What a curious story Mark’s Gospel provides:
About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”
At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him. – Mark 1:9-15 (Common English Bible)
Jesus was in his later adulthood. He was charged with looking after his aged mother, who may have been in her mid 40’s by then. Yet he was not alone in this responsibility – he had brothers and sisters who surely helped, too. We don’t know a lot about Jesus’ life before his adult ministry began, so we can only guess that he was captivated by what John the Baptist was declaring – God was about to do something significant, perhaps to overthrow Rome’s oppression and restore Israel once more? Jesus was ready to offer himself to God in whatever way that meant, which led him to get baptized. When he came out of the water, the Spirit of God anointed him. Note that he was not yet anointed beforehand according to this account – which serves to remind us that Mark doesn’t offer us a birth narrative that depicts Jesus as a demigod. Having experienced this touch of God and pronouncement of God’s favor, Jesus decided to take a minute to sort out its implications. He went camping. My kind of guy!
In the wilderness he was tempted by Satan. While we may get distracted by such a moniker, try to let go of all the devilish images that might come to mind and instead see this as a period of time when Jesus takes a hard look at his motivations. In what sorts of ventures does he really want to invest himself – his time, his mind, his energy? What will be his True North? Other Gospels delineate the content of the temptations: choosing to keep God as primary, choosing to live by God’s instruction, and choosing to give God honor and recognition. Jesus chose not to give his allegiance to these themes related to power, fame, fortune, and ego. As Ilia Delio describes, opening to God in such a way is playing with fire:
Love is a fire of transformation that constantly needs wood to keep the fire alive. Real fire is destructive; throw yourself into a fire and you will be destroyed. God’s fire is destructive too because it can swiftly eliminate all self-illusions, grandiose ideas, ego-inflation, and self-centeredness. Throw yourself into the spiritual fire of divine love and everything you grasp for yourself will be destroyed until there is nothing left but the pure truth of yourself (Birth of a Dancing Star: From Cradle Catholic to Cyborg Christian, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2019: 155–156). (More on fire here).
The experience in the wilderness refined Jesus, preparing him for the ministry before him. I wonder if we could benefit from the same? How well do we welcome this fire?
Jesus came out of the wilderness with a fire in his belly and a clear message: “After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, ‘Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!’ (Mark 1:15 CEB). The time of possibility has arrived – and is always arriving. What are we going to do with this opportunity?
Bruce Epperly, in his book Simplicity, Spirituality, and Service, offers helpful insight to help orient our lives as Jesus did (which Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure did as well). Consider the following words of wisdom:
Jewish mystics note that if you save a soul, it is as if you have saved the world; if you destroy a soul, it is as if you have destroyed the world. Even the smallest of actions—hugging a person with leprosy, welcoming an undocumented worker as kin, choosing to eat lower on the food chain—can be a factor in transforming the world. The challenges we face today often seem beyond our capabilities, and we are tempted to give up hope, until we realize with Francis that the world is saved one act at a time, and we can turn the tides of life, individually and corporately, from hate to love and death to life (108).
Fidelity to God requires us to change our lifestyles, live more simply, transform the goals of our institutions from consumption to preservation, and claim humbly our roles as God’s companions in healing the earth. While the success of our quest for environmental healing is not assured, our calling is to take up the task for God, our children and grandchildren, future generations we will never meet, and for our planet in all its wondrous diversity (116).
Francis and Clare challenge us to seek God’s pathway of healing and peace, which is found in self-transcendence and kinship with all creation. Peace and healing come when we sacrifice self-interest, and the defensiveness that comes with it, for world loyalty, and the expansiveness that emerges when we love our neighbors as ourselves, not just spiritually but in our daily economic choices and commitment to healing the planet and its creatures (117).
How will we respond to Jesus’ example and call? Epperly offers practical suggestions for sorting out our own priorities as Jesus did, but you may not be required to reserve a camp site! Consider the following:
Consider the Lilies. In this spiritual examination, consider what role the nonhuman world and God’s realm have in your life. Begin your time of spiritual reflection with a time of stillness, asking God for guidance as you look honestly at your values and lifestyle. Then, allow ample time, perhaps over a few days, to consider the following:
· What values determine your day-to-day life, including your purchasing and personal attention?
· Are your daily values and economic behaviors congruent with your spiritual beliefs?
· Where do you experience anxiety or stress in your life?
· Is there any relationship between your daily anxieties and your economic life and time commitments?
· How would your life change if you placed God’s realm first?
· How would this shape your purchases, charitable giving, relationships to family, friends, and strangers?
· How would it influence your political involvement?
· What one thing can you do, as a first step, to align yourself more fully with God’s realm?
· Conclude by giving thanks for the opportunity for self-examination and the ability to change.
Simplicity of Spirit. Spiritual simplicity is more important than ever. Francis and Clare sought holy poverty to deepen their relationship with God, align themselves with God’s vision for their lives, and experience solidarity with all creation. Holy simplicity reminded them of their dependence on God and interdependence with all creation. We need to embrace these values today. We also need to embrace a fresh simplicity of spirit, reflected in simplicity of life and transformed approaches to economics. We must, as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton asserted, “live simply so others may simply live.” More than that, our simplicity of life is essential for planetary survival. We need to declutter our material and spiritual lives, liberating ourselves from consumerism to become God’s companions in planetary healing. In this spiritual exercise, take time to consider the following, after a time of prayerful silence and petitionary prayer for God to guide your attitude toward material possessions and consumption.
· How do you evaluate your economic life?
· Do you have sufficient resources to live comfortably and provide for your own and others’ needs and to be generous to causes that are important to you?
· How do you feel about your possessions?
· Do you feel comfortable with your current level of consumption?
· Is it appropriate or too much?
· How does your consumption relate to others’ well-being, including the nonhuman world?
· In what ways might you appropriately and safely reduce your consumption of fossil fuels and non-renewable products?
· What changes might you make to live more simply and sustainably?
· Ask for God’s guidance in simplifying your life.
· Ask God to give you wisdom in addressing issues of simplicity with your family and the institutions of which you are a part.
FRESH PRAYER
God of all creation, all creatures great and small, open my eyes to the wonders of your world and my life. Help me to pause and notice. Help me to be aware and amazed, and share my joy with others. Help me to live more simply, to see my consumption in light of the well-being of others and the planet. Let me experience the freedom of spiritual and material simplicity and let me share my wealth to support those in need and causes that promote justice and planetary healing. Amen (123-124).
Unless otherwise specified, all quotes are from Bruce Epperly, Simplicity, Spirituality, Service: The Timeless Wisdom of Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure. Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition.
Mark 1:9-15 Common English Bible
About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”
At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.
Jesus’ message
After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”
Commentary from the SALT Project
Lent 1 (Year B): Mark 1:9-15 and Genesis 9:8-17
For more on these two passages, check out this episode of SALT’s podcast, “Strange New World.”
Big Picture:
1) As Lent begins, we return to Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism, including God’s declaration that Jesus is “my Son, the Beloved” — the same message we heard last week in Mark’s story of the Transfiguration. The baptism is followed by Jesus’ 40 days of being tested in the wilderness; and finally by the sermon with which he begins his public ministry, a clear call for “repentance” — that is, for a “change of mind” or “change of heart” — because “the kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15).
2) The word “Lent” comes from an Old English word for “lengthen,” and refers to the gradually lengthening days of late winter and early spring (in the Northern Hemisphere, of course). Over the centuries, Lent evolved into a 40-day period of reflection, repentance, and preparing not only for Holy Week but also for the subsequent 50-day celebration of Eastertide.
3) Why 40? In the ancient scriptural imagination, “40” was both a stylized way of saying, “for a long time,” and a way of resonating with other key “40’s” in Israel’s sacred memory: the flood’s 40 days and nights of rain (Genesis 7:12), Moses’ 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28), Israel’s 40 years of wilderness wandering (Deuteronomy 8:2), and not least, Jesus’ 40 days of wilderness temptation. The underlying idea here is that God, like a master poet, choreographer, or composer, works through signature forms in time and space — and in the Season of Lent, we’re invited to participate in one of those forms by stepping into our own 40-day pilgrimage of reflection, repentance, prayer, and preparation.
4) If Mark’s reference to “40 days” echoes the story of Noah’s ark, so does the intriguing comment that in the wilderness Jesus was “with the wild beasts.” Throughout his Gospel, Mark portrays Jesus as regularly retreating to the wilderness for prayer and restoration, and this passage suggests that the solace Jesus finds in the wild has something to do with spending time among a wide range of God’s living creatures. From this angle, it’s no wonder Mark ends his Gospel with Jesus instructing his disciples to declare the good news not merely to “all people” but also to “the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). St. Francis, who reportedly preached to the birds, would approve!
5) Many ancient cultures have “great flood” stories in their narrative treasuries, and a high percentage of those stories (a) explain the flood as the result of divine activity, and (b) feature a favored human family who helps preserve animals from the deluge. What’s distinctive about Genesis 6 - 9, then, isn’t the story’s basics but rather its details, tone, and overall upshot. For the authors of Genesis, the flood happens in the first place because God is outraged by the heart-breaking, ubiquitous violence on earth (Genesis 6:11), and sure enough, the flood ends with God’s covenantal promise — to humanity and also to “every living creature” — to disavow such violence once and for all. Thus the story’s authors take a common ancient genre (the “great flood” story) and turn it into both a testament to God’s nonviolent heart and a reminder of humanity’s role as protector, steward, and caretaker of creation.
Scripture:
1) Particularly in the Lenten season of repentance, as we encounter again the story of Jesus’ baptism, it’s striking that Jesus is baptized at all. Mark explicitly frames the rite as “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4)— and yet Jesus, the very one with whom God is “well pleased,” gets in line with the rest of us. It’s an expression of the mind-bending humility and solidarity of the Incarnation: God stands in line with sinners. And at the same time, it’s an example of how “repentance” can be communal, not just personal: while it’s right and good to repent of our individual failings, it’s also fitting to take responsibility for those things our community has done or left undone that need changing. After all, in the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Forgive us,” not merely “forgive me.”
2) The Spirit seems to appear on the baptismal scene as a gentle, loving dove — but quickly becomes what ancient Celtic Christians dubbed a "wild goose," driving Jesus out into the wilderness, hissing and nipping at his heels. Why? Being tested in the wilderness is a common motif in Hebrew scripture: take the Israelites’ 40 years of wilderness wandering after the exodus, for example, a period the author of Deuteronomy frames as a time of testing, humbling, and strengthening.
3) It’s as if Mark is saying: Just as ancient Israel was tested and strengthened in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the promised land, so too Jesus was tested and strengthened in the wilderness for 40 days. In this way, we can recognize him as a new personification of God’s people, a new shepherd, a new Moses ushering former captives into a new freedom, and ultimately into a new promised land of redemption. Accordingly, in Matthew’s version of the story, Jesus stands up to the devil’s temptations by directly citing Deuteronomy’s account of Israel’s wilderness wandering (Matthew 4:1-11).
4) In storytelling, “firsts” always matter, and Mark’s account of Jesus’ first sermon is no exception. The sermon — blessed in its brevity! — comes in four parts: (a) “The time is fulfilled”: a reference to the dawn of a new era, evoking God’s Jubilee, the promised new day the prophets proclaim; (b) “the kingdom of God has come near”: despite how things might seem, God’s active reign of love, justice, and peace is breaking into the world here and now; in fact, it’s so near you can see it and hear it and smell it and reach out and touch it; (c) “repent”: because of this nearness, we’re called to repentance; the underlying Greek term here is metanoia (meta, “change” + noia, “mind”); today we might say “change of heart” or “change of life”; and finally, (d) “believe in the good news”: trust that all of this is true, and rejoice! Because if we aren’t dancing with genuine joy — we didn’t hear the news!
5) What should we make of the idea that Jesus is “with the wild beasts”? This week’s passage from Genesis provides some clues. Here is the first divine covenant in the Bible, and it’s described as both “everlasting” and ecologically universal in scope. God’s promise never again to destroy the earth is made to all of humanity, yes, but also to all living creatures, and even to the earth itself (Genesis 9:13). God puts down the divine bow — an archer’s bow — in the clouds, an amazing, technicolored icon of nonviolence. And via Noah’s family, humanity is given a second chance to live up to our original vocation as those who care for creation and all its creatures. In this way, the deep poetry of Genesis suggests that Jesus is together “with the wild beasts” not as foes but as friends. Here at the genesis of his ministry, we get a beautiful glimpse of that peaceable kingdom to come.
Takeaways:
1) As Lent begins, this is the perfect week to reflect on the season and what it means in Christian life: an invitation to a 40-day journey of reflection, repentance, and preparation for the great mystery of the empty tomb. Now is the time to change our lives, to embark upon a kind of soulful spring cleaning. What in our personal and communal lives needs repentance or renewal, a “change of heart” or “change of life”? How do we need to be both humbled and strengthened? How can we better prepare for the radiant 50 days of Easter? Might a sojourn in the wilderness “with the wild beasts” be just what we need?
2) Jesus’ first sermon can be a template for preaching, for a season, or for a lifetime. Each of its parts is essential: a new day is dawning; it’s near enough to touch; so, change your life; and rejoice! If the sermon’s core is, Because God’s wonderful new world is dawning, repent!, its mistaken opposite is, Because you have repented, God’s new world is dawning! That is, the basis of Christian life is not our repentance, not our good works; rather, the basis of Christian life is what God has done and is doing, and our good works flow from the joyous, thankful recognition of that graceful liberation. True repentance — changing our lives and hearts for the better — flows from God’s activity in the world, not the other way around. In this way, Jesus' sermon is a call not into anxious exertion, but rather into gratitude and joy.
3) One “change of life” these two passages point toward involves our care for God’s creation, and in particular our role as guardians of the earth’s vitality and variety in the midst of the ongoing catastrophe some have called "the sixth extinction." One might reflect this week on the ways in which creation care is at the center of Christian faith. Originally created to “till and keep” the garden, and then given a second chance to reclaim that birthright through the new creation in the story of the ark full of “wild beasts,” we are clearly, continually called to care for the whole buzzing, blooming menagerie. After all, God’s great covenant isn’t just with us — it’s with “all flesh that is on the earth” (Genesis 9:17).
4) All of this is only intensified, of course, in the context of the blanket of pollution we’re currently spewing into the sky, overheating the planet: 2023 was the hottest year on record; the last ten years are the hottest ten years on record; and last month was the hottest January on record (and in particular, the temperature of the sea so far this year is the hottest we’ve ever seen). The time has come for clear, effective action: check out SALT’s new devotional and action planner, “Climate + Faith: How We Can Help Meet the Greatest Challenge in Human History.”
For more on these two biblical passages, check out this episode of SALT’s podcast, “Strange New World.”