Lent
February 18, 2018
Scripture Reading: Mark 1:9-15
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ –Mark 1:12-15
A time of preparation for the journey that lies ahead seems to be what Mark implies from Jesus’ baptism, Spirit blessing, acknowledgment by God, and sojourn in the wilderness. Matthew and Luke go into greater detail than Mark about Jesus’ temptations. Mark simply records that it happened. Being alone with God is wise preparation for any journey of faith. Ridding oneself of the things that are most likely to distract us from our purpose is also a good idea. Fred Craddock developed a Bible study guide many years ago based on the premise that we tend to sin in our areas of greatest strengths rather than weaknesses. Pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18.) I tended to agree with him after following his logic in that study.
We seem to have a lot of leaders backed into corners from which they cannot extract themselves without admitting that they might have followed a wrong course. We, of course, each see the wrongness of our opponent’s actions without seeing the possible miss-steps of our own. What was that Jesus said about taking the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye (Matthew 7:5)? The thing about God is God forgives and forgets. We humans have not perfected either of those actions. God rejoices in our turning around and correcting our course. God can and does show us the way out of the corners we make for ourselves if we invite God to help us.
My fear is spoken so often by the Hebrew prophets and quoted by Jesus:
‘He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.’ (John 12:40)
Are we so caught up in the my-way-or-the-highway stanches that we cannot turn back to God’s ways?
Prayer: Father, forgive us for we know not what we do. Help us escape from our self-imposed prisons of self-rightness and return to your paths of righteousness and justice. Amen.