Passing Through the Wilderness

 

Based on Mark 1:1-8

            One thing you can say about Mark, his gospel is laser focused. Matthew and Luke have at the beginning of their gospels the stories of Jesus’ birth, including Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Abraham and Adam. John’s gospel starts with a poetic introduction reflecting on the mystery of the incarnation. But Mark has none of that. He isn’t worried about providing a back story or filling in the gaps. He drills down to the essence of the gospel. Details are at the bare minimum. He uses as few words as possible. No fluff in Mark’s gospel. He gives it to us straight.

            He starts with the opening statement, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And then Mark goes straight to prophecy. He says the prophecy is from Isaiah but in fact the prophecy he quotes begins from Malachi. In Malachi 3:1 we read, “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me.” Then, in Isaiah 40:3 we find, “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.’” These prophecies speak of preparing the way for God who is passing through the wilderness. The wilderness is a sacred place. Moses encountered God in the wilderness in the form of a burning bush. Elijah saw God in the wilderness. Israel was led out of Egypt by way of the wilderness, where they saw God in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God is found in the wilderness. These prophecies call those who find themselves in the wilderness to prepare the way because God will be passing through. That’s how Mark starts his gospel.

            Mark then shows how these prophecies from Malachi and Isaiah are being fulfilled by John. Out in the wilderness we find John. How does he fulfill the prophecy of preparing the way of the Lord? He does it by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. There is something about this ritual act of confessing, repenting, and then marking that with baptism in water that links with the prophetic call to make a way in the wilderness for the coming of the Lord. Confession, repentance, ritual washing, all has something to do with preparation, of straightening the path upon which God will walk. We could pause right now and reflect on what this means. In these brief sentences Mark has opened up something deep and profound. But Mark doesn’t linger in his telling. He leaves it to others to take the time to read these words slowly and ponder the meaning. He has a gospel to proclaim. He rushes on to tell of how all the people who live in the country and in the city of Jerusalem come to John to receive that baptism. He describes John in a way that would cause people to associate him with Elijah, who was also described as one who was hairy and wore a leather belt. Then he recounts what John said about the one who is coming after him who is so much greater and who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.  All in eight verses. Again, there is a lot there in a few words. Mark’s gospel narrative is like a bullion cube.

            Now, here is where it gets interesting. Why was everyone going out to John anyway? What was going on in those days that motivated so many people to make the journey out into the wilderness so they could confess their sins, repent and be baptized by John as a ritual act of purification? It must have been a time of crisis. There must have been a sense that everything was out of whack. Things needed to change. There was a collective sense of a need to confess the mess that the people were in, the desire to repent, to choose a different direction, and to collectively start fresh. There was a collective sense of the need to get back to basics, to come back to God, to straighten things out and set a new course.

            Those were hard times. Israel was under foreign occupation, again, this time under the boot of the Roman empire. Many looked on the religious leaders and the whole system built around the temple in Jerusalem as corrupt. Things were bad. Many were longing for a messiah to be sent from God to fix things. We talked about that some last week. The status quo was terrible. Things had to change. The people were looking for something they couldn’t find in the religious system of the day, the sacrificial system based at the Temple.

            And that leads to the other interesting thing: why was John in the wilderness and not in Jerusalem? The obvious answer is because John is fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi and Isaiah. But there may be more to it than that. There is something about the wilderness that Mark is really stressing as he begins the telling of the gospel. I already shared a bit about what makes the wilderness special. It is sacred land. It is where people encounter God. And not just God. If we continued reading Mark’s gospel we will read how Jesus was sent into the wilderness by the Spirit of God where he was tempted by Satan, lived with the wild beasts and had angels waiting on him. Yes, the wilderness is a sacred place, a wild place, very different from the city. This may be where Mark is going with his early emphasis on wilderness and on all the people going out of the city into the wilderness to receive that baptism. The people were being drawn out of the city, a city that was corrupt and oppressive. You could almost say that what Mark is setting up is a new exodus. John is that voice in the wilderness calling the people to come out of the place of their oppression and to prepare for a journey toward freedom led by one whose sandals John is unworthy to untie. There is something about this gospel that calls for a journey through the wilderness, a new exodus from what was toward what is to be.

            What does all this have to do with us? The gospel of Mark was spoken into a specific context, of first century Palestine under Roman occupation and with a corrupt political and religious system. We live in a different time and place. We have a different history. Is there something about how Mark begins his gospel that can speak to us in our context?

            We are certainly in a time of crisis. Like I shared last week, we are in such a mess that maybe we can relate to the word of the prophet who pleaded for God to rip open the sky and come down to fix the mess. I don’t need to give you the litany of the crisis upon crisis we are facing. All I want to say about it is that we are in a big mess and it is the cumulative affect of our actions as a whole that has us where we are. There is not one person or group of people to blame. It is counter productive to try to determine who is at fault when the fact is that we are where we are today because of decisions and actions that have been carried out for decades and decades. The damage has been done. We are in the mess. There is no escaping it.

            How are we to respond to the mess we find ourselves in? We already know trying to identify who to scapegoat is a waste of time and counterproductive. Denying the reality of our current crisis is irresponsible. We have to respond to the mess we find ourselves in, but how?

            We begin with the example given to us in Mark 1:4-5. We give ourselves the space we need to honestly confess what we have done individually and collectively. How have we harmed the planet? How have we propped up white supremacy and systemic racism? How have we contributed to the vicious divisiveness in our politics?

            From confession, we move to repentance. To repent is to change your mind, to change the way you live, to do life differently. If we want to see a change in this messed up world for the better, then we have to change how we live in it. That is what repentance is about, consciously choosing to live a different way. For us, that always means consciously choosing to live our lives guided by the example and teachings of Jesus.

            Then we move to baptism. By baptism, I’m talking about the baptism that John provided. This was a ritual cleansing, a tangible act marking a clean slate, a fresh start, a new beginning. For us, we can simulate that by coming to the baptismal waters when we renew our baptismal vows. We touch the water and remember that we are baptized. Maybe there is something else you can do to symbolically mark your intention to live your life differently, more fully aligned with the way of Jesus. What could you do? I’m giving you the invitation. If, as part of your Advent preparations, you give yourself space to name your confession and make your commitment to repent, to live differently moving forward, how can you mark that commitment? How might you use water to ritually mark your intention to live differently with a clean slate?

            In Mark’s gospel, the people were preparing in the wilderness for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to come. John the baptizer was leading the way in preparing the way for the Lord. Well, Jesus has already come. We are following Jesus on a journey right now. It is a journey of exodus, of leaving behind what was and moving toward what is promised to be. We are on a journey to freedom, freedom from the powers of sin and death toward a community infused with light, life, love and beauty. Jesus is leading us toward that promised land.

            But right now, we are in the wilderness. This journey to freedom that Jesus is leading us on goes through the wilderness. The wilderness is a sacred place. According to Mark 1:13 the wilderness is where we are tempted by Satan, live with wild beasts and are waited on by angels. The wilderness is a space that is, well, wild. There are dangers and possibilities. There are no maps in the wilderness. And this is where we are. This is where Jesus is leading us now. Or, at least, this is where Jesus is trying to lead us. To follow, we first have to prepare the way by confessing, repenting, and then claiming a fresh start. The choice to prepare and follow is yours to make.