Journey of Discernment. Lent 1-B, Mk.1:9-15, 1/18/18
One of the biggest movie releases of the Christmas season was the latest installment in the Star Wars series. I suppose that is what made this particular podcast show up on my feed. It discussed how George Lucas, the director of the series, is a big fan of Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a 1000 Faces, and was influenced by it in making his movies.
Campbell compares myths across cultures and suggests that there is certain hero narrative which we see in many religions: The hero is living an ordinary life when he receives a call to embrace a new identity and embark on a quest. There follows a time of testing, discernment, and struggle, before the hero finally triumphs. Think about it and you will see that this describes the spiritual journey of Luke Skywalker.
It is also a pretty concise description of Jesus’ journey from his baptism, through the wilderness, and into public ministry. Mark uses an old literary template to communicate his understanding of Jesus. But, just because you can see this narrative structure in other religions, that does not make its confession is any less true. On the contrary this brief narrative tells us important things about Jesus and about ourselves as we begin the Lenten journey.
In contrast to Matthew and Luke, Mark does not give us any details about the time of testing following his baptismal call. The whole story is just two verses long. “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.” But if the details are few, the key point is clear: Jesus was really tested. He was like us; he could have failed the test.
I emphasize that because I am not sure we always believe it. We tend to think that the fix was in, that Jesus, being God, was never in any great danger of flunking the test. In the Luther Forum I shared something from theologian Robert Capon which I think captures how we often think. Capon writes,
The true paradigm of the ordinary American view of Jesus is Superman [Then he quotes the familiar opening of the 50’s TV show, “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. It’s Superman! Strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and who disguised as Clark Kent, mild-manned reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way”
If that isn’t popular Christology, [Capon writes] I’ll eat my hat. Jesus—gentle, meek and mild, but with secret souped-up-more-than-man insides—bumbles around for 33 years, nearly gets himself done in for good by the Kryptonite Kross, but at the last minutes struggles into the phone booth of the Empty Tomb, changes into his Easter suit and with a single bound leaps back up to planet heaven…and just so you shouldn’t miss the lesson kiddies: he never once touches Lois Lane.
Of course Capon is being a bit flippant but his point is dead serious. We tend to make Jesus a divine, sexless, entity who was only going through the motions, knowing full well what he would do and how it would all come out. But if that is who Jesus is, how can we relate to him? If he knows the answers before the questions are posed, is he really like us? The Church has struggled to speak of this unique person Jesus, but it has never seen him as Superman. It has always understood him as an extraordinary man who had to discern God’s will for his life and the best way to live out that purpose. He was one who, when sent into the wilderness, needed the care and guidance of the angelic hosts to survive.
Which is why Jesus’ time in the wilderness is relevant to us, because we too spend a lot of time there. In Scripture the wilderness is a paradoxical place. On one hand it is a harsh, hostile wasteland where you are always in danger of dying. Think Moses and the Children of Israel wandering for 40 years. It is a trackless desert where it is hard to find the way. When you are in the wilderness you are, like Elijah, on the edge of despair. But the wilderness is also the place where superficial things are exposed as unworthy of attention. The wilderness is where you go to draw closer to God and listen to the voice which is often drowned out by the noise of daily life. The wilderness is where we are at rock bottom, but from there we can move in a new direction. Wilderness is a place of suffering and testing—but ultimately growth.
And that is where Jesus’ time in the wilderness touches ours. Jesus knew he had been called beloved—so have we. Jesus had to decide what it would mean to go where God called him—so do we. Jesus had to choose a path among many when the way was not obvious and the cost of a poor choice high. We too struggle with how to proceed in our job, in our relationships, in the balancing of multiple demands. And some days we are not sure we have what it takes to keep all the balls in the air.
Matthew and Luke have the angels come to Jesus after his time of testing. Mark puts them there throughout. I like Mark’s account better because it bears witness to the promise that we are not just thrown into turmoil and told to sink or swim. When we go into the wilderness—whether it is in a time of grief or to contemplate a bold new direction for our lives—God goes with us. God goes with us and whispers, “In the midst of this you are still my beloved child, do not be afraid I am with you and will sustain you.”
Over the years I’ve heard a lot from my wife about the angst parents feel in those first days when they drop their children off for kindergarten. On one hand they know that they need to push their precious bird out of the nest, but it is terrifying to send their child out into a place which does not love them as much as their parents. Any of you who have had to do this know what I am talking about.
The best parents understand that growth requires compelling a child to let go of what is familiar. Yet they also make it clear to their child that they are not alone, that Mom, or Dad, or Granny will be with them every step of this wonderful, terrifying journey of discovery.
Today’s lesson says the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, but also provided for his nurture while there. God compels Jesus to leave the familiar in order that he might discover who is was, but he gives him the wisdom and strength to know and live his calling.
This Lent the Spirit is driving us into a place of discernment. What does God want from you? What does God desire of us as a community of faith? Answering those questions is the challenge of this season. The way may not always be clear. But God sustained Jesus in the wilderness and gave him a direction—and God is with us also.