Jesus emerges.  He emerges from the bright, cool waters of the Jordan; he emerges from the hard, dark tomb.  He reaches through the twilight of our confusion, our sorrow, self-pity, the dusk of our waywardness; he reaches through and takes hold of us by his strong words, his strong acts, his strong hands, God’s strong love.  As Jesus emerges from the waters, he sees the heavens torn open (1:10); he is the one who tears through the veil, the barrier.  The way that we all had blocked up, choked off with the debris of our destructive deeds, Jesus clears.  God’s strong love clears a way through to us.  That this is God’s will, God’s purpose—His eternal purpose—is affirmed by the Spirit and the voice of God from heaven.  Mark doesn’t make it clear whether anyone besides Jesus saw the Spirit and heard the voice.  In other accounts, others do, but Mark doesn’t say, precisely, except for Jesus.  Jesus saw, heard, knew.  When we know Jesus, we do, too.

          We hear the voice of God by the Spirit.  Others hear nonsense.  We receive the Word of God by the Spirit.  Beloved, Spirit and Word are our constant companions, just as Jesus is our constant companion.  How we need this dear companion, in this wilderness!  No, we aren’t in the deserts of Judea.  We enjoy a regular surplus of what we need for our daily living—though, every now and again, we’re reminded how fragile our supply chains are!  And why?  What has God been saying to us, this past week?  Or is it simply too dreadful to think of our cold disappointment, our numb shivering, as some part of some message from on high, some God-given opportunity for prayer and reflection?

          Sisters and brothers, Mark tells us that, no sooner had Jesus emerged from the waters of his baptism, his anointing—this sacred commissioning to holy purpose—no sooner had he emerged than the “Spirit sent him out into the wilderness” (1:12).  Sent—our translation—is a bit tame, a bit bland.  The word Mark uses has to do with driving out, throwing, forcing out.  Expelled.  Impelled.  This wondrous experience of his baptism leads at once into a most serious experience of wilderness.  Spirit and Word drive Jesus out of society.  The Spirit, as with Jesus, sends us out, too.

          Forty days.  “Being tempted by Satan” (1:13).  There’s no way to avoid the temptation.  Temptation is not unique to the desolate places; the wilderness removes all the costuming and makeup from temptation.  There, temptation no longer disguises itself; wilderness magnifies the power of temptation.  We feel it, don’t we, that power?  Jesus cannot do what he has come to do without facing temptation.  Darkness and fear.  The fear of temptation is that we will not be able to withstand it.  We never have, before; we got in on the act with a ready will!  Temptation can be torment, is torment, but Jesus had something better, higher, purer.  So do we, if we’ll only remember it, cling to it for dear life, as to our salvation.  Salvation isn’t in denying the power of temptation, or in calling temptation by a prettier name.  Salvation is in knowing we have a friend and an ally alongside us, to help us, counsel us.  Salvation is trusting in what this friend is telling us no matter how appealing all the pretty temptations seem.

          Mark doesn’t provide details of how Satan tempted Jesus in that dry wilderness.  We may remember details from other accounts.  Mark doesn’t specify.  How do you imagine Satan tempting Jesus?  With what could Jesus be tempted?  With anything and everything you and I are tempted.  What tempts you?  Do you know?  It might be good to know your vulnerable places, so you’re not taken by surprise.  Surprise is no excuse.  Scripture counsels obedience and vigilance for a strong reason.  Jesus was among us as one of us, liable to every temptation to which we are liable, every sin to which we are liable.  If that isn’t really true, if he wasn’t liable to what we’re liable, then he could not truly accomplish what he accomplishes for us, could not be what he truly is for us.  His victory is ours.

          Forty days of desolation.  Forty days of the most alluring temptations.  How long could a strong man endure, do you think, or a strong woman?  Satan knows exactly what we crave, the weakest points there in the shattered, scattered, dark parts of our hearts.  Even if you cannot accept that Satan is at work on you, or sin still at work in you, would you at least agree that you’re no angel?

          Strength isn’t the secret of victory over temptation.  We pray for strength.  That’s the wrong word, though, and leaves us confused.  What we’re really asking for is perseverance.  It’s faith.  Of course, it’s faith, always faith; only faith, right?  Only faith?—or is it faith plus, faith plus strength?  Have you tried faith alone, relied upon faith alone?  Is faith your walking staff, or is it strength, compassion, or wisdom?  Don’t substitute God’s blessing for God.  Jesus persevered by keeping God’s Word close—closer than the comforts of food and drink, closer than the peace of personal safety, closer than any of the many lusts that can be conjured in a man’s heart.  Keeping God’s Word close is no substitute for faith.  Satan can quote Scripture.  Faith is no substitute for keeping God’s Word close.  Our ignorance of Scripture is no help to our faith.  Knowing your need, your desperate need for God’s Word, is an expression of faith.  God teaches us faith and gives us faith by the Spirit, through His Word.  The disciples begged Jesus to increase their faith.  Increase your time in God’s Word.  I can’t do that for you.  Go home, open your Bible, read and talk about it together, and together, get God’s Word in your heart.

          Jesus was in the wilderness, sorely tempted—it wouldn’t have been temptation if it wasn’t real, serious!  He was in the wilderness with wild animals and angels (1:13).  So are we.  By baptism, the Spirit expels us from society.  We become as strangers and foreigners here.  This is the Spirit’s gift, though we mainline Christians, especially, hardly receive it that way.  Most of all, we bemoan and lament our expulsion!  And that becomes a stumbling block for us.

          We see the wilderness of society as we live into our baptism.  Wilderness does not support abundant life or flourishing.  The only one who supports life, who causes flourishing, is our Father in heaven, who sends His angels, who sends His Son, who sends the Holy Spirit, who gives us His Word.  It should be no great stretch of the imagination to perceive that this society is wilderness; it can be a very dry place, and cold, and dark, as we know.

          This world, this society, the culture in which we move, present us with a wilderness of temptation and sin, vastly more than just twenty years ago!  Culture and society reflect the state of the human heart.  Apart from God, the heart is wayward, not God-ward.  The mores, the ways and values, of this nation are changing, and not for the better, if we take Scripture as our guide to the best.  The internet holds out nearly limitless opportunities to plunge into filth the likes of which were truly unimaginable a generation ago, and how this society has relished it, exploited it, indulged it!  All the idolatries about which Scripture warns us, all the wickedness.  Sixth graders today already know and speak openly about things high school students thirty years ago spoke of in ashamed whispers.  Third graders are being exposed to things that break my heart.  Culture has abandoned Christ.  Christ is a footnote, a sidebar, now.  Just information.  Sin is freedom!  So said the serpent.  We love our freedom.

          A children’s book speaks of Jesus out in the wilderness, “thinking about the good and evil in the world,” and Jesus “praying for God to show him the way to live his life.”[1]  This society values animal prowess, the wilder the better: sensational!  Movies, and music praise and glorify this engorged idol.  Each week, we come across yet another story of man’s ferocity towards his fellow man: the depths of the darkness are truly fearful.  If these stories were the exception to the rule, we wouldn’t be coming across them week after week.  Little flock, the world is large, fallen, and filled with pagan savagery.

          Not a really happy thought, is it?  Is it even true?  Fallen?  Pagan savagery?  Really?  No, don’t let yourself think it—how awful life would be, then!  What hope, what future, would there be, if we regarded our world in this way, others in this way, ourselves in this way?  Why, I’m the nicest, gentlest, kindest person I know!  No wild animals here!

          Where Jesus was, we are.  Where we are, Jesus is.  Mark tells us it wasn’t only wild animals out there with Jesus.  “Angels attended him” (1:13).  The other gospel accounts say angels attended Jesus at the end of the forty days.  Mark’s account might be taken to mean the angels were also there all along.  Angels can be hard to see, though, until we see them.  Temptation will always be there.  The Master of Temptation tailors them exactly to each of us.  The wild animals will always be around us and within.  There will be angels, too.  Messengers.  With what message?  The Word, spoken, enacted.  God’s kindness, God’s patience, God’s compassion, ministered to us through the hands, hugs, and help of others: the faith we share.  Angels bring the comfort and encouragement of the Word, the strength of the Word, always directing us to God’s love, pointing us to Jesus Christ with us in this wilderness: Jesus Christ, God’s comfort, God’s encouragement, God’s strength, God’s Son, our friend, our ally, our Savior, our Lord.

          We’ve been brave, over these past twelve months, some of you much longer than that.  It all takes its toll.  It can be a terrible toll, and leave us feeling weak, worn, weary.  We’ll never admit it, but we want help.  We need it.  What help do you need most right now?  Courage?  Peace?  Hope?  Acceptance?  Forgiveness?  Beloved, God’s Word is rich with priceless, radiant promises about all these, and more.  Get God’s Word in you, so that you may stand upon God’s Word.  Make your foundation sure—no sand!  Wilderness is covered in sand.  Sand slips away, like wasted time, wasted life.  Seek the rock.

          Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!

               [1] Jane Werner Watson.  Story of Jesus.  Little Golden Book. 1977.