Through Stained Glass: The First Sunday of Lent

 The First Week of Lent

“The emptiness of the desert makes it possible to learn the almost impossible: the joyful acceptance of our uselessness.” Ivan Illich

Reflection Title: Becoming Who We Are

Scripture: Genesis 9.8-17 & Mark 1.9-15

The first Sunday of Lent always sends us into the wilderness. We read Mark’s account of Jesus’ forty-day stay in the wild this year. Unlike the other Gospel accounts of Jesus’ temptations, Mark provides little detail about what happens there. We know that the Spirit sends Jesus into the wilderness where he is tested, or tempted, by the Satan, and it ends with Jesus resisting these temptations, revealing that whatever keeps us from being on the right path can be dislodged.

The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness references other stories within the Bible. The story of Exodus tells of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for forty years as they moved toward the land of promise. The testing of Jesus also recalls the story of Elijah and
their forty-day journey to Mount Horeb. Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were all tested. All prophets are since going with the status quo is easier than fighting for justice. The wilderness journey is not one of punishment but one of becoming.

Like all of Israel before him, Jesus is forced to take the wrong way, going directly from his baptism into the wilderness of temptation. Being thrust into the desert and its promises of death, he sounds the keynote of his whole mission in advance. The wilderness in Mark’s gospel is always a desert. Out there in the desert, a place of death, it becomes a place of miraculous nourishment and hope. In the wilderness, Jesus gains a deeper understanding of who he is – as God’s beloved and as a human, like you and I. Lent invites us into those wild places of our lives – physically and metaphorically – where we insist God doesn’t dwell. And yet, in those places considered God-forsaken, our identity is found.

                 Out in the wilderness, we find the way toward God – we become who we are as God’s beloved, too. The emptiness of the wilderness reminds us of our interdependence with God and creation. We find our place among the wild things. Out there, where we truly become, we are invited, like Jesus, to envision a kind of holy disruption grounded in the longing for God to set things right.

The Questions for the Week:

• Please read this week’s lesson from Genesis 9.8-17. Why does it matter that God establishes a covenant with all creation and not just humans?
• How do you define ‘wilderness?’ Why do you think Mark leaves out the specific temptations of Jesus, unlike the other synoptic details, but explicitly notes Jesus was with the wild animals and that the angels, which can be translated as both messenger and birds, waited on him after his time in the wilderness?
• The Hebrew word for wilderness is midba, rooted in the verb dabar, which means ‘speaking.’ Ba-midbar, translated in most cases as ‘the wilderness,’ also means ‘the organ which speaks.’ The wilderness is understood to be a voice that speaks to us. God guides the Israelites from Egypt to the land of promise. How might the wilderness speak to their becoming?

The Practices for the Week:

• Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he went into the wilderness to pray. Take this week to go into the wilderness and pray. Maybe you drive to Kickapoo Park, Madigan State Park, or your favorite lake, and while remaining safe, spend time conversing with God and the wild beasts around you.
• Research ‘forest bathing’ and Terra Divina. If weather permits, and while being safe, sit against a tree and wait for the Living God. Take a camera with you to the local park and look for the places where creation is becoming new.
• Find crayons, colored pencils, markers, or items to collage with. Spend 30 to 60 minutes creating your favorite wilderness place. Maybe it’s your favorite mountain in Colorado, beach in Florida, or loch in Scotland. As you create, allow the Spirit to tend, uplift, and pray for you.

The Prayer for the Week

You have made all your works in wisdom.

Including the wilderness – where we become.

Minister to us, speak to us with your Birds

and wild Beasts – make wise our lives.