THE RUNNING REVEREND

Lent 1b: Mark 1.9-15

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:34:50 -0800

The story of God’s people has three movements, and I’m not talking: beginning, middle, and end. We see the first of these movements, what we might call “covenantal relationship,” begin to take shape in Genesis 12, as God says to a man named Abram:

“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.”

In that moment a friendship is birthed, a relational bond is forged. God enters into relationship with a human being, declaring that human being (Abram) and his descendants to be His beloved children.

But that initial conversation is just the beginning of things. It’s just the first part of the first movement of the drama that is about to unfold. Genesis 17 is where we find movement #1 really become clear. Here we find God appearing to the now ninety-nine year old Abram. God reminds Abram of their special bond of friendship, the benefits of this relationship, and the terms of the friendship. In that moment, God and Abram finally bring to reality what has only been talked about and hinted at to this point -- God becomes Abram’s God (and the God of Abram’s people) and Abram and his people become God’s chosen people. It’s a relationship of epic proportions and of eternal significance. But before it becomes a reality, there must be some visible, tangible way to mark this relationship. Enter circumcision. This surgical procedure, which is to be done to all male children on the eighth day after their birth, becomes the outward and visible sign of the relationship between God and His people.

Movement #2 is what we might call “the desert or wilderness experience.” For Abram there isn’t one big desert, instead he endured a series of desert experiences. These desert experiences stretched Abram and tried his faith. For example, there was Abraham and Sarah’s move into the Negev and the area between Kadesh and Shur (that is recorded for us in Gen 20). Upon moving into this region Abimelech, the king, sees Sarah and is struck by her beauty. He wants her and inquires with Abraham about her. Abraham, fearing for his life (because he did not see any fear of God in the area), tells Abimelech that Sarah is his sister.

There were other instances in which Abraham endured the difficulty (and darkness) of the desert, metaphorically speaking. There was the instance with Isaac, that we read about in Gen 22, in which God instructs Abraham to take his long-awaited, much hoped-for son and offer him up as a sacrifice. Abraham is obedient. He’s learned his lesson. He doesn’t give into the temptation to run. Instead, he runs head long into the desert, with Isaac in tow.

It was there, in the region of Moriah, that we get our first glimpse at Movement #3, what we might call “Good News.” As Abraham is standing there, with knife raised, about to sacrifice Isaac -- good news comes in the form of a voice from heaven, a stay of execution, and the provision of a ram.

As I’ve said, these three movements, first seen in Abraham’s relationship with God, characterize God’s relationship with His people.

We see them emerge again in the book of Exodus. After a time of prosperity, in which Joseph (one of Abraham’s descendants) greatly helped to put Egypt on the map, Pharaoh has forgot about Joseph and his contributions. Fearing that God’s people were growing to large and powerful (because God was being faithful to the promise that he made to Abram to increase his descendants and make them as great as the sand on the seashore), he oppressed them. Movement #1 (Relationship) is followed by Movement #2 (testing in the desert). And God’s people were tested. They endured hardship after hardship. They were beaten, mistreated, and abused. It was by their sweat and blood the Egypt was built from the ground up. In their oppression they cried out to God, yet at first their cries were met with silence. They felt alone and deserted.

But then the events of Exodus 3 happen. A fugitive-turned-shepherd encounters God in a burning bush and as a result is commissioned to serve as the answer to the prayers of God’s people. Movement #3 occurs, as the “good news” comes -- Israel is free to go. They are no longer slaves or captives. They are a people who are now free to move on and press toward the land that God will give to His people, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Then, the story repeats itself. Movement #1 occurs and God in splendid fashion declares in a visible and tangible way that Israel is His people and that He is their God. He parts the Red Sea, allowing His chosen people to pass through on dry ground, while their enemy (which is in hot pursuit) is crushed under the weight of the waves.

Not too long after, however, God’s people forget their identity. They are tempted. They turn away from God and run after other gods. Their punishment, Movement #2, to wander around in the wilderness of the desert for forty years as those who turned away from God die off.

After forty long years of desert wandering, however, (Movement #3 occurs) the good news is proclaimed: Yonder lies the Promised Land. Now is the time to enter in and possess it.

We could go through the remainder of the Old Testament and show again and again the multitude of ways that these movements form a cycle that become part of the identity of God’s people.

Rather than doing that, however, I’d like to invite you to turn with me to Mark 1. That’s Mark’s Gospel, chapter 1. We want to focus in this morning on verses 9 through 15.

9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

14 After 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!”

Mark records for us a familiar series of events. Ones, to be quite honest, that are recorded much better and with much more detail elsewhere in Scripture.

What I like about Mark’s gospel and his short and incredibly simple recounting of these events, however, is that they provide us with an understanding regarding Jesus that often gets buried beneath the details of the other accounts.

The understanding is that Jesus, just as he says of himself so many times throughout the gospels, is the fulfillment of what God has been doing all along in His relationship with His chosen people. Jesus, in other words, is where the three movements that we spoke of earlier become not just the story of Israel but the story of humanity (and, in fact, of all creation).

Look at how Mark depicts Jesus, in this the first chapter of his recounting of the good news of Jesus Christ. He begins (in vv. 9-11) with movement #1. As Jesus is baptized there in the Jordan River by John, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove and proclaims visibly, audibly, and rather incredibly the special relationship that God the Father and God the Son share. God the Father, in that moment, declares God the Son to be his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased. In that moment, it becomes clear that Jesus has a special, intimate relationship with God the Father (a relationship that is even closer than that which God has shared with Abraham, Moses, and Israel).

Yet, without delay, the very same Spirit who visibly reveals the special relationship shared by God the Father and Jesus (God the Son) drives God the Son into the desert. For forty days (notice the parallels with Israel’s wilderness experience), Jesus wrestles with and is tempted by Satan. For forty days, Satan throws everything he can at Jesus, trying to get Jesus to forsake and give up on his special relationship with God the Father (because in the desert the Father’s presence, which was so prevalent and recognizable in the baptismal event, seems to be gone). For forty days, Jesus endures the second movement that has characterized God’s relationship with His people.

Yet, unlike all of those who preceded him, Jesus endures. He overcomes temptation. He does not give in. He emerges on the other side exhausted, but without having sinned. The angels and animals attend to him, helping to restore his strength, health, and vitality.

And then it happens, movement #3. Health restored. Weariness gone. The wilderness but a memory. Jesus begins to proclaim the good news. A message, according to Mark, that has two features: The coming near of a new and different kingdom and the need to repent and believe so that one might enter into said kingdom.

Jesus, the King whose kingdom has come and is drawing near, invites you and I into the story that God has been telling. It’s a story with three movements.

THE RUNNING REVEREND

Lent 1b: Mark 1.9-15

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