Lent 1 2021 - Genesis 9:8-17 • Psalm 25:1-10 • 1 Peter 3:18-22 • Mark 1:9-15
The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come
near. This is the time.
Here we are again in the season of Lent and at a time when we
traditionally think about doing something extra to bring us into an even closer
relationship with God.
After the year that we have just had, we may be thinking,
“I’ve had about as much hard and tough times as I ever want”. However, Lent is not meant to be a bother. In fact the word Lent is simply the season of
spring…. And therefore the season of new growth. It is a season of excitement, and it is the
time in our church calendar that we are invited to journey with Christ for the
40 days in the wilderness. The season of
Lent is 40 days long, not counting Sundays.
In our Gospel reading we note that Jesus was in the wilderness for 40
days.
Jesus went to the river Jordan to be baptised by John and it
seems a little odd that he, in whose name we are all baptised, should have
willingly submitted himself to a baptism of repentance for sin. After all, he was without sin.
In the days when Jesus was baptised, baptism was not
something unique that John did. There
were many kinds of ceremonial baptisms, usually for those about to undertake a
life change or to signify a covenant type commitment, such as for marriage. In another Gospel’s account we read that
Jesus gives a reason for his being baptised, saying that it is proper to fulfil
all righteousness. Which informs us that
it is important, but really doesn’t tell us much more.
John’s baptism was one where he called people to repent. Jesus, as we know, had no sin, yet we notice
that immediately following his baptism, he goes into the wilderness and is
tempted by Satan.
To repent literally means to go back the other way. We could say, it means to change your
mind. When used in the Christian
context, it means to turn from our own way and go God’s way.
Jesus is God. He is
part of the trinity, but scripture tells us he was obedient to God the father,
to death on the cross. Jesus was also
human and fully man. He therefore had
the capacity of his own free will. With
this free will he freely declared, by his baptism, that he was going the way of
God the father. It was this baptism that
began his ministry in power and much like the commitment of a marriage, this
baptism declared his covenant resolve to keep this commitment.
There are some
elements of this baptism of Jesus worth noting. Firstly the Spirit descended on
him. While Jesus was walking the earth,
before the crucifixion, though he was fully God, he operated as fully man. He therefore had all the limitations that we
have, but at his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended. The Holy Spirit was what compelled him to go
out to the wilderness. The Holy Spirit
was his anointing and the empowering for his ministry on earth. Here we see the relationship of the trinity,
but also an example of how we should also be in relationship with God.
Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan. A baptism of repentance, and the Holy Spirit
descended, empowering his earthly ministry.
Then a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with
you I am well pleased." Jesus knew the love of the father. How much would it mean to know that God loves
and approves of us?
There are many scripture verses that explain how we are
baptised into Jesus. To be baptised,
means to be immersed. Is our life
immersed in Christ? If an outsider came
and looked at our lives, would that outsider say that our life is immersed in
Christ? While our physical life might
fall short of this standard, our spiritual life is in better hands.
When we are baptised, we are baptised, not into water –
though we use water as the agent, but we are actually baptised into Jesus. We are spiritually baptised/ immersed and spiritually,
we take on a new identity. Imagine a
white cloth that is baptised – or immersed into red dye. The material takes on the colour of the
dye. We being baptised into Christ take
on all that he has and is. The
scriptures tell us that in baptism, we die with Christ and we are raised with
Christ. Being baptised into Jesus, therefore,
we spiritually partake in his experience.
He was empowered by the Holy Spirit, and we are also empowered by the
Holy Spirit. We also, through Jesus,
hear God say to us, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well
pleased."
God the father, through our baptism and union with Christ,
sees the colours of Jesus in us and seeing Jesus he declares us to be his
beloved child. Jesus was fully human,
but operated his life in submission to the father. With the power of the Holy Spirit, we have
access to the power of God, and are able to do more than we realize. Jesus did say, in John 14:12 Truly, truly,
I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He
will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Physically we will always fall short of the perfection of
Christ, as our human flesh is very much tied to the earthly things, but through
our baptism into Jesus, we are blessed with all the blessings of Christ. Though we are blessed and empowered, just as
Jesus was compelled to spend time in the wilderness, we too find ourselves
experiencing these elements.
There is an old Indian saying about two wolves. There are different versions, but basically
describing an inner struggle. It explains
that inside of us there are two wolves fighting. One wolf is love and goodness, the other is
hate and despair. Which wolf wins? The one you feed.
Spiritually, we have been baptised with Christ and God the
father loves and affirms us. However, we
know that there are times when we fall short of being the exemplary person we’d
like to be. Physically we are still, and
will always be, while we are wearing this earthly flesh, very fallible and
prone to sin. There is a battle between
the flesh and the spirit. Just as we
learn in the story of the two wolves, the one that wins is the one we feed.
We are called… no… compelled into the wilderness of Lent. The wilderness is a change from the usual day
to day distractions. In the wilderness
survival is hard and we strip away the things that don’t matter and realize the
only thing that does. In the wilderness
we deliberately feed the spirit.
When it all boils down… what really matters? We are all like flowers that bloom and fade,
but the love of God remains. How much do
you long to hear God say to you, “This is my beloved child in whom I am well
pleased.”? Have you ever realized that
God does say this to you? He says it
because spiritually you have been made clean.
It is confirmed in our reading from Saint Peter, “For Christ also suffered
for sins once for all time, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us
to God,” (1 Peter 3:18)
I believe that we all need to know the affirmation of God’s
love and approval. It is in knowing that
God loves and approves of us that we can find the strength to face the
wilderness and survive. This love and
approval is not a hollow sentiment. God
created us, and sees us completely and decided that we were worth dying for.
Proving the extent of God’s love for us, our 2nd
reading also tells us,
about how Christ then went and preached to the spirits in
prison who in former times did not obey.
This tells me that God is beyond patient with us and gives us every
opportunity to respond to his love and then gives us more. AND -He is concerned for all… not just the
people in church, as his covenant is said to be with ALL FLESH – as we read in
Genesis 9:16 “ When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the
everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is
on the earth."
You and I are of infinite worth to God. Now is the time to strip away the layers that
distract us from completely trusting in God.
Now is the time to feed our spirit… to grow our physical life into line
with our spiritual reality of being the children of God. Let’s go into this wilderness armed with the
Spirit of God empowering us to do and be more than we could have ever imagined,
but exactly as God always knew and planned us to be.