chores and race back to the safety of the house. There was a pitch black night, I cautiously opened the barn door and while I was searching for the light, something grabbed my leg. I ran out of the barn screaming. When I calmed down, I realized the beast in the barn was a mouse. It had run right up inside my pant leg.
We are no longer tempted to scream when the lights are turned out. We know there are no ghosts and no Dracula. That’s our bathrobe hanging on the door. That’s not a beast crouching ready to pounce, that’s the recliner. And that is not a Teenage Werewolf, that is the out-of-control Rhododendron in the backyard. Question: Are we justified in not having a fear of the dark? Do our children know more than us?
Today’s gospel is honest about the presence & threat of evil in these metaphorical “wild beasts” with Jesus. There is a reason that the story of Jesus’ temptation is presented every first Sunday in Lent. After his baptism and before he makes his decisive move toward Good Friday, Jesus is tempted and tested. In most cases in Mark, the testers are human agents. As we go to the Cross this Lent, we need to be reminded that we, too, are subject to temptation and testing. So many Sundays we are upbeat and joyful. Jesus is the one who saves, blesses us, and forgives us. We welcome his salvation. But, this encounter with wild beasts emphasizes that Jesus is also about the defeat of hostile powers of sin, death, and forces that oppose God. The wild beasts are the shadow side of reality, the deep dark world of chaotic evil.
William Willimon writes, “Jesus comes not only to be our friend, to comfort and guide us, but also to be our comrade-in-arms in those situations when we must stand face-to-face and must go toe-to-toe with the enemy. When you must go in enemy territory- the cancer ward, the pain of injustice, the valley of the shadow of death, the places of hate and prejudice, know this, Jesus has invaded it before you. You walk not alone. If the church only has a word that is sunny, upbeat, bright, cheerful, then we haven’t told the whole story of who Jesus is. If it won’t play in a cancer ward or a nursing home, whatever it is, it is not the gospel”. The complaint against clergy is often, “they don’t live in the real world” insulated in the church. Maybe. But, Jesus tells us about a real world that is robust with grace and blessing & in jeopardy with sin & death. The real world is visible/invisible, earthly/eternal.
The real world is not clearly and neatly segregated into good and evil, black and white, saintly and sinful. In his “People of the Lie” Scott Peck says that, if anyone is looking for genuine evil, then one ought look first within the synagogue or church. It is the nature of evil to “hide among the good” or I might say among the sinful. Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Lucifer is his name, after all. This means that the church is at risk when we operate as if we are a safe haven from sin.
That because we have Word & Sacrament therefore we are all immune from trials and temptation. Paul writes, “Watch yourself, or you will be tempted. If anyone thinks he is something, he deceives himself”. Beware, be honest, most of all, be real. If we retire from the battle with wild beasts like addictions. Stop invading enemy territory like a cancer ward. Forget our duty to walk through the valley of the shadow of death with our sisters/ brothers. Refuse to confess sin and repent, then the church is compromised. Jesus loves us at close range. He comes to us as we are in the world that we have. By his death and resurrection, we trust that God has the final and decisive word over sin, death, & evil. Yet the struggle continues.
Titanic testing, everyday temptation, reality of saint/sinner is very real right here.
In the movie, “Doubt” Meryl Streep stars as Sister Aloysius, the resident dragon at a Catholic school in the Bronx in the 1960’s. She patrols worship smacking youth who fall asleep who are instantly bolt upright. Her motto is, “Every easy choice today leads to hard consequences tomorrow”. When Philip Seymour Hoffman, Father Flynn, joins the faculty, there is immediate mutual suspicion and dislike.
Father Flynn is a gifted communicator & favorite of the students. Sister Aloysius suspects him of inappropriate relations with vulnerable male students. Finally, they have a showdown. Sister Aloysius declares, “Once I go, I will not stop”. Father Flynn reacts, “You have no right to disobey. You have taken vows. You don’t have any proof”. The Sister says, “I have my certainty.” “There are things beyond your knowledge. I cannot tell you everything. Where is your compassion?” “Nowhere you can get at it. I have no sympathy for you. You are invulnerable to true regret.”
The finale is left elusive and unclear. Her young protégé tells her, “I wish I could be like you. Then I could sleep soundly. Sister Aloysius concludes, “In pursuit of wrong-doing there is a price to pay. I have doubts, such doubts. Maybe we aren’t supposed to sleep well.” Father Flynn is promoted and Sister Aloysius has doubts.
The ending leaves you puzzled. Who was good and who was evil? Who was right and who was wrong? How can these church characters be both such a mix of morality and mayhem? Where is your compassion? I have my certainty. I wish I could be like you. Things we say in the church. It is okay to have doubts. I know I have mine. What we need to take away from today’s gospel is not that we have all the answers but that we are never alone. Maybe we aren’t supposed to sleep well.
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