“On the Journey – Driven Out Into the Wilderness” Lent 1 March 1, 2009

(First, read the text for this sermon: Mark 1:9-15)

The wilderness is a frightening place.

The wilderness is where we find ourselves to be, when things have fallen apart.

The wilderness is where it’s hard to figure things out. It’s hard to rediscover the path.

When we’re in despair, we’re in the wilderness.

The wilderness is where there are physical and moral trials; where there is temptation and sin.

And so, here is a stunning verse, from this morning’s reading in Mark: And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

Think of this. God the Holy Spirit drives God the Son out into the wilderness – a geographical place: desert, a place hostile to human life; but also the place of ambiguity, and physical and moral trials, and conflict, and fear, and despair, and hunger (both physical and figurative).

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

Isn’t this a verse we usually ignore? For one thing, in Matthew’s parallel version of this story we read, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness…” In Luke we read, “Jesus…was led by the Spirit in the wilderness…” Both of these versions offer much gentler notions, don’t they? In neither version is Jesus driven out into the wilderness!

Don’t we usually think of the Holy Spirit as a gentle presence? That is how the Spirit is described in verse 10 of this morning’s reading, after Jesus has been baptized: And just as he was coming up out of the water, [Jesus] saw … the Spirit descending like a dove on him. In how many thousands of stained glass windows, do you think, is the Holy Spirit portrayed as a dove? A dove is also a symbol for peace, right? So – how peaceful is the Holy Spirit, right? How gentle? How comforting to us, in all our sorrows?

But how easy is it to go from there to thinking of the Holy Spirit as an innocuous wisp of gentle breeze? A god who is innocuous is easily dismissed! Ignored! The witness to God in this morning’s story from Mark prevents such sentimentality. God the Holy Spirit is driving the newly-proclaimed Son of God out into the wilderness – the place of ambiguity, and physical and moral trials, and conflict, and fear, and despair, and hunger (both physical and figurative).

And that depiction of the Spirit as a dove? That itself is only a partial reading of verse 10 in this passage. In full, that verse reads: And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. The heavens torn apart! This is apocalyptic language – words bearing the images of God’s bringing history to its final climax. In fact, the apocalyptic is all through this short passage. The opening formula, “In those days” alerts us to God’s final days. Not only are “the heavens torn apart,” but a voice comes from heaven! 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.

This is a description of Spirit-filled upheaval.

When have you experienced upheaval? When have you found yourself in the wilderness?

When you are grieving, you’re in wilderness.

When you are working through an experience of betrayal, you’re wandering in wilderness.

When you’re debilitated by illness, you know what wilderness is.

But here‘s something else. In the wilderness we encounter God, in a primal and unmediated way.

Time in the wilderness is dangerous. Time in the wilderness can lead to dis-integration. But: God can also use wilderness time of ambiguity, and physical and moral trials, and conflict, and fear, and despair, and hunger (both physical and figurative), to bring us back to God. Sometimes it is only when we are wandering in wilderness that God can get through our thick skulls and hardened hearts. Sometimes it’s only through wilderness experience that we come to know our need for return; our need to repent, and believe in the good news.

So – can it be that this morning’s gospel portrayal of God is actually true? Can it be that God the Holy Spirit drives us into the wilderness when we’ve gotten too comfortable? When our idea of God has become too tame? Too limited? Too domesticated?

Boy! That’s a counter-cultural notion! And the culture infects the church. One in our congregation objected to something I said not long ago because he was offended by it. He said, ”It is important never to offend the members of the congregation.” Well, I understand the Biblical image of God the Holy Comforter. That is the acceptable god in our culture: a warm, fuzzy, inoffensive god. But, to many, many people, that god has become boring and unnecessary and easily dismissed! This morning’s verses from Mark do not describe such a god. Such a domesticated god cannot cause Spirit-filled upheaval.

Look at the passage. Not only does the Holy Spirit descend like a dove upon Jesus. The same Spirit immediately drives Jesus out into the wilderness! Indeed, Elizabeth McGregor Simmons writes that the wilderness is “where people who are serious about living the Christian faith are of necessity driven.”

Hoo boy!

The wilderness is where we encounter our demons.

The wilderness is where we are when our defenses fall apart, and our protective pretences and facades crumble.

The wilderness is a hostile place. We are exposed. We acutely know our need for God.

Here’s another thing. In the wilderness, you and I are not abandoned. God is right there with us when we are in wilderness.

Do you see that in the passage from Mark? And the Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness, we read. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts;… Scary, scary stuff, huh? But then we read this: and the angels waited on him.

In the Bible, angels are fierce. They are more than equal to any demonic forces out there in the wilderness. If you know the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures, you are reminded of other times when angels provided God’s presence to those driven out into the wilderness by God. The angel guided Moses and the Israelites during their 40 years of desert wilderness (Exodus 14:19; 23:20). The angel brought nourishment to the prophet Elijah when he was starving in the wilderness (1 Kings 19:5-7).

Same thing, here, with Jesus. And same thing, with you and me. God is in the wilderness, as fierce, protective presence, where we are face-to-face with our demons; and when our defenses have fallen apart, and our protective pretences and facades have crumbled; and when we come to acutely know our need for God.

Let me say one final thing. I think I know why God the Holy Spirit has worked on me through these words in Mark, so that I am focusing on all of this. It’s because the themes of the 40-day season of Lent encourage you and me to be honest about our wilderness experiences! Instead of covering up those frightening and disorienting experiences, the season of Lent encourages us to enter into them; to know acutely our need for God.

Why? Because then there’s a chance that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead will mean something to us!

Because of the resurrection, you and I live! That is the good news of the Christian faith.

Remember: this announcement in words of Jesus comes to us only as he emerges from 40 days in the wilderness: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia