Our Greatest Temptation Mark 1:9-15 2/22/15

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1 Our Greatest Temptation Mark 1:9-15 2/22/15 It is not my practice to print the title of the sermon in the bulletin, in part because if you were to see them, they would only make you wonder more than you already do about what goes on in my head. For instance, I have chosen to express the theme for today s message by using the words Our Greatest Temptation and I can already see some of you with puzzled looks. You ask, with some justification, isn t the gospel account I just read to you from Mark about the temptation of Jesus? Well yes, it is. But it s also true that, in a way, it isn t. Let s see if, for a change, I can have some success in explaining what I mean. When we compare what Mark has to tell us with the other versions of this same incident that can be found in Matthew and Luke, we are surprised by how little is actually said here about the character of the temptations Jesus had to face. Those other two writers wrote quite extensively about three very specific tests that Satan presented to Jesus. But in Mark, the narrative provided is so economical, the words we hear are so sparse, that we are left to ponder just what was

2 going on out there in the wilderness anyway. The story is virtually non-existent only half a sentence - nothing more than a summary - what most of you in this crowd are old enough to recognize as being similar in style to the Reader s Digest Condensed Version. No details. Straight to the point. The simple statement that it happened. Mark either didn t have access to the same information as his fellow evangelists, or else he didn t think it was important. He shares that Jesus spent some time out amongst the scorpions, snakes and scrubby shrubs, his only company being that of God s wily opponent. We learn the Lord was exposed to both the harsh elements and temptation. But clearly, there is no interest in precisely describing what serves to tempt Jesus. Mark seems content just to talk about the temptation of Jesus in general terms. His discussion of what took place when Jesus took on Satan in the wilderness is certainly abbreviated, but we ought not to infer from the shortness of the account that the devil s testing was anything less than complete. In fact, by not limiting himself to describing only 3 duels, this writer helps us understand that in this exhausting experience Jesus was forced to endure everything that Satan could throw at human beings, all the temptations that we must one

3 day face ourselves. The battle with evil was extensive, lasting for 40 days, and is to be appreciated as much tougher to stand up to than the few challenges that managed to find their way into print in the other gospels. And if the testing he was facing was real, he had no more right than we do to expect that he would ultimately triumph. In fact, it is only by the power of grace that Jesus is able to survive it, because there can be no resistance of temptation without the presence of God, and each and every day for 40 difficult days, he was made to wonder if his heavenly father was still with him. It is in this, I think, that we find what Mark wants us to get out of his particular telling of this story namely that in all battles with evil, the game is now changed because God is present. Thankfully, we re not on our own like we used to be. We don t have within us the power to defend ourselves and deflect the tests posed to us by Satan, the world around us, and our own sinful selves. We are not inherently capable of defeating the accusing enemy in the wilderness. Nor can we expect to march out of church stronger than we came in, more fully equipped with improved fighting skills and a broader knowledge of better strategies for passing the tests that await us. But that doesn t mean we have no

4 hope. Mark s message is that our faith can be the same as that which sustained Jesus in his own time of trial that unshakeable confidence that from the moment anyone emerges from the water of baptism, they are accompanied by the Holy Spirit. We enter the fray not with the conviction of success, but with the promise of God s presence even when we fail. This is our point of contact with the story not so much that Jesus was tempted in specific ways that are easy for us to identify with, but that he, too, was dependent on God s promise to be with him in the midst of any and all tests. We can look at his agonizing wilderness experience, whatever the specific nature of the challenges confronting him might have been, and say with certainty that God was there. That is what makes the difference. Our greatest temptation (see I finally got around to the words of my title!) is to believe God is absent, that God has given up on us and withdrawn in search of some more worthy recipients of his love and assistance because Satan has so little trouble defying our pitiful attempts to subdue him and repeatedly has his way with us. We know God wants to bring new realities into existence, but after having all our weaknesses exposed, we can t see how losers like us are going to offer any help. We look upon ourselves

5 with condemning eyes for each of the many times we failed the test, all of which we are readily able to list. But what if our life s narrative is not meant to focus on how bad we are, but rather on how good God is? Maybe what we are supposed to do with our own list of temptations is what Mark has done with those of Jesus in the wilderness give them exactly one half of a sentence worth of attention and then leave them behind in order to get on with the tasks at hand. Temptations are apparently part and parcel of what it means to be human. The worst of them may even be the inevitable result of accepting God s call. That doesn t mean we need to dwell on them, though constantly rehearsing our poor choices and beating ourselves up while waiting to see if God is going to strike us down for our disappointing failures. So maybe we should speed right over the numerous notable examples of our lack of spiritual strength not because they aren t important at all, but because they are not ultimately important. What we are to remember instead is that, like Jesus, we have been claimed by the one who is almighty. God has adopted us as his children and given us his Holy Spirit, and promises that, from now on, he will be present before, during, and after every wilderness challenge we encounter. Amen.