The Real Threat in the Wilderness - The 1st Sunday in Lent
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
February 18, 2024
I remember when my parents lived in Florida, the day the
alligator stopped all play on the golf course in their development. Everything
was well planned there- the sprinklers were programmed to run at just the right
times, and the pesticides distributed in the right seasons to guarantee that
what had once been wild sandy ranch land was now the pristine home of lush
green grass, swimming pools and the golf course. There were also pest
treatments to kill the citrus rats that wanted a share of the fruit, but an
alligator… was just wild enough to get to be a gator. The last vestige of
“wild.”
As we hear the story of Jesus in a different wild space, the desert wilderness, we hear
he is with the wild beasts during those 40 days. Jesus is not alone, even
though he probably feels alone in a time that feels daunting and unending.
Imagine how hungry Jesus must have been, or how little shelter there is in the
heat or sun. How overwhelming it must be to have a constant adversary in Satan,
whose name literally means “The Adversary.” I haven’t thought as much though about those wild beasts, have
you?
If I have, I confess I have thought about them as dangerous; one
more adversary. Perhaps I am shaped by a show I watched as a kid, “Mutual of
Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” where invariably
the host, Marlin Perkins quietly narrates as his sidekick, Jim faces the real
danger. “Let’s watch as Jim tranquilizes that dangerous wild rhino.” Or maybe
we imagine the many movies and shows called “Westerns,” good guys and bad guys in the desert with rattlesnakes
and scorpions threatening to end someone’s
life.
Getting back to Jesus, in the gospel of Mark we hear that during
the 40 days in wilderness. Jesus was with the wild beasts and angels waited
upon him. If the sentence ended with “Jesus was with the wild beasts” most of us would
probably think, “poor Jesus surrounded by all those scary creatures.” This is a
threatening situation. If the sentence said, “Jesus was with the
wild beasts, BUT the angels waited upon him.” Same result.
But instead, the Bible says, “Jesus was with the wild beasts AND the angels waited
upon him. All in one sentence. Wait a minute!
Wild beasts and angels are WITH Jesus. They are not opposed to
each other. So why do we hear about the wild beasts with Jesus? And how is
it connected with repenting, the kingdom drawn near and good news?
Repenting is about returning to walk more closely with God’s vision. Letting go
of what is getting in the way of us seeing God and God’s world rightly. So with that in mind, what if we are
seeing those wild beasts with the wrong view?
What if they are not a threat at all? What if they are protectors
instead?
Less of “where the wild things are” and more “of the lion lies down
with the lamb?”
What if part of the kingdom drawing near is a restoration of the
breach between humans and other creatures? After all, the kingdom has known
separation since the creation story unravels, but our understanding to being
stewards of all God gives us, has often meant that we bend creation to our
will, certain that our “developing” is better. But the problem with sin is that
it often is so attractive or even justifiable. And we don’t see our own
wild-ness. And considering it is frankly unattractive to us. We could learn
much from the indigenous peoples and their alignment with all of the creatures
in the space we share. Imagine for a second what the world looked like to that
alligator on the golf course- why did he have to keep chasing the humans out of his home?
And on a larger scale, we have come to see that many of our
efforts to find chemical solutions to what we call pests have instead created
the collapse of ecosystems.
Interestingly enough, though not surprisingly, we have the
capacity to use this same pattern of seeing some as “wild” or “beasts” when it
comes to people. We can assume that people we do not know, or whose home is
different than ours, are somehow frightening to us, or a threat to “our world.”
When fear is our guide, Satan is absolutely at home. And can convince us that
our worst temptations are not only attractive, they are justifiable. And let’s
be honest, Jesus in the wilderness could have killed any wild beast he wanted
to, for food or for peace of mind. But do you see what happens instead?
How might we see that Jesus is at home in the home of the
creatures of the wilderness and not having to tame them?
Fully divine Jesus sets himself aside. And fully human Jesus felt
all of the pangs of hunger and gnawing fears and the burden of exhaustion that
we feel when it seems we are under attack. He surrendered himself to the care
God offered in the form of wild beasts. Imagine it, if you ever had a dog who
came over to lick the scrape on your leg, that could be Jesus who cut himself
and a creature we call “wild, ‘nursed him.
The only real threat in the wilderness for Jesus, or for us in
our lives is Satan. All of creation, all creatures including humans are created
by a loving God who desperately wants to heal the breaches in our world. For us
to know this, we too must set our selves aside, surrender to the love of God
made known in Christ and perhaps least attractive of all, we must live
sacrificially. Give up our vision of power and control. But we can do so
because we trust our God to provide what we need, and to tend us. And this is
our repentance. To turn anew to this call and see it as the beginning of the
good news that it is. Because struggling to bend the world to our will, and not
“thy will be done” is exhausting and destructive.
This side of the cross, we pray to God each week “thy kingdom
come, thy will be done” and “thine is
the kingdom and the power and the glory.” Nowhere is that more challenging than
when all we see is wilderness.
We are not promised a world free from temptations and
struggles, but we are absolutely promised a God of love and grace who never
leaves us alone and who, in ways we imagine and ones that will confound us,
assures us that we can trust in God’s greater will for us all until the kingdom
is not only near, it is fully here.
I would like to offer another prayer that I use each day that
helps me stay close to the God I trust to love me. And over time in my life I
have been blessed by both people and creatures God helped me to see rightly,
moments I realized my will was in the way, and times when angels have attended
me.
I absolutely believe in its power.
It’s called the Suscipe Prayer and it goes like this:
“Everything I have is yours.
To you Lord, I return it.
Do with it what you will.
Give to me only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.”
Amen.
Gospel Text: Mark 1:9-15
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.”
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2024 All rights reserved.
May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
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