Mar. 1, 2009 - God Has Come Near - Mark 1:9-15

            On this first Sunday in Lent, we return to the beginning of Mark’s gospel and revisit the story of the baptism of Jesus.  Jesus comes to the river Jordan and is baptized by his cousin John and as he comes out of the water, he sees the heavens town apart and the Spirit of God descending like a dove on him, and hears a voice calling from heaven, ‘You are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

            And after that affirmation, the Spirit of God drives him into the wilderness – for 40 days. Forty is a familiar number to the people of Israel.  When you mention the number 40 to them, it immediately calls to mind how God has acted in the history of them as a people. 

            They remember Noah and the great flood.  How the waters rose during the 40 days of rain – how Noah and his family floated in their own wooden wilderness waiting for the waters to recede. Relying on God’s word to save them from the flood and to preserve them through the divine deluge. 

            They remember the 40 years that the nation of Israel wandered in the desert – after they were rescued from the floods of oppression and passed through the Red Sea on dry ground.  They remember the testing, and the miracles of God that provided them with food and water in a wilderness where they surely would have died of thirst or hunger.. 

            They remember the prophet Elijah and the 40 days he spent running from the evil Queen Jezebel after his confrontation with the priests of Baal.  They will remember that God called to him in the desert and sent angels, divine messengers, to attend to his needs.

            The number 40 will remind the Judeans of danger and deliverance, salvation and sustenance, temptation and triumph.  They will understand, too, the importance of these journeys as times when Noah, Elijah and the entire nation of Israel learned how to lean on the holy arm of God – to rely on God’s ability to provide for them, on God’s power to protect them, on God’s all-seeing eye to watch over them wherever they were.

            They will understand that these 40 days will do the same for Jesus.

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            The wilderness is a peculiar place.  In the United States, we often think of the wilderness as a forest – someplace where there are neither roads nor towns, but still plenty of hills and trees and flowers and streams.  But in Judea, the wilderness is more foreboding, more desert than forest, more desert than simply deserted.  The mountains are barren and rock-strewn.  Walking is difficult.  The winds howl around corners, wailing through the valleys and blowing dust devils before them. 

            It is a place of wild things and unknown dangers.  It is a place where if you are to survive, it will not be on your own devices.  You won’t be growing your own crops, keeping your own sheep or planting your own vineyard – whatever you have it will come from God – who even in the wilderness can protect you from whatever comes and along the way and can supply all your needs.

            This is purpose of the wilderness.  This is the purpose of a time of preparation – to teach us that we are not able to make it on our own – to teach us that we live in need God’s constant care – to teach us that even in the wilderness God’s eye and God’s hand are upon us. 

            This is also the purpose of Lent – it is 40 days of wilderness during which we leave the comfortable confines of our day-to-day lives, to refocus and rediscover our total dependence on God.  To unveil the pride and selfishness we hide under our masks of humility and generosity.  To lay aside the bright illusions we have about ourselves and see the more clearly the darkness that lingers in every human heart – including our own.

            This is why we need the wilderness.  We need the wilderness to discover how utterly impossible it is for us to make it on our own.  We need the wilderness to discover that God can take care of every need.  We need the wilderness to discover that wherever we are, we are not far from God’s care and God’s gaze.

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            As you walked into the narthex this morning, you passed by a table covered in purple and laid out with sand and stones and candles.  It is a symbol of the long journey through the wilderness that we undertake each year at this time.  Each Sunday we will light another candle along the stone path as a way to show that the Spirit of God lights our way and guides us through the wilderness.

            As you entered the sanctuary this morning, you could not help but notice two lengthwise banners at the rear of the sanctuary that stretch toward the front of the sanctuary.  East week we will add two more banners as they symbolically lead us through our own wilderness to the cross at the front of our sanctuary that represents the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

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            The season of Lent is stretched out before us – a time to reflect on who we are – a time to reflect on the marvelous gift of God that we have received – a time to reflect on just how unworthy we are to have received this marvelous gift.

            For the next few weeks, for 4 Sundays, we look inward at ourselves and contemplate what we find there.  We will look deep inside to try to see ourselves as God sees us.  We will have an opportunity to ask God to sweep out all the dusty corners of our lives.  To admit to ourselves what God already knows, and in repentance and confession, submission and forgiveness, prepare our hearts and minds and souls to receive the joy of Easter in our hearts.

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            As Jesus left the wilderness, filled with the Holy Spirit, he came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news, the gospel, the euangelion.  ‘The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.’

            Repent and believe – The season of Lent calls us not particularly to sorrow but to turn from our prideful determination to ‘have it our way’ and to renew our resolve to trust in the one whom we call Lord and Savior.

            To enter with Noah into the Ark and trust God to get us through the flood of adversity.  To join Elijah as he fled from idolatry and discovered that he was not alone in his faithfulness to God.  To join with the nation of Israel as they journeyed from slavery to freedom by following the one true God from the land of oppression to the land of milk and honey.

            To journey with Jesus into the desert and discover that the Kingdom of God has come near – and is at the very door of our hearts.  That God’s watchful eye is always upon us, directing our path, sharing our sorrows and our joys, leading us into lives of holiness.

            The holy presence is not confined to some far land, some obscure practice of piety, or some secret knowledge available only to the elite.  The kingdom of God has come near and the presence of God is seen in every rainbow that graces the sky, every tree, every river, every loaf of bread, every child who lives in peace.

            The kingdom of God has come near – and the presence of God can get us through stuffy meetings, traffic jams, long lines and even disagreements with irate family members.

            The kingdom of God has come near – and the season of Lent is at hand, let us trust in the Holy Hand of God, let us open our hearts under the loving gaze of God for indeed God has come near, now we must ourselves draw near to God.

Amen.