Mark 1:9-15

The First Sunday in Lent | February 18, 2024 | A Sermon on Mark 1:9-15 | The Rev. Dr. Ryan D. Mills |

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:9-15, NRSV).

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Well welcome to Trinity Lutheran Church on this First Sunday in Lent. In addition to being the first Sunday in this powerful Season of Lent, today is also the Commemoration of Martin Luther, marking the day the great Reformer died in the year 1546. One of our members was reminding me of a famous story about Martin Luther that took place while he was hiding out in the Wartburg Castle. Declared a wanted outlaw by the Emperor, Luther was kidnapped by his own local Duke and for his own safety was locked in a cell in the local castle for 10 long months. Imagine a 10 month-long snow day, 10 months of quarantine!  But instead of sledding and watching Netflix, Luther used 11 weeks of his time there to translate the entire New Testament from the original Greek into German. But it’s also then that he began to undergo spiritual attacks—what he called Anfechtung. These attacks of spiritual despair, of doubt, Luther attributed to the devil himself—identifying the evil one as buzzing around his head like a fly, or sleeping like big black dog in his bed. In the most famous attack Luther may or may not have thrown an inkwell at the devil, resulting in a big ink stain on the wall of that room that you can maybe still see today. But Luther did defend himself over and over in one way: by going to the strongest power his knew, the greatest source of comfort he had available, reminding himself: “I am baptized, I am a Christian.”

            Today on this first Sunday in Lent we hear that right after Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan.

         40 days of being tempted.  If you remember some of the other gospel’s account of the Temptation, they are all a lot more exciting—Jesus being tempted to turn stones into bread, his being tempted to throw himself down from the tallest Temple mount, his being tempted with the wealth and glory of the whole world, if he would only bow down and worship the evil one.  And that’s the way we like to think of temptation: big moments, big decisions, big contests between good and evil where we will either pass or fail.  But Mark today describes temptation as a more dangerous, continuing threat, so that there is no time when we’re safe, when we’ve made the right choice and are immune, temptation is instead like a dangerous undertow current always running in a river, ready to drag us in, or, as with Luther, temptation is like a fly that won’t stop buzzing around our head.  Because temptation is not at its heart wanting to eat chocolate or soda when we’ve given it up, it’s not even being tempted to do those things that we know we shouldn’t. Temptation at its heart is Anfechtung—it’s our being tempted to despair of God, to abandon true faith, to let our trust in God’s lovingkindness towards us die.  Luther in his Small Catechism said that when we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” we don’t mean that God tempts anyone to sin, but we “pray that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our own flesh may not deceive us nor lead us into false belief, despair and other shameful sin and vice; and though we be thus tempted, that we may still in the end overcome and retain the victory.”

         The devil, the world, and our own flesh are our greatest tempters, and the “unholy” Trinity, the “anti-” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This trio is always at work to tempt us, this is who we battle with this Lent. You don’t have to believe in the devil like a little red man with goat horns, but we’re naïve if we look at the news this week, if we look at the state of our own hearts, if we hear the cries of all those in our world hurting and despairing and think the evil one has somehow been phased out.  And the world also tempts us, doesn’t it?  It offers those glittering paths that promise us freedom but just lead us into a deeper bondage to sin. As the old saying goes, “You can always find free cheese in a mousetrap.” And our own flesh tempts us also, temptation begins with the person who looks back at you from the mirror—we’re tempted because we’re trapped in ourselves, curved in on ourselves, haughty, arrogant, self-seeking. We’re tempted in a thousand different directions, but the most dangerous temptation is the temptation to false belief, to despair of God’s grace and mercy, to believe that we have been abandoned by our loving God.

         Look at how this temptation worked itself out with Jesus: he has baptismal water still wet in his hair, he still has the voice of the Father still echoing in his ears, saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”  And it’s just then that the Spirit pushes him into the wilderness, it’s then that temptation begins.  As soon as God’s Word enters, then temptation begins! As soon as faith comes, then the attack comes.  “Wherever God builds a church, the devil puts up a chapel, or as Luther also said, faith is like a magnet, in that it attracts its opposite!

         But God the Father promised Jesus, “You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased,” and in your baptism you too have heard those words spoken over you while the water was poured or sprinkled over you, you too have been called God’s son, God’s daughter, God’s beloved, with you too God is well pleased. Because you are baptized, you are a Christian!

 Today we’ve heard from Genesis the story we all love of the great flood, the flood that destroyed the wicked but saved Noah and his family, that flood that seemed like a demonic attack that was really a new beginning, a new covenant, a new promise between God and all creation, and that flood has come upon you, washed over you, and this “baptism now saves you”, St. Peter tells us today, that flood has saved you! What seemed like a flood of death was the water of life for you; the Rainbow shining in the clouds is a promise that God will never abandon or forsake you, for God has spoken to you over that flood: “You are my Son, You are My Daughter, You are my Beloved, With you I am well pleased.”   Maybe we can each think of a thousand different reasons why God shouldn’t be so pleased with us. But faith looks to the one reason why he is: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”

He gave himself to death, so that you might be given unto life.  He gave himself to the baptism of his own suffering and death, so that you might be given that baptism of forgiveness and new life that now saves you.  He gave himself to the abandonment of the Cross, so that you and I would never need despair, never have to doubt that God is truly with us, never be tempted to think we have been abandoned by his steadfast love that endures forever.

            There’s a wonderful museum down in Philadelphia, of sculptures by the artist Rodin, where Kathleen and I had one of our first dates.  And two of my favorite sit there side by side: the Hand of God, and the Hand of the devil.  Rodin only sculpted right hands, except for his sculpture of the devil–sorry all you lefties!  The devil’s hand is lean, and attractive, but also almost bony, it lays out straight, and flat, and in its fingers is just the torso of a woman, a woman who seems to be dissolving down into chaos and nothing.  Temptation is nothing: powerful only like a black hole, and it dissolves faith, dissolves our trust in God, dissolves the goodness of life, dissolves our love and care for our neighbors, brings us down to doubt and chaos and destruction. But next to it is God’s hand: rough, strong, bursting up high from out of solid rock. And cradled in his hand, being formed, being found, being kept, is a man and a woman nestled together, cradled, provided for, rescued from chaos and given trust, togetherness, and a good future.  That’s you, that’s us, that’s our church, cradled together in God’s strong hands. God’s hands must be rough, for he formed you with them, he brought his church through the flood with them, he himself baptized you with them, he cradles you in them, they hold you up.  His hands knew hard work and suffering and temptation, and his hands were pierced on the Cross for me, for you, and for all.

            So come this morning, you who know attack, you who know temptation, you who are ready to despair—come and be strengthened this morning, be encouraged. Christ had the angels and wild beasts to minister to him, and we have each other here in his church, we have the encouragers God puts into our lives, some gathered here, some waiting upon us and attending to us unseen.  But most importantly, we have Him!  And he comes this morning to give you himself, to strengthen you for these 40 days, so that renewed in the waters of your baptism, and cradled in his mighty hands, you and I might live in faith towards him this season, and in fervent love towards one another.

“So lead us not into temptation, O Lord, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and Ever, Amen.”

And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills

New Haven, Connecticut

Pastor@TrinityLutheranNH.org