Sunday, February 18, 2023, First Sunday in Lent
âWith Jesus in the Wildernessâ
Psalm 25:1-10; Genesis 22:4-9, 15-17; James 1:12-18; Mark 1:9-15
Divine Service IV with Holy Communion
Hymns: #424 âO Christ, You Walked the Roadâ; #574 âBefore the Throne of God Aboveâ; #664 âFight the Good Fightâ
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
  Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
  Everything we go through and suffer here on earth, Jesus went through and suffered along with us. He had a human birth. He grew up in a family, with brothers and sisters (and we know how messy that can be). He was tempted by every sin that weâre tempted with. He knew what it was to be hungry and thirsty, tired and discouraged, angry and afraid. Jesus knows about it all. As Lent begins, our Gospel tells about Jesus walking into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil â even as you and I still have to walk in this wilderness of a world where the devil holds sway. We learn from Jesus how to live and be faithful and strong in spite of it all.
  When Jesus walked into the world, the whole world was already a wilderness â a desert of sin, a spiritual wasteland. God told Adam and Eve, âOn the day you eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, you will surely die.â And the moment Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they began to die. They didnât die on the spot, which was a mercy on Godâs part; but they lived with the result of their sin for hundreds of years, and passed their sin on to their children. Cain and Abel, bloodshed and violence and wars; and the snowball is still rolling downhill. Ukraine, Somalia, Nigeria, Israel and Palestine; the streets of our cities are war zones on any given day. Everything quite literally went to hell as a result of their sin. A world that was created to be a garden paradise, turned into a desert; a place where you had to scratch for your food, and fight for your life, and watch your back.
   Prophet Amos told the people of Israel that a famine was coming: âNot a famine of food, or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing words of the Lord.â Malachi was the last of Old Testament prophets; and then there was silence from the Lord for over 400 years. No prophets, no messages from heaven, no Word from God -- until John the Baptist stood up in the wilderness to call the people to repent and come and be baptized, because the Christ at last had come.
  Our Gospel reading this morning begins: âAt that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.â Jesus, Godâs Holy Son, came to stand in line with the sinners. He had no sin of His own, but He came to share this wilderness with us. The people Jesus stood in line with to be baptized came with their sins, and with all the suffering sin causes - guilt and shame and grief and suffering and death, and all those hard things weâre all still all too familiar with. He didnât come to share in our sin; but He did come to share in all the temptations and trials we have to suffer.
He came to share in our pain, and more than that, to take all our pain upon His own back.
  âAs Jesus came up out of the water,â our Gospel says, âJohn looked up and saw heaven being torn open. âRent asunderâ is a good translation; the Greek word is schizomenoi, a schism, a tearing apart. Much like in the Transfiguration we heard about last week, the curtain that divides heaven and earth was torn open to let the glory-light shine through; and the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. The Baptism of Jesus was a very Trinitarian event. If anyone tries to tell you thereâs no Trinity in the Bible, this passage alone is proof enough -- the Son in the water, the Spirit descending, the Father speaking in an audible voice.
   âAnd a voice came from heaven,â says our Gospel: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." The God whoâd been silent for all those years suddenly spoke again. Good News was spoken into the wilderness, a Word of hope and promise, spoken again into a desert of a world, a world where people were suffering and sad and hopeless and spiritually dry. Godâs Word is âlike water on the thirsty ground,â prophet Isaiah says. âYou are My Son,â says the Father to Jesus. âYouâre My Beloved, My dear one; in You I am well pleased.â Those words werenât just for Jesus to hear. They were for John, and for the crowds standing by, and for us, if weâre going to have any hope at all in a world thatâs falling apart around us. Thereâs no doubt at all about where we need to look in our troubles, or who we need to look to.
  This all came crashing home to me on Tuesday of last week, as I took my dear wife to the emergency room, and they discovered blood clots on her lungs. If youâve never stood and watched while they loaded someone you love on a med-flight, I hope you never have to. Iâll never understand how people go through a thing like that without Jesus. Without faith, without hope, this world would be nothing but a wilderness of pain that weâd never be able to find our way out of. Thank God that Jesus came to take it all upon Himself, and to take it off our shoulders. (And thank God sheâs OK!)
  âAt once the Spirit sent Him out into the desert,â says our Gospel. That is a somewhat weak translation. The Greek word is ekballei (ek, meaning âoutâ, and ballai, which essentially means âa ballâ). The word means not just to be sent out, but to be driven out, cast out, or even âforcibly propelled.â For your Superbowl reference, think of it as a drop-kick. From the glory of His Baptism, Jesus was dragged immediately into a battle and a fight. Again, itâs like the Transfiguration last week, when Peter, James, and John witnessed that glorious scene on the mountain, and then it was right back to work in the broken world. Thank God we have our Sundays, and sometimes our Wednesdays, our hour or two of worship, once a week; thatâs always glorious and good, and we need it, if weâre going to survive. But the rest of the week is a slog through the wilderness. The devil never takes a day off, and the fight against him never stops.
  âAnd Jesus was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan,â our Gospel says. âHe was with the wild animals, and the angels attended him.â Jesus was there in the desert for forty days, being tempted by Satan. And it wasnât like it was just forty days without food or water, and then the devil showed up on the last day to tempt Him, which would have been hard enough; it was forty days of constant, unrelenting temptation. The world had suffered 400 years of âa famine of hearing the words of God,â and Satan wanted nothing more than for that to go on. The devil wants to close peopleâs ears and keep them from hearing you. The devil wants to shut your mouth and keep you from speaking the name of Jesus. The devil wants to shut me up and keep me out of this pulpit. The devil wanted to put Jesus down, to stop Him, before He ever had chance to stand up and speak. We know how that turned out: âMan does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.â And at those words, the devil left Him, with his tail tucked between his legs. Jesus wins, and so do we. The angels came and attended Him, and theyâre attending us, too. âAll day, all night, angels watching over me.â
  Now, âAfter John was put in prison,â says our Gospel, âJesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.â Speaking the Word of God aloud in the world will come at a cost, of course. We know that well enough; we should expect it by now.
Any time you try to do something good for God, the devil will always try to throw a wrench in the works and mess it up. The cancel culture crowd is coming after us. Theyâre calling us Christians haters, bigots, homophobes, transphobes, misogynists, and every other name they can think of; they did the same to Jesus. Theyâll call us crazy, insane, and even stupid, for believing that life in this wilderness of a world isnât the only life there is; and theyâll hate us for being bold enough to say so.
  John the Baptist was faithful enough, and crazy enough, to call out mighty King Herod for his sin, and it cost the poor man his head. Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming out loud the Good News of God; and some people loved Him for it, but lots of people didnât. The Pharisees and leaders of the Jews, whoâd stood on the sidelines when John was baptizing, refusing to confess their sins or get in the water, also refused to listen to Jesus, when He called them to leave their lives of sin and come home to God. âHe came to that which was His own, but His own would not receive Him.â They hated Him for what He had to say, and they hung Him up on a cross to die.
  âYet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.â There is a way through the wilderness, a way to make it through your troubles and trials, no matter what they may be â a way through the valley of the shadow of death, no less, to the green pastures and still waters God has promised. Itâs not an easy road, God knows; the Lord never promised us it would be. Jesus, Good Shepherd that He is, will lead us through it, rod and staff in His hands, His goodness and mercy as our rear guard. We donât get to skip over that awful valley, we still have to walk through it. But as James tells us, âBlessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.â
  âThe time has come,â Jesus says; âThe time has been fulfilled.â âNow it the time,â says St. Paul. Heaven is open, the Spirit is calling, now is the day of salvation. âThe Kingdom of God is near,â says Jesus. Itâs as near as a prayer. Itâs as near as the body and blood of Jesus, waiting for us on Godâs altar. Itâs as near as a Savior whoâs promised to be with us always. Heâs with us here in the wilderness, in good times and bad. âNever will I leave you or forsake you,â God says. Repent and believe the Good News! In Jesusâ name; Amen.
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