Pastor Dismer’s sermon from Sunday, March 1:

“Jesus' wilderness experience teaches us that in our wilderness we are never left alone.”

Mark1:9-15

Perhaps the verses I just read sounded familiar. They should have. The verses about Jesus’ baptism were our gospel text on Jan. 11, and the verses that contain Jesus’ first sermon were the gospel text on Jan. 25.

Today we are again looking at these texts, but also the two verses that fit in between them, verses 13 and 14 – often referred to as the Temptation of Jesus. We will look at Jesus’ baptism and his first sermon in the light of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness.

As we do this, let’s see what we can learn about God, about Jesus, and ourselves.

Let me reread the verses about Jesus’ baptism, beginning at verse 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. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”

It doesn’t say that everyone saw this, but it does say Jesus saw heaven being torn open! At the end of Mark’s gospel, where he reports Jesus’ crucifixion, Mark declares that at the last breath of Jesus the curtain in the temple (which was inside the city, far from the crucifixion site) – this curtain was at that moment torn in two, from top to bottom.

These events, at the beginning and ending of Jesus’ earthly ministry are enormously important. At his baptism Jesus is validated, he is authorized, he is commissioned by God, and he receives the Holy Spirit. And he is told, “You are my Son, whom I love.”

And this is accompanied by the view of heaven being torn apart. What does that signify? I like to think Jesus saw what was ahead for his ministry – that heaven was going to be torn open – for us, never to be closed again.

And at the moment Jesus died, the temple curtain was torn apart; the same temple where Jesus had marched in anger, just days before his arrest; where Jesus had upset the money-changers’ and dove-sellers’ tables; where Jesus had declared that God’s house was a house of prayer for all nations, but they had made it a den of thieves.

Here in this temple the curtain was torn in half at the very moment Jesus died as the true sacrifice to God for the forgiveness of sins and the opening heaven’s gates for us all.

Between the beginning and the ending of Jesus’ ministry, however, much would happen. There would be testing, suffering, and sorrow.

Immediately after Jesus was baptized the spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert 40 days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and angels attended him.

One version of the Bible says the spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. This more dramatic word suggests the urgency, the necessity of Jesus’ wilderness experience.

This 40-day period between Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of his ministry is usually referred to as Jesus’ temptation.

It is important, I think, to know that the word translated as temptation here is used other times in Mark’s gospel, and each time the meaning is not that Jesus was being tempted to sin, but rather that he was being tested.

Each time he had to defend his understanding of God’s kingdom. For example, in Mark 8:11, the Pharisees tested Jesus by asking for a sign from heaven; in 10:2 they tested Jesus by asking if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife.

Before Jesus began his public ministry, where he would be “tested” again and again, Jesus was “driven” into the wilderness, by the spirit, and remained there 40 days, to be “tested” by Satan.

The Jewish people, when they were rescued from Egypt, ended up in the desert for 40 YEARS, and during that time they were “tested.” But they lost sight of what they believed; they lost patience with God’s plan for them, and decided to build their own God – a bronze calf – and they worshiped it.

Most of us have had wilderness experiences too. We have known the pain of wild animals gnawing away at our strength, our hope, our faith.

We have had experiences where we felt like we’d lost our way; where we were up against more than we thought we could face or handle; where we questioned our beliefs, where we questioned God. Such times often come to us when there is illness, or death, lost opportunities, disasters, crises in our families, or even our church. They may last 40 days, or 40 months, or 40 years!

Where is God, we ask. Why does this have to happen? How can we believe, when we feel betrayed, abandoned, beaten, and without hope?

Mark’s gospel does not elaborate on Jesus’ temptations or testings, but we know that in the wilderness Jesus mastered them, because immediately upon his return from the wilderness, Jesus preached his first sermon – brimming with faith and confidence and urgency: “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel.”

Jesus would enter another wilderness at the end of his ministry. He would enter a garden, where he would be tested again, one last time, and this time too, he was able to remain faithful to God’s plan for his life – and his death.

What did Jesus do to face his testing in the wilderness? We don’t know except that Mark says “he was ministered to by angles.”

Angels – messengers of God. And please, do not imagine angels swooping around bringing cold drinks to Jesus, chasing away the wild animals for him, spreading out a lavish meal for him to enjoy. Angels are messengers. So instead, imagine what message they brought: God’s word; God’s reminder that Jesus was a beloved son; God’s promises. With angels ministering to him Jesus faced the “wild animals” – the testing – in the wilderness.

In our wildernesses angels will minister to us. Messengers will bring us reminders that we are loved, that we are included in God’s plan for salvation, that we have a future and a hope. I invite you to consider the angels who have ministered to you, and thank God for them!

Let me share a wilderness story full of angels. It comes from Fred Rogers’ book: “Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers.” He wrote:

“When I was a kid I was shy and overweight. I was a perfect target for ridicule.

One day we got out of school early and I started to walk home by myself. It wasn’t long before I sensed I was being followed by a whole group of boys . . . they started to call my name . . . ‘Freddy, hey, fat Freddy. We’re going to get you.’

“I resented those kids for not seeing beyond my fatness or my shyness. I didn’t even know it was alright to resent it . . . because the advice I got was, “Just let on you don’t care, then nobody will bother you.

“But of course I did care, and somehow, along the way I caught the belief that God cares too; that the divine presence cares for those of us who are hurting and that presence is everywhere. I don’t know exactly how this came to me, maybe through one of my teachers, or the town librarian, maybe through a musician or a minister – definitely across some holy ground . . . it could have come from the grandfather I was named for: Fred McFeely, who used to say to me after we’d had a visit together, ‘Freddy, you made this day a special day for me.’ My hunch is that the beginning of my belief came from all of those extraordinary, ordinary people who believed that I was more than I thought I was.”

Yes, Mister Rogers knew about affirming messages from God’s angels.

When we were baptized we were affirmed. We were commissioned. We were given a ministry –every one of us. A ministry that we will live out for 40 days, or 40 years – or twice that and more – in the wilderness: with the wild animals; with evil around us, pushing us to give up, to stop believing in Jesus, to renounce our calling as children of God to share his word.

A quilted banner offered at the auction last Sunday had this message: “I believe in the sun, even when it doesn’t shine. I believe in love, even when I don’t feel it. I believe in God even when he is silent.”

When God seems silent, and you are in the wilderness, think of Jesus’ first sermon, and remember his promise: “Lo, I am with you always.”

We are entering 40 days of Lent: a time to consider what we are doing in the wilderness that is our life; a time to consider the tests we are facing, and where our faith will lead us. A time to consider what sermons we are being prepared to preach by our words and actions. Amen.