Driven into the wilderness: 1st Sunday of lent

“He was with wild beasts; and the

angels ministered to Him.”  --Mark 1:12-15

The spirit drove Him into the wilderness where He was tempted by Satan and He dwelt among wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.  Think about this: immediately after He is confirmed as the beloved Son of God, one upon whom God’s favor rests, Jesus is driven by “the spirit” into the wilderness away from His friends and family, His support network, and where he is surrounded by wild beasts and tempted by Satan.  Is that the vision we have of one who is beloved by God and upon whom God’s favor rests? What if Joel Osteen were suddenly found homeless, abandoned by his ministry team, and living on the streets of Houston? Would we say to ourselves: See! There goes a man who is beloved by God. There is someone upon whom God’s favor rests!? 

            But here is Jesus, driven into the wilderness almost as a confirmation of His status as the beloved Son of God.  And as I read it, I am reminded of Abraham who is chosen by God to be the father of His people, and to confirm his importance and his place in God’s plan, Abraham is  immediately sent away from his people and his family, his support network, his security blanket, to a foreign land where he will be vulnerable and dependent –in need of aid, of ministry. He will be a blessing to those who bless him (angels) and a curse to those who curse him (wild beasts). (cf Gen. 12:1-3)

            It must be some kind of sign: God wants us out of our safety zone. He will even drive us away –into the wilderness—to a place where we feel vulnerable and helpless, a place where we may even feel desperate (despairing), and it is there that His angels will minister to us.  And I wonder, is it only there that God’s angels will minister to us? Or is it only there that we will receive them?

            Are we not open or receptive to the angelic presence that is all around us constantly because most of the time we are too focused on our own achievements, our own efforts, our own glories and failures; our resources, our private gifts and treasures?  Do we need to find ourselves in a wilderness surrounded by wild beasts before we can realize we don’t have all the answers. We are not sufficient to all the challenges we face. I can’t do it all by myself!

            And only then, we become aware of the angels around us who come with their hands open and held out, offering help, offering aid, offering comfort –ministering to us in our hour of need. 

            Is it possible that to be beloved by God means one will be driven into the wilderness, among the wild beasts, and tempted, and that is where and how God prepares us to be minstered by His angels?  Only then are we ready; tried in the fire of need and weakness and vulnerability, tempted; and only then are we ready to receive His angels and only then are we ready to go out and proclaim with authority:

            The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand… (Mk 1:15)

Because only then will we speak from experience.

Because you did not believe: The Promised Land and the broken shield

“The Lord then said to Moses and Aaron:

Because you did not believe that I could

Assert my holiness before the eyes of the

Israelites, you will not lead this assembly

Into the country which I am giving them.”

--Numbers 20:12

“Come consider the wonders of the Lord…

He puts an end to wars…/ He breaks

The bow, He snaps the spear, shields

He burns in the fire…” –Psalm 46: 8-9

This was my morning reading today. I have been working my way through the book of Numbers, and just came to that wondrous story of the Israelites at Kadesh complaining about their lack of water and Moses striking the rock with a staff to bring forth water for the people (cf. Nm 20. 2ff).  And it is a little painful to run hard up against that statement by God: Because you did not believe… you will not lead the people into the promised land!

I was troubled. Why was God being so hard on Moses and Aaron?  What did they do wrong? They basically did what He told them to do! They took the rod and when Moses struck the rock the water flowed.  Is the problem that Moses struck the rock? Maybe... God told them to “order the rock to yield its waters (some translations read: speak to the rock…” (20: 8b) but instead Moses strikes the rock --twice! There is speculation by some scholars that the second blow is the real problem. But, I don't know.  I'm still pondering it, and it is still troubling. There seems to be a kind of vindictiveness to this God who bans Moses and Aaron from the promised land simply because Moses lost his temper with the people (something God does quite often in this part of the Bible) and struck the rock.

Yet, there was that psalm.  And it kept echoing in my head as I read Numbers.  It worked on me like a counter-melody or a "haunting refrain." Why had God put these two readings together for me this morning? Why had He given me a reading about destroying our defenses and our weapons and a reading about how lack of trust in God could keep us out of the promised land; what was God saying to me? I imagine it has something to do with the way I cling to security and safety.

In the psalm God tells us how He puts an end to war: He breaks our weapons, melts our shields. We are left completely defenseless, completely vulnerable –and completely dependent on Him for protection.  And in the reading from Numbers He told me that if I don’t trust Him completely, depend on Him fully, I cannot reach the promised land.

And as I read the psalm one of the first things that came into my mind was a person I work with who frightens me. The authority and the defensiveness and the anger this person demonstrates make me anxious and fearful and worried about protecting myself and my job.  And my immediate thought was: if I see this person today, I should speak to them. I should share this with them. I should tell them about this wonderful passage from Psalm 46.

God will break our bows, shatter our spears, burn our shield.  God will take away our defenses and then, on top of that, we must trust Him, and THEN, and only THEN, can He lead us to the promised land.  Because the promised land isn’t about an earthly, geographic, space. The Promised Land is found in our faith, in our trust. It is that place where we put our complete faith in God. It is a place without weapons, without defenses, where God is our shield and our guide and our way and our promise.  The way to the Promised Land is through putting our faith in God's might, not our own. The way to the Promised Land leads straight  to the Cross, and then the tomb, and only then to the resurrection.  That is the Promised Land. And the way to get there begins with giving up your weapons, and putting down your shields.

The stone the builders rejected

“Why have you broken down the walls,

so that all who pass may pluck its fruit?”  --Psalm 80: 13

One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 80 with that great image of the vine brought out of Egypt. As the psalmist tells it, the vine grows and thrives and begins to tower over the trees and spread to the sea, even casting its shadow over the mountains.  Under God’s care, that vine is doing pretty darned well.  Then there is that abrupt change, as the psalmist cries out:  Why then have you broken down its walls? Now, everyone who passes by can pluck its fruit! By golly, even the beasts of the fields and the boars of the forest eat its fruit and ravage the vine, Oh Lord!  Why would you do this, God?  Why would you build something up and then just pull away Your protection and let it be ravaged and torn down and even despised and rejected?  Why?

And with this past Sunday’s reading from Matthew we hear a possible answer.

“Have you never read in the scriptures: the stone that

the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was

the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.” (Mt. 21:42)

Yes. It is amazing in our eyes. We who long for success and smooth sailing and promotion after promotion as confirmation of our actual value –we who lick the earth (to paraphrase another psalm), we who cannot imagine success without some kind of pleasure –at least as our reward.  It is amazing to us that the one rejected could possibly become anything, let alone the cornerstone. Truly amazing. Yet, it is the Lord’s doing. And perhaps we should remember –often it seems to be a singular mark of how He works.  The one who is rejected, who is denied, who is ridiculed –that one becomes the cornerstone.

And so we look again at the vine from the psalm.  It is ravaged and plucked by any and all who pass.  Why would God let such a thing happen?  Is it possible that the answer is to make cornerstones?  Think of Christ on the cross: He is dying a failure and a ridiculous fool to those with any power.  They laugh and taunt Him. Even one of those dying with Him cannot resist the desire to pluck at what remains of His early dignity:

If you really are the Messiah, save yourself and us! (cf LK 23:39)

But that isn’t how God works.  God makes His cornerstones out of the stones the builders reject, and to prove that –Jesus must feel the utter rejection of feeling abandoned even by God.

“Why have you broken down the walls?”

“So that all those who pass by may pluck and ravage My vine…”

It seems to me that Jesus is teaching us something about recognizing God’s amazing hand in what looks to us (and the world) like failure.  When we feel plucked and ravaged and rejected, perhaps we should take heart and trust that God is working on us. He is forming us and shaping us and turning us into cornerstones. That may not make the rejection feel any less painful, but it may be some consolation to know that perhaps this is how He builds His kingdom.

But now I wonder –does that mean any time I fail, I am being formed into a cornerstone?  Possibly… but when I lean over to kiss my wife and she says, “Honey, please! Not right now…”  What kind of cornerstone does that make me? One with garlic breath?