God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My sermon is Lent, Temptation and Life and my focus is
our Gospel (Mark 1:9-15). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I
rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”
Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we
listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply
as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
Today, I examine Lent,
Mark’s account of how Satan tempted Jesus throughout his life, and how this
relates to us. Lent is a solemn religious observance that begins on Ash
Wednesday and covers a period of approximately six weeks or 40 days before
Easter Sunday.
In Latin, Lent is
referred to by the term Quadragesima,
meaning fortieth, referring to the fortieth day before Easter. In English, the
word Lent initially meant spring, from the Germanic root for long, because in
spring the days visibly lengthen.
The traditional
purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penance, and
repentance of sins, almsgiving, atonement and self-denial. During Lent, our
worship assumes a penitential character. The color for the season is purple, a
color associated with penitence. By omitting the Hymn of Praise and Alleluia,
we distinguish Lent from the rest of the year, and form a powerful contrast
with the festive celebration of Jesus' resurrection when our alleluias ring
loud and clear.
The Lutheran
perspective of “giving up something for Lent” is a matter of Christian freedom.
Our church has no law requiring members to “give up something,” since the
Scriptures do not require this. If a Christian wants to give something up for
Lent as a way of remembering and personalizing the sacrifice Christ made on the
cross for our sins, then he is free to do so, as long as he does not judge
others who opt not to do this.
The penitential
character of Lent is not its sole purpose. In the ancient Church, the period
leading up to Easter was a time of intense preparation for the candidates being
baptized at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. This time is appropriate for
Baptism because of the relationship between Christ's death and resurrection and
our own in the sacrament (Rom 6:1-11). This suggests that Lent serves as a time
to meditate on the suffering that Christ endured on our behalf, and an
opportunity to reflect our own Baptism and what it means to live as a child of
God. I encourage you to read Be Gracious
to Me, Portals of Prayer, LWML’s Mustard Seed devotions or the Lutheran
Hour Ministries devotions.
We base our 40-day
Lenten observance on Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness. In Mark we read, “He
was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.” (Mk 1:13) Though
Mark’s account of Jesus’ temptation is brief, if we interpret it without referring
to Matthew or Luke,[1]
we taste Mark’s fuller flavor. We also see that Satan tempted Jesus throughout
his life and even onto the cross.
Before his
wilderness experience, John baptized Jesus. It may initially appear problematic
that Jesus accepted John’s baptism. After all, it called for a change of heart
in view of the forgiveness of sins. How could Jesus, who was not a sinner, have
accepted such a baptism? I will save the answer for later.
As Jesus emerged
from the baptismal waters, the heavens tore open and the Spirit descended
on him like a dove. This is a response to Isaiah’s prayer that God
“rend the heavens and come down” to bring his flock up from the sea,
put his holy Spirit in the midst of his people and guide them in a new exodus
(Isa 64:1).
At Jesus’ baptism,
the rending of the heavens announced the beginning of the end; and as he
breathed his last, the Temple’s sanctuary veil, decorated to look like the
heavens, tore from top to bottom, symbolizing that in the end-time, the holy of
holies and ancient sacrifices would be no more. The image of the dove, a symbol
for Israel, revealed Jesus as the personal embodiment of a new Israel. As the Christ,
the Anointed One, Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prayer.[2]
Immediately after
Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit that descended on him drove him into the wilderness,
where he was tested as Israel was tested in their exodus wilderness. This
40-day test evoked the days and nights Moses spent with God on the mountain as
he received the Covenant (Ex 34:27-38), and called to mind Elijah’s 40-day walk
to the mountain of God (1 Kgs 19:8).
Jesus’ 40 days
represented his entire baptismal life, ending with his passion. Sent into the
wilderness by the Spirit to lead people in a new exodus, Satan tested Jesus.
Satan, the adversary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, represented the power of
evil. Satan was the obstacle Jesus had to overcome.
The setting for
Jesus’ baptismal test was simple. Angels ministered to him while he was among
wild beasts, symbolic of the world’s evil forces. The scene evoked numerous Old
Testament passages, particularly the story of Daniel in the lion’s den (Dan
6:23), and the primal contest of creation where human beings dominated wild
beasts (Gen 1:24-28). Mark also alluded to the Psalms (8:6-8) and Isaiah 13,
where we read, “Desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there
the owls will dwell, and there wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will inhabit
her strongholds, jackals her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her
days will not be prolonged.” (Isa 13:21-22)
As the one
anointed by the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ life was an ongoing conflict with Satan,
the spirit of evil. It began in the wilderness, but reappeared throughout the
Gospel. In the Capernaum synagogue, a man with an unclean spirit engaged Jesus
in a verbal skirmish.[3] Here, Mark showed the
battle between the unclean spirit that possessed the man and the Holy Spirit
that possessed Jesus. In another case, no one was strong enough to bind the Gerasene
man possessed by a demonic spirit until Jesus appeared. And after Peter rebuked
Jesus, because he could not imagine a Messiah who would suffer and die, Jesus,
in turn rebuked Peter as Satan because he too acted as a stumbling block to the
cross.[4]
The point is that
throughout his life, Jesus battled Satan. Satan was and is a strong man (Mk
3:27). He effected demon-possession and physical maladies, created disorder in
the natural world, and snatched up the Word of God sown on the path (Mk 4:1ff).
He tempted people to abandon God’s will and inspired them to adopt hearts and minds
set on human ways. His activity extended to Jesus’ enemies, the Lord’s
followers and Jesus himself. Satan tested Jesus in the wilderness, in
Gethsemane and on Golgotha.
Satan’s activity
was implicit when Jesus asked God to “take this cup from me.” (Mk 14:36)
And when Jesus exhorted his disciples to imitate him by watching and praying
lest they enter into a test, the same language used in the wilderness account,
this too confirmed the moment was Satan’s test.[5] Bound and hung on the
cross, Jesus’ opponents declared he could not save himself – Satan’s final test
to abandon God’s will.
Finally, upon his
death, Jesus cried out in a loud voice that recalled the cries of those from
whom he cast unclean spirits. As he died, the Holy Spirit that descended from a
violently torn heaven and possessed Him at the start of the gospel, left His
body as the Temple veil tore. The Spirit’s departure implied that it completed
its work. Jesus’ death marked victory, not defeat, in His conflict with Satan.
At that moment, the
centurion, upon seeing Jesus breathe his last, confirmed His divinity, just as our
Heavenly Father declared Jesus to be his beloved Son. Now, instead of rising
from the waters of baptism to declare the nearness of God’s Kingdom, his Resurrection
from the tomb declared God’s victorious Kingdom.[6]
How does this
relate to us? Lent is an appropriate time to remember our Baptism and its
relationship to Christ's death and resurrection. It is also a fitting time to
meditate on the suffering Christ endured on our behalf and what it means to
live as a child of God.
Although Christ
broke Satan’s power, God never promised a conflict-free world, but a world in
which the risen Christ meets and restores errant followers so that they may
imitate him in their struggles against satanic powers, and like him, endure to
the end, empowered by the Holy Spirit.[7]
As we leave here,
children of God filled with grace, love, mercy and the Holy Spirit, we enter a
world of conflict, corruption and evil that both blinds and blind-sides us. Satan’s
temptations are open and blatant, as well as secretive and surreptitious.
I may not be
tempted to murder, but may be silently complicit over one million children
aborted annually. I may not be tempted to break the Sixth Commandment, but may peruse
inappropriate material. I may not steal from my neighbor, but may never open a
generous hand to feed the poor. I may never swear false testimony in court, but
may never speak kindly about others. I may never treat people as God treats me –
with kindness, mercy and compassion – but may consider myself a good Christian.
As a good Christian, the commandment most difficult to keep is the First: You
shall have no other gods. Of this, Martin Luther wrote plainly.
“Many
a one thinks that he has God and everything in abundance when he has money and
possessions; he trusts in them and boasts of them with such firmness and
assurance as to care for no one. Such a man also has a god, Mammon by name, that
is, money and possessions, on which he sets all his heart, and which is also
the most common idol on earth. He who has money and possessions feels secure,
and is joyful and undismayed as though he were sitting in the midst of
Paradise. On the other hand, he who has none doubts and is despondent, as
though he knew of no God. For very few are to be found who are of good cheer,
and who neither mourn nor complain if they have not Mammon. This care and
desire for money sticks and clings to our nature, even to the grave.
So,
too, whoever trusts and boasts that he possesses great skill, prudence, power,
favor, friendship, and honor has also a god, but not this true and only God.
This appears again when you notice how presumptuous, secure, and proud people
are because of such possessions, and how despondent when they no longer exist
or are withdrawn. Therefore, I repeat that the chief explanation of this point
is that to have a god is to have something in which the heart entirely trusts.”[8]
Each week I
confess I am a miserable sinner addicted to my things and ways of
doing things. As I said last week, I think highly of my bad ideas and
overinflated opinions. I marry my feelings and divorce myself from others’
sensitivities. In short, I need to be saved.
The good news is,
Christ saved me. Through no merit of my own, He saved me. He who conquered
Satan, sin and death saved me from the tyranny of that trio. That brings me
full-circle to my earlier question. “How
could Jesus, who was not a sinner, have accepted such a baptism?”
John’s baptism of
Jesus revealed His humanity and His solidarity with and commitment
to sinners. What
occurred when Jesus emerged from the water revealed His divinity and His solidarity
with and commitment to God His Father.[9]
If I approach
life’s challenges in individualistic terms (me against the world), the baptism
of a sinless person is senseless because baptism has no meaning beyond the
individual who is baptized. If, however, I view life’s challenges in
interpersonal terms (we are all in this together), the baptism of a sinless
person makes a lot of sense.[10]
Jesus did not have
to be a sinner to accept John’s baptism. All he needed was to be in personal
solidarity with men and women who are sinners in need of salvation. Jesus’
baptism by John presented him as a person in solidarity with all human beings,
and it demonstrated his willingness to bear the weight of our sins on his
sinless shoulders.[11]
Friends, as he
tempted Jesus, Satan will tempt you until you exhaust your last gasp. You will
be tempted to commit heinous sins and victimless
crimes. If you rely upon yourself or any power but God to free yourself
from his grip, you lose. Satan will bind you. Only
Christ can free you … and the Good News is that He has!
Brothers and
sisters, you will always have the Holy Spirit to guide you in the wilderness of
life just as Jesus did, but as Paul exhorted the freed Christians of Rome, I
beg you not to be addicted to yourself and your ways, your ideas and feelings.
Forgiven fully by Christ, surrender to the Holy Spirit. Be a slave of the Holy
Spirit, an addict of the Third Person of the Trinity and the means of God’s grace.
When you are, the peace of God that
surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus.[12]
Amen.
[1] Peter
Edmonds, The Way Companion to the Sunday Missal. Oxford: Campion Hall (2014), 77.
[2] Eugene
LaVerdiere, The Beginning of the Gospel: Introducing the Gospel According to
Mark, Volume 1. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press (1999), 34.
[3] Elizabeth
Shively, “Characterizing the Non-Human: Satan in the Gospel of Mark,” Character
Studies and the Gospel of Mark. Edited by Christopher W. Skinner and Matthew
Ryan Hauge. London: Bloomsbury (2014), 139ff.
[4]
Shively, 144f
[5]
Shively, 146
[6]
Shively, 148
[7]
Shively, 151.
[8] Book
of Concord, Ten Commandments
[9]
LaVerdiere, 34
[10]
Ibid.
[11]
Ibid.
[12]
Philippians 4:7
