Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A Sunday Message for February 26, 2012

“In the Wilderness”
(pt. 1 of “Going Places with Jesus for Lent”)
Mark 1:9-15 and Genesis 1:24-31

“And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” (Mark 1:12-13)

(Sermon preached by Rev. Larry A. Langer, First Presbyterian Church, Jasper, IN, February 26, 2012)

As I was eating breakfast Thursday morning, I noticed a “Thank You” card on our table. I looked, and it was from a newly-married couple for the wedding gift we had given them. Martha had gotten them a gift card for the Bonefish Grill, a really wonderful restaurant over in Evansville.

I thought about this gift for this couple. It probably was a perfect gift for them. It will encourage them to “get away” for a nice evening out. They are both very busy professionals in this area. They have tight schedules, schedules that have them working evenings sometimes. They are both in their forties and both have married for the first time. They have been making separate lives up ‘til now, so they really have all the need. What do you give a couple like this? We gave them a gift card for a night out at the Bonefish Grill.

Now, let’s shift from the secular to the sacred. What do we give as a gift to the God we have? We are now in the Season of Lent when we especially think about these things. The Jasper Herald even had an article on the front page last Wednesday night about it being Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and what a couple of pastors were going to “give” for Lent.

We remember that Lent has traditionally been a time of “giving up” something, things like desserts, chocolate, meat on Fridays, that extra mocha latte. We have also tried to give up quarreling or critiquing others, especially our children. The pastors asked said they were not so much going to “give up” something as they were going to “take up” something. They were going to “take up” fasting or extra study or even walking more and meditating.

Our Executive Presbyter, Rev. Susan McGhee, puts out a writing for “Holy Days and Holidays,” and put out a writing for Ash Wednesday. It reads, in part,
Part of the tradition of Ash Wednesday was a community service at lunchtime. Father Kirk Haas, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, always served as the officiant. As we finished our lunches, he would give us each a slip of paper and a pencil, and instruct us to spend a few moments in personal reflection. How would we observe a holy Lent this year? What might try to keep us from doing so? What might we need to let go of? What burdens or barriers might there be for us? What wounds or wonderings? What fear or failing? If we wished we could write these down on the slips of paper, crumple them up, and place them in an urn. A match was dropped into the urn and the papers burned up. Then as each person came forward, the sign of the cross was made with the ash and the words “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

Then concluded Susan:
We left the church and went about our day. But that night, as I washed my face, I saw the ash cross on my forehead and realized that all that day I had been wearing all the burdens, barriers, wounds, wonderings, fears and failings of my sisters and brothers from throughout the community.

Well, friends, we didn’t use ashes for the cross on our foreheads last Wednesday night. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need the ash cross to remind me of the burdens, barriers, wounds, wonderings, fears and failings of myself, of you, of our sisters and brothers, of those in our families, in our community and in our government and governments around the world. I don’t know about you, but I feel all of these things in my mind, my shoulders and back, in my heart, all the way to my soul.

This year during Lent, if we are honest, I don’t believe that any of us need reminding of the burdens, barriers, wounds, wonderings, fears and failings in our lives. What we need in our honesty is the assurance that we are walking with the Lord with these burdens. Thus, on Ash Wednesday, I made the sign of the cross with anointing oil and said not only “From dust you have come and to dust you shall return,” but also, “Go and walk in the strength of the Lord.” What we don’t need is a reminder of all the stuff that we face if we are honest; what we need is the assurance that we are walking with the Lord. This is what we are considering and trying to do during Lent, if we are honest.

This first Sunday of Lent, we are considering being in the wilderness with Jesus. We have read once again the familiar passage at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus comes out of his growth years in Nazareth and is baptized by John the Baptist. We read of God’s proclamation from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

I hope we realize that when we were each baptized, God also spoke these words through the person baptizing us: “You are God’s son; you are God’s daughter; you are God’s beloved; with you God will be well-pleased.” In our baptism, God put his sign and seal on us that we are his beloved children, sons and daughters, men and women.

Then we read and remember what happened next. As soon as Jesus felt close to and beloved by God his Father, quote, “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness for forty days, to be tempted by Satan, and be was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.”

I got a different perspective this year on the phrase “and he was with the wild beasts.” I have always pictured that Jesus was having to hide and had to elude the wild things. I know that this is probably what we would have to do if we were in a wilderness somewhere. In fact, there is a place in Queensland, Australia, that I was reading about where tourists love to go, especially to go camping, because it has “exceptional beauty” and a “rare combination of tall rainforests and towering sand dunes.” It is the world’s largest sand island. However, it is also home to the largest population of native Australian dingoes – about 200 living in 30 packs. And, these dingoes, or wild dogs, are attacking people and literally carrying off babies.

But back home to Jesus’ wilderness and wild beasts, and our wildernesses and wild beasts. The different perspectives on Jesus and the wild beasts is that Jesus is with the “comforting, peaceful, reassuring” beasts. Rev. William Willamon writes:
I remind you that Mark’s gospel begins with the Greek word “genesis.” Just as the creation story begins in the first book of the Bible with “In the beginning,” so Mark begins his story of Jesus with, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ…” Get it? Mark is saying that Jesus Christ is sort of like God starting all over again with creation, finishing the work that was begun in Genesis. God intended for us to live in harmony with creation. The man and the woman were meant to live with all the animals. But of course, that’s not what we got. What God got was man and woman not content to be creatures and rebelliously desiring to be creators unto themselves. The sad disorder of a degraded creation is all around us. So, out there in the dark, in the wilderness on this First Sunday in Lent, in Jesus. But he is not done. He is there with the comforting, peaceful, reassuring beasts. In Jesus, a wounded creation is being held.

Isn’t this an interesting perspective on Jesus in the wilderness – that he’s not out there being attacked by them, but just being with them as another part of God’s creation. Then the verse also said, “The angels attended him.”

Alright. He has been baptized. He is God’s Son, the Beloved. He was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. He was with the wild beasts and angels attended him. But we are leaving something out. The verses also say, “He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan.” This was the “bugaboo” Jesus faced; it wasn’t the wild animals; Jesus had to face the temptations of Satan.

From our knowledge of the other gospels, we know what these temptations are, too. Satan tempted Jesus to use his super-natural powers to turn stones to bread. Jesus said, “No, we do not live by bread alone, but by the words of the Lord.” Satan tempted Jesus to test God’s love by throwing himself off the “pinnacle of the temple.” Jesus said, “No one should do something stupid, testing God’s love.” Satan tempted Jesus to take over the leadership of the earth over which Satan had power. Jesus said, “No way. My Father has given you the power for the time being. Soon he will take it back and give it to me. Be gone, Satan!”

You know, Saints, that it isn’t the wild beasts that we are with that cause us our problems; it is the challenges and offers of Satan. In our service Wednesday evening, we read James’ chapter one. Of interest for us today is James 1:12-16, which reads:
Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil (we remember Jesus’ responses!) and God himself tempts no one. But a person is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, given birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved.

It is the temptations we face that we are concerned about during Lent: The temptations to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, as if we are the centers of the universe. The temptations to think that just because we thought of something, it is right and the right thing to do. The temptations to think that just because a friend said something that it is the gospel truth. The temptation to put personal preferences ahead of a common goal. The temptation to not face our own demons but to blame all our problems on others, including God.

The good news is, after Jesus stood down Satan, he came out of the wilderness proclaiming the good news: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe the good news.”

Saints, this is what Lent can be for us. It doesn’t have to be a time of sack cloth and ashes. It doesn’t have to be a time of shouldering all our burdens. But what it should be is a time of really, really hearing the good news that Jesus brings, getting rid of our burdens and living a more Christ-like life.

If we would do this these next forty days of Lent in the wilderness with Jesus, then let’s take to heart Psalm 25 and make a gift to our Holy God, the only gift God needs at all – Ourselves. If we would be in the wilderness with Jesus, then let us pray these words from Psalm 25:
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust, do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. Do not let those who wait for you to be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make us to know your ways, O Lord; teach us your paths. Lead us in your truth, and teach us, for you are the God of our salvation; for you we wait all day long.

Amen.

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