Message: Into the Wilderness / Mark 1:9-15
“There was once a sculptor who worked hard with a hammer and chisel on a large block of marble. A little child who was watching him saw nothing more than large and small pieces of stone falling away left and right. He had no idea what was happening. But when the boy returned to the studio a few weeks later, he saw, to his surprise, a large, powerful lion sitting in the place where the marble had stood. With great excitement, the boy ran to the sculptor and said, “Sir, tell me, how did you know there was a lion in the marble?” This short story is part of the book Spiritual Direction by Henri Nauwen.
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is a special time when we focus on our spiritual growth. It lasts for 40 days, starting on Ash Wednesday and ending the day before Easter. During Lent, we meditate on Jesus' passion and cross by gradually chipping away at all that is not of God until our inner lion is revealed.
Today's Gospel reading shows us how important our wilderness time is in our lives. According to Mark, when Jesus was being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit descended upon him and confirmed that he was God's beloved child. Through the baptism of water and the Spirit, Jesus felt excited and hopeful. Instead of despair, distrust, and indifference, his heart was filled with hope, faith, and love.
At this very moment, the Holy Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness. The word "ἐκβάλλω," translated as "drive out," indicates a very strong action, meaning "to force someone to go away." In other words, right after Jesus felt God's presence, the Holy Spirit forced him into the wilderness, where God seemed to be absent. There, Jesus stayed alone for 40 days.
Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark does not give a long explanation of what Jesus did in the wilderness. He keeps it simple: " He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him” (Mark 1:13) This is because Mark's Gospel, as the earliest gospel written, was mainly for Jewish Christians who were familiar with the Hebrew Bible. This means its readers could notice what Mark wanted to tell them with the brief yet strong words.
The number 40 is important in the Old Testament, symbolizing perseverance and transformation. When Moses went up Mount Sinai to get the stone tablets of the covenant, he fasted and waited for 40 days (Deuteronomy 9:9). The prophet Elijah walked through the wilderness for 40 days and went up Mount Sinai to experience God's presence (1 Kings 19:8). The Hebrews wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before they entered the Promised Land. For this reason, the number "40" appears a total of 130 times in the Hebrew Bible.
What Mark wants to emphasize is not so much the exact historical fact that Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, but rather that Jesus resisted Satan's temptations with patience and self-control. As we discussed in a sermon a few weeks ago, in the Bible, "satan" means adversary and can refer to a human or heavenly being. In particular, the book of Job depicts Satan as one of God's servants, testing people’s faith, hope, and love for God. Exploiting Job's greatest vulnerabilities, Satan corners him, threatening not only his financial ruin and the death of his children but also his health, to test Job's faithfulness. That's why, even though Mark did not say exactly how Satan tested Jesus, his primary readers would understand what Satan’s testing meant.
People often seek addictive pleasures to avoid facing the realities of life. Anna Lembke, an American psychiatrist specializing in the opioid epidemic, wrote a book in 2021 titled Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. In this book, she warns about the dangers of indulging in dopamine addiction and suggests ways to overcome it. Dopamine is a crucial neurotransmitter that makes us feel good. However, the issue arises when people become addicted to it, flooding their brains with dopamine to avoid confronting their responsibilities rather than dealing with them. Many people today are in crisis due to their obsession with pleasure through activities such as sex, gambling, drugs, alcohol, smartphones, social media, stocks, food, romance novels, and more.
According to Lembke, our brain works like a balance scale with a centre point. When we experience pleasure from dopamine, our brain becomes accustomed to it, diminishing our excitement. Conversely, it amplifies feelings of pain or depression. This leads some people to seek more and more powerful stimuli, which can lead to serious addictions. The good news is that it is possible to overcome it. Lembke says it usually takes about four weeks of abstaining from addictive activities to recover from the situation. This is a significant scientific example of why we need time in the wilderness.
The Holy Spirit takes us into the wilderness during this Lenten season. The Holy Spirit sends us out into that lonely, wild space where it feels as if God is absent because we need those times to live authentically. In that wilderness, we will shape the image of God in us by chipping away at the things that are not from God. During this time, we will break free from the things that cause us to avoid our reality and responsibility, which helps us see what is truly valuable to us.
During Jesus' time in the wilderness, angels were waiting for him. It was a wilderness where it seemed like there was no God, but actually, angels were with him, looking forward to the end of his journey in the wilderness. The word for angel, ἄγγελος, not only refers to a supernatural being but also a human being, meaning messenger. There are situations in life where no one can help you, and you must confront them alone. But even in those situations, you are never alone. God's messengers are waiting for you in prayer so that you can get through the wilderness safely.
Like Elijah, who experienced God's presence at the end of his 40-day wilderness journey, and like the Hebrews, who entered the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering, at the end of our 40-day wilderness journey, all of us will share the joy of Easter with each other. May the image of God be revealed in your life by practicing your own spiritual disciplines during this Lenten season.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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