The Wilderness of This World

Genesis 9:8-17, Psalm 25:1-10, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15

First Sunday of Lent, March 5, 2006

Heritage Congregational Church, Madison, WI

Today in Mark we read of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Did you notice how short and to the point Mark’s version is? The other tellings of this story in Matthew and Luke are much longer with more detail. These is actual dialogue between Jesus and the Devil, as reflected in today’s dramatic reading. I think it is important for us to remember when we look at this story that Jesus does not go into the wilderness unprepared. He has been baptized. He has heard God’s voice speak to Him and support Him. Jesus knows that God is with Him as He meets evil.

In the dramatic reading this morning, evil in the form of the Devil was shown to be compassionate, knowledgeable and reasonable. The Devil knew God’s ways and will and was well schooled in God’s Word. The Devil also recognized hunger in the person of Jesus, knowing where the very human Jesus was vulnerable. The Devil knew how to disguise himself to appear as an angel of light. He almost sounds like the Satan character in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, where a young apprentice of Satan is taught by the master of evil how to tempt human beings through manipulation of their vulnerabilities and telling them what they want to hear.

We all have our own ideas about the existence of evil in the world, but I believe we would all say that we are tempted, that we have to choose between right and wrong. As Christians we struggle to act in a way that is in harmony with our faith. Some of us would say that they believe we are all confronted with evil, that the presence of evil in the world is the source of true temptation-temptation to do that which is destructive, violent, harmful or mean-spirited. Still others of us believe in an evil being: Satan, the Devil, Leviathan or any other host of names we find in the Biblical witness. Not all of us believe the same or have had the same experiences with the concept of evil, but today I ask you to think about the presence of evil in the world.

The first time I remember clearly a mention of evil was the first year I went to WCA camp. I had been on the job in Beloit working with youth and children for about two weeks, and had never been to camp in my life. It was a big learning curve for me! As soon as I arrived at camp I learned that every counselor was to give a talk at Campfire, a talk about faith and personal experience. I was horrified. There was one counselor whose campfire I will never forget. She talked about a time in her life when she was experiencing a severe depression, and one night when swimming she met evil when she was underwater. She spoke of its darkness, its ugliness, and the hold it had on her. It wanted her to join it in the darkness. Like in today’s drama, this evil knew where she was vulnerable. It knew how to speak her language and lure her in. But like Jesus in the wilderness, she felt loved and protected by God. It wasn’t easy for her to move away from it, from the evil power that was luring her to darkness. She was so depressed, so not herself. But someplace deep inside of her she felt God’s presence more strongly than that of evil, and certainly more trustworthy. And so she pulled herself away from the strong lure of evil, came up out of the water and was free. It was like she had been given new life, it was like a baptism. And more than anything she said, she knew that she did not do it alone. It was only by God’s grace that she was able to come up out of that dark and compelling darkness.

I had never been one to think of evil as a being, in the person of the Devil or Satan, but when she spoke it made me think of the times when I had been confronted with a negative and destructive feeling that was other-worldly. And since that time I have become more acutely aware of naming evil when I feel its presence. Before, I might have thought of a power or an act as bad, destructive or violent. But there are times now when I know I’m being confronted with something that is more than just bad, it is truly evil. It doesn’t happen often, but its presence is unmistakable. Evil has a quality to it that is unlike any other—it seeks to tempt us with the opposite of repentance. Repentance means to turn toward God, to change our perspective from that of ourselves or the world, and to look at God first and God along. Evil’s purpose is to lure us away from God, and away from our identity as Children of God. Evil wants to depend on ourselves and not on our Creator. It wants us to resist moving toward a right relationship with God, to doubt our faith, and to think that we don’t need God

The theme for this year’s Lenten season is Transformation. And today’s readings begin with the basics for the journey of transformation. In Genesis, the Psalm and 1 Peter we are told of God’s unending promises to us. The rainbow in the sky is God’s promise that humankind will never again be destroyed by God, that God will always be with us, even though we may stray. The psalm is a glorious proclamation of God’s hesed, God’s steadfast love, and this love causes the psalmist to turn to God for protection and guidance, a true and honest response of trust in God’s love. 1 Peter tells us that through Christ’s baptism we participate in Christ’s resurrection. We have been given the promise of eternal life.

In Mark, we find Jesus entering the wilderness of temptation prepared by God’s anointing voice at His baptism, sure of God’s regard for Him, sure of God’s protection and God’s love. Jesus knew He was entrusted with a sacred ministry to fulfill. And because of what God had given Him, Jesus was able to resist the very real temptations thrust upon Him in the wilderness.

We also have a ministry to fulfill. And like Jesus we are tempted. Evil is present, knowing how to relate to us, knowing where we are vulnerable, knowing our doubts and our weaknesses. There is more to the business of temptation than a little devil on one shoulder and a little angel on the other, saying do this or do that. In the wilderness of this world evil is much more subtle than that. Evil can creep into our lives little by little, influencing our decision making and our perceptions, until we are no longer ourselves and cannot see our way back.

I don’t know how many of you have seen a film called A Simple Plan, but I have never seen the work of evil portrayed so accurately. It was the scariest thing I have ever seen. A group of family members and friends happen upon a crashed plane in the woods, and there they find no survivors, but a great deal of money. The choice before them is this: Do they turn the money in to the local legal authorities or do they tell one little lie of omission and keep the money for themselves? They choose the latter, and with that choice the door to evil is cracked open. As the story progresses one lie becomes another and another. Evil continues to creep in, opening the door slowly and steadily until it is all the way open. Lives are destroyed. They are all doing things they would have never thought of before. There is murder and mayhem, destruction and ugliness. The characters are no longer themselves and they cannot see their way back. It is the scariest thing I have ever seen.

So why do we talk about evil on the first Sunday of Lent? Like Jesus who was tempted in the wilderness, we live in the wilderness of this world, facing temptation daily, sometimes encountering the presence of evil as Jesus did. Like Jesus, we are taking a journey toward God’s Kingdom, with ministry to do along the way. Our wilderness time helps to prepare us for the ministry God has placed in our care, just as it prepared Jesus for His ministry.

When Jesus grappled with temptation, He was made stronger for the fulfillment of His ministry, His identity was strengthened, His calling made more clear, His relationship with His Father cemented.

The same is true with us. When we struggle with temptation, with the presence of evil in the world, we learn to discern which way we should go. God’s character and truth shine out, while that of evil grows darker and smells of lies and trickery. God’s purpose for our lives becomes more evident, our calling more clear.

In living in the wilderness, we are led to a place of trust with God, trust that believes as the psalmist does in God’s steadfast love, mercy and protection, trust that believes in the promise made after the flood, trust that believes that we share in both Christ’s baptism and resurrection. This is the trust that helps us to walk with Jesus on this Lenten journey, toward Jerusalem, toward the cross, toward the glory of Resurrection.

For us, this Lenten season is all about Transformation. Lent means lengthening. At this time of the year, the days grow longer. There are still twenty-four hours, but we have more daylight and that makes us feel as if we have more time. I like to look at the Lenten season as a gift of time from God, time to grow closer, time to spend as much time with God as possible, time to invite God into our lives to work toward our transformation. And, we do these things in community, within our church, our community of faith, that we may work together with God for the common good, for the building up of faith in the individual and in the community, that God’s will may be done.

That is why we begin this Lenten season by contemplating the presence of evil in the world. we must learn to know how to identify what is from God and what is not. This is the first step of transformation-- discernment for living in the wilderness of this world, helping us to discover where we are headed and where we are not, strengthening our trust in our Creator and learning to believe in God completely, choosing God over any temptation that might come our way

Amen.