1st Sunday of Lent 2021
Genesis 9:8-15; 1Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15
Mark’s Gospel is amazing in that he is able to say so much in such a short space. In two short paragraphs today, he takes us through, not only Our Lord’s time in the wilderness, but also His basic proclamation, or kerygma: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the Good News.”
Every word in this short extract is significant. It begins with a word which doesn’t appear in the English translation—one of Mark’s favourite words in the early part of his Gospel—the word euthus “at once, immediately”.
It is a pity that the translation leaves this out, because it is a significant word. It points to the urgency with which Jesus prepares for, and begins, His public ministry; an urgency which Mark constantly stresses.
The episode begins immediately after the baptism of the Lord. Jesus is given no time to reflect on His baptism, no time to bask in the descent of the Spirit, or the encouraging testimony of the Father—“You are my Son, the Beloved”. Instead, He enters the wilderness at once. No time must be lost.
Notice how He comes to enter the wilderness. He doesn’t go of His own accord: instead, the Spirit is responsible, that same Spirit which had descended upon Him at the Jordan. Now the Spirit has Him go straight into the wilderness—and the Spirit will guide us, taking us where we should go, if only we are open to Him.
How does the Spirit guide Jesus? It “drove Him out” we are told: the Greek is actually ekballei “threw Him out”. There is almost an element of force in the Spirit’s action: Jesus is going into the wilderness whether He wishes to or not.
What is the wilderness? The wilderness is the place of wandering, of bewilderment; the place without signposts, where we must give up our comfortable securities and allow ourselves to be led by God.
The wilderness is the place where the Israelites wandered for forty years on their way to the Promised Land; but, as the prophet Hosea pointed out, it is also the place where they were drawn closer to God, where they came to know Him more fully. In His forty days (shorthand for a fairly long time) in the wilderness, Our Lord became identified with His people in their forty years (shorthand for a very long time) of wandering: and we too, in our Lenten forty days’ journey, are identified, as the pilgrim people of God, both with Our Lord and with our Jewish forebears.
In the Greek of the New Testament, the word for wilderness is eremon , the empty place. Our Lenten practices of prayer, self-denial, and generous giving, are intended to empty us of attachment to unnecessary things, in order that we may be filled by God.
Yet the wilderness is not entirely empty: the Tempter is there. Matthew and Luke describe the temptations which Jesus faced, whilst Mark does not. Our own wilderness times, whether chosen by us or inflicted on us, may open us to temptation, but they also serve to clarify our vision, to enable us to recognize our temptations and to resist them.
Mark is alone in using a peculiar expression: “He was with the wild beasts.” What is their significance? Were they a source of danger and of fear? Probably. We all face wild beasts of some description—people who are hostile; people who do not share our values, and who may tempt us to abandon those values; threats to our mental or physical well-being. Yet in saying “He was with the wild beasts,” is Mark implying that Our Lord tamed them, made them His companions? Can we tame and befriend the wild beasts of our nature, whether these be rage, lust, selfishness, unkindness, or whatever?
“And the angels looked after Him.” Let us not forget that God sends His angels, both spiritual and human, to look after us in our wilderness times.
We looked at the kerygma, the basic proclamation, a few weeks ago. It is worth mentioning though, that the Second Reading interprets the story of Noah’s Ark, in which people and animals were saved by passing through water, as looking forward to baptism, the Easter sacrament, by which we have been saved through water. We seek to live out our baptism daily, and especially during this season of Lent.
