First Sunday in Lent                                                                     March 1, 2009

Genesis 9:8-17; Mark 1:9-15                                          Rev. Joel M.Krueger

 

“The Challenge of the Wilderness”

 

Today is the first Sunday in Lent, that season of 40 days that stretches from Ash Wednesday to Easter (not counting the Sundays).  It is a season designed for penitence and for fasting, for looking critically into one’s life and looking to find where one has been lacking in faith or in practice, and through self-denial, repentance and acceptance of God’s forgiveness, it is a season that prepares us for a new life based in the love and life of the resurrected Christ, as celebrated at Easter!

 

And of course the 40 day period of Lent comes directly from the time of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness as mentioned in Mark as well as Matthew and Luke.  Now the writers of these three gospels included the mention of the “40 day” period, not because that may have been how long Jesus was actually out in the wilderness, but because that number had great symbolic meaning to it.  “40" is also the number of years the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness with Moses.  Moses spent 40 days on Mt. Sinai where he received the 10 commandments, and Elijah, the great prophet, traveled for 40 days to Mt. Horeb where he had his experience of God.  To the early Jewish listeners of these gospels, the number “40" would immediately connect them with these important times and people from Israel’s faith history.  

 

But it is the concept of “wilderness,” that I am interested in.  The wilderness, that place of the wild, the un-tamed, the un-inhabitable, the desert, the wasteland, or as Lamar Williamson, the author of the Interpretation Bible Commentary on Mark states, “the dwelling place of forces hostile to God, the residue of the primeval chaos that menaces human life.”  

 

It is to the wilderness where Jesus went immediately following his baptism by John in the Jordan.  It is to the wilderness that he went right after hearing the voice of God say to him, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”  It is to the wilderness that the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that had just descended upon him at his baptism, the Spirit that we imagine so peacefully, and gently coming down into him like a soft, delicate dove, did not simply lead him or invite him into the wilderness, but the idea written here is that the Spirit forcefully “drove” him into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan.

 

It makes you wonder if Jesus may have wanted to think twice about being the “beloved” if this was the reception the beloved receives.  The wilderness, as referred to here in the gospels, is clearly not the kind of place one would want or desire to go to.  

 

The concept of “wilderness” is an intriguing one in our day.  “Wilderness” refers to those places on earth that are still wild, untouched, free of the corruption and destructive forces of humankind in a world where we humans have seemingly come to invade and control almost the entire globe.  There is a certain sense of freedom and innocence that is attached to the idea of wilderness.  Looking in the most recent issue of The Nature Conservancy magazine, you see wilderness as that most important of things earthly and wild worth saving and rescuing from destruction and permanent loss.  It is of wilderness that Henry David Thoreau was speaking when he wrote, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”  We are very much aware of the need for wilderness, not only in our world, but of the importance of the experience in each of our own lives as well.  But I have to say, that sometimes we romanticize the idea of wilderness or at least forget what it is really all about.  

 

When I was younger, just out of college, I asked my Aunt Lois and Uncle Larry if I could go and spend a week in their cabin, as I wanted to think about what I wanted to do with my life.  This was the time right before I decided to go to seminary, and I wasn’t sure yet if that was where God was calling me.  So I wanted to go and spend some time in prayer with God to help make some kind of decision.  Well, the cabin was way up in northern Wisconsin.  Lots of trees and rivers and lakes, sparsely populated, not too unlike many of the wild and beautiful parts of Maine.  And it was the fall, the off-season, so there would be few people up in the woods that time of year.  I drove the 5 or 6 hours from home up to the cabin.  I had to follow the directions that Uncle Larry had given me to turn on the pump so I would have water and where to switch on the power so there was some electricity in the cabin.  

 

It was dark when I arrived and though I had been there a couple times with them, it seemed that night to be quite unfamiliar.  And I even found myself feeling a bit uncomfortable.  But I got myself settled in for the night and after falling asleep, it didn’t seem long before morning came.  Now I don’t really remember a whole lot of my experience up there in the cabin except that being up there alone did not seem to be the most pleasant experience for me.  I wanted to get out and hike and enjoy the beauty of the forests but the mosquitos were amazingly hungry and I felt like I was the only thing within 100 miles that they had to feed on!  The nights were filled with the sounds of tree frogs and various insects and many other neat night sounds, but it all began to seem much too quiet and isolated for me.  The wilderness that I had longed to be in to find some sense of peace, turned out to be a place of tension and uncertainty, a place of unrest and discomfort.  I returned home after only 2 days at the cabin, much to the amusement of my Uncle Larry and much to my own dismay.  I thought I was an outdoorsman but I had failed the test of wilderness solitude.  But it was a good experience for me.  I learned about some of my weaknesses and I learned more about my strengths.  And even though I was a bit embarrassed and felt I had failed, I came out a stronger person.

 

Jesus’ time in the wilderness was certainly an intense and difficult time.  Mark doesn’t give us the details about that time like Luke and Matthew do but we can see in the stories of his early ministry, the results of his time of testing.  He comes out of the wilderness with a sense of confidence and assurance of who he is.  He teaches with an “authority” that others are impressed with.  He has power over demons, suggesting his victory over Satan’s testing in the wilderness.  He heals the sick and returns them to life, just as he was ministered back to health by the angels after his wilderness ordeal.  His wilderness experience had galvanized his sense of purpose and ministry in the world, giving him what he needed to move forward.

 

We can experience times of being in the wilderness without ever coming near a forest or a desert.  The wilderness experience can be any time that we are feeling alone, abandoned or lost.  It can happen at times of unexpected change.  The loss or departure of someone from our lives.  A change in our employment.  The death of a loved one.  A financial crisis.  A sudden diagnosis that fills us with uncertainty.  Many things can make us feel like we are in the wilderness, being tried and tested.

 

But we can learn from Jesus’ time in the wilderness.  First, we need to remember that we are never alone.  Just as Jesus, Moses and the children of Israel, and Elijah learned, God is always present with us, and will lead us through any wilderness we might encounter.  Secondly, we need not be afraid.  Through prayer and openness to God, we can allow the Spirit to guide us, knowing that at times it may be a gentle leading and at other times it may feel very compelling, forceful, filling us with passion to face head-on whatever challenge awaits us.  We can trust the Spirit to give us the courage, confidence and whatever we need to get through our times of testing.  Lastly, just as Jesus was ministered to by the angels, we need to allow our friends within the community of faith to assist us, to minister to us in our need.  We need to share with each other our vulnerabilities and allow others to care for us so that we in turn, might become strong enough to care for and minister to others.  

 

Lent can be a time of practice, learning with each other how to survive being in the wilderness.  Like going up to that cabin in the northwoods for just a couple days at a time, discovering our weaknesses and our strengths, so that if we find ourselves in a real wilderness for a week or for “40 days”we can have the confidence to get through it.  May we enter this season of Lent together, knowing that we are beloved children of God, open to the Spirit’s guidance, following in the steps of Jesus and filled with the love and support of this community of faith.  Amen.