March 5, 2006 - First Sunday in Lent - Father Barry Woods

FIRST READING: Genesis 9: 8-17
PSALM: 25: 1-9
SECOND READING: 1 Peter 3: 18-22
GOSPEL: Mark 1: 9-15

For those of you who might be visitors, I want you to understand that you are experiencing the second string this morning. The starters are off on retreat, and the one thing that is good about it is that it gives Fred and me a chance to serve together. We almost never get to serve together at the same service. They always seem to want to keep us split up. So Fred and I are together today, and that is good. And because the Rector and the Associate Rector and most of the lay leaders are gone this morning, I want you to do me a big favor. If Fred does something wrong this morning, tell the Rector. If I do something wrong this morning, just forget it.

The Gospel story this morning is, of course, the story of Jesus' baptism and temptation, but, in this short Gospel lesson, there are really at least four stories.

The first story in this Gospel story is the journey, itself. Jesus journeys from Nazareth to the Jordan River to be baptized. It is not much of a journey. It is only about 15 miles from Nazareth to the Jordan River. It is not much of a journey, even by the standards of those ancient days, when people had to walk. It is still not much of a journey - only those 15 miles. So, from the standpoint of distance, it is not a very important journey, but, think with me for a moment about how tremendously important that journey was in other terms.

It was a journey, first of all, from the familiar to the unknown. Jesus' journey from Nazareth to the Jordan River was a journey away from family, away from the occupation that had occupied Him for the years of His manhood. It was a journey away from the familiar to the unknown - to the unknown new life as the Son of God. It was a journey from a very small world to a much bigger world. Nazareth was an incredibly insignificant little village. It was not on any major highways or roads. It had only one well, so agriculture was not a major movement there. It was a very insignificant little town, and Jesus would have been exposed, during the years of His life to this point, to a very small circle of friends - people He had known all His life. And His journey was a journey from a very narrow view of the world, and it was a journey away from all of that to a big world - a journey to all of Galilee, and then to all of Judea, and then to Jerusalem, and, as we know, over the centuries, a journey to all of the world. It was a journey from contact with only people He knew well, to contact with all kinds of people - all sorts and conditions of men and women and strangers. It was a journey from a life that was preoccupied with the things of keeping life together. It was a self-preoccupied life that He journeyed away from - not selfish, of course, but self-preoccupied - preoccupied with the things necessary to keep life and body and His family together. He journeyed away from that self-preoccupied life to a life of service to God, of service to God's people, and to the service of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God. So, even though this 15-mile journey was not much in the way of distance, it was a tremendously important journey for Him - it was a journey from the old to the new.

The second story in this Gospel story is that story of the great emotional "high" that He experienced when the heavens opened to Him, and He heard God's words of love and approval.

The third story in this Gospel story is, of course, the temptation - the temptation by Satan in the wilderness. Mark's Gospel does not detail the content of the temptation like other Gospels do, but we can be sure that it was a temptation to go back. It was a temptation to give up this new life and return to the safety of Nazareth. It was a temptation to go back to the familiar, back to the small, back to the self-preoccupied life - that was the temptation.

And the fourth story in this Gospel story is, of course, the beginning of His preaching that the Kingdom of God was near.

These, then, are the four stories that I discern in this Gospel story - the journey, the glory and exultation, the temptation, and the preaching. These stories are important stories about Jesus, but they are much more than stories about Jesus - they are stories about you and about me and our life and our relationship with God. God is always pushing us and beckoning us toward a new life, a better life, a more abundant life, and He is always doing that - pushing and beckoning. Always, He is pushing us and beckoning us away from what is familiar, away from what is comfortable, away from small things and small ideas and small views of the world and small views of other people - always pushing and beckoning us away from seeing ourselves as the center of the world. And when you and I can get over the anxiety and the fear of that new life, when you and I can reach out and embrace the new life to which He is pushing us, when we can do that, then that new life begins to burn and shine. Great windows of light will open to us. It is almost as if the heavens were opening. And, sometimes, when we reach out to that new life, we can even hear him say, "You are my child, my beloved; with you I am well pleased".

But, the time of setting out on some great new thing is always followed by a time of doubt; and it is always followed by a time of testing, a time of wondering if we are doing the right thing, a time of temptation to go back to the familiar, the safe, the small, the old. This Gospel story this morning is about you and about me, and, today, on this first Sunday in Lent, God is pushing some of you towards something new. If you don't feel Him pushing and beckoning this morning, you will; because that is His business; and today is a great time if you are feeling that pushing and that beckoning.

Today is a great time to begin your own 15-mile journey, and, even though you will be tempted to turn back, if you will make the journey, if you will reach out to the new life in faith and trust and love, you will find that the words of Jesus, long ago, will echo in your ears and in your hearts today . . . .

"The Kingdom of God is very near."

AMEN