For those adults preparing to be baptized and come into the Church at Easter, the season of Lent marks an intense period of preparation before celebrating the mysteries so central to our faith – the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s life, death and Resurrection. In the early church, they feared that the days leading up to one’s baptism were prime time for Satan to dissuade the Elect from this choice, so they called those coming into the church forward often to pray with and for them as they came closer to baptism. There were/are special anointings and prayers to give them strength against the adversary during such a vulnerable time. Eventually, this season of Lent was adopted by the whole church, so we, too, could undergo an intense period of preparation and renewal, so we can celebrate whole-heartedly what God has done to save us and draw us even closer into the divine life.
Our Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent is Mark’s version of the temptation of Christ in the desert following His baptism. Every First Sunday of Lent, the Gospel is an account of Jesus’ temptation. In the other two liturgical years, we have the account from either Luke’s or Matthew’s Gospel. You might notice that Mark’s version is a lot shorter and does not include the details of the certain temptations Satan offers to Christ. These few weeks we have had with Mark, you might be noticing his brevity and his terse, yet powerful approach to relaying the life of Christ. One Scripture professor I had used this refrain all the time to speak of Mark’s writing: “stark, dark, laconic Mark.” We have a great example of that this week with our short but powerful passage about Jesus’ temptation in the desert.
We can draw many parallels between Jesus’ temptations in the desert and the beginning of Lent. Jesus’ fasting and prayer in the desert to prepare for His mission are a model for our own fasting and prayer during the Lenten season. he early church prayed heartily for their impending new members because the lure of evil was/is real and strong, just as Jesus experienced the adversary in the desert at the onset of His mission to the world. Mark’s account of the temptation of Jesus gives us hints of violence, darkness and struggle. Jesus is alone in the desert with the wild beasts and Satan. We are told at the beginning that the Spirit thrusts Jesus into the desert, a very strong word and uncomfortable word.
This First Sunday of Lent, we cannot escape the acknowledgement of evil and struggle in our world and in our lives. There are forces that try to keep us away from that which will set us free. We, too, are vulnerable to that which keeps us from God. Jesus confronted these forces head on; the Elect preparing for baptism confront them head on; the history of all our saints in our tradition confronted these forces head on; and we can too. While in the midst of the violence, misunderstanding and struggle we will see as we go forward in Mark’s Gospel, this is still Good News, because we do know how this ends. But there are times, when we have to go through it, like Jesus in the desert and in His ministry, always misunderstood, even abandoned by His friends. We find ourselves thrust in the desert, too, sometimes all of a sudden and sometimes over time, but we are there. And what we know is that Jesus was there, too, and experienced the same thing we experience, and yes, redeems even that.
Mark tells us that the angels ministered to Jesus in the desert. Who are your ministers when you are in the desert? How do you make it through? We need the strength of the sacraments, the strength of one another, the strength of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the strengths of one another’s prayers. This Lent, go through it with someone else – have a person hold you accountable to your commitments of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. As the angels ministered to Jesus, let us minister to one another in this season. Praying as one for those coming into the church and for all those we go through Lent with…together we can come through this intense period of preparation ready to celebrate most fully that which is all in all.
May the desert times in our lives join with Christ’s and
Be brought up into the greater glory of God
Where one day, all will be well.