40 Days of Temptation
a sermon based on Mark 1:9-15
By Rev. Randy Quinn

On this, the first Sunday in the season of Lent, we remember the story of Jesus in the wilderness.  Matthew and Luke both agree with Mark that Jesus was there for 40 days; John, on the other hand, is silent about the entire event.  And both Matthew and Luke agree that it was not just a time of testing in the wilderness, but also a time of fasting.  (It is that part of the story that has influenced the traditional sense of Lent as a season of fasting.)

But of the three different Greek verbs that each of the gospel writers uses to describe the scene when Jesus goes into the wilderness, Mark uses the strongest verb when he tells us that Jesus was “sent” into the wilderness.  The way Mark tells it, it is almost as if Jesus were being plucked out of the water and thrown out into the wilderness (Mk. 1:12).

There was no warning ahead of time.

There was no time for him to pack a bag.

There was no time to prepare meals.

There is just a sense of suddenly being driven into the wilderness.

Maybe that has happened to you before.  You were doing one thing when you were suddenly tasked with and sent off to do another.  I can remember setting the table for dinner when Ronda realized we were out of milk so I was “sent” to the store, leaving the table for someone else to finish.

            As a volunteer firefighter, there were numerous times when the alarm was sounded and I ran off to tend to the needs of others in crisis.  My own circumstances took a back seat as I left dinner tables and unfolded laundry and lawn mowers in the middle of the yard.  I left whatever I was doing and began doing something for which I had been training.

According to Mark’s telling of the story, however, we don’t know what Jesus did once he got there.  We know he was tempted by Satan – but that doesn’t tell us what Jesus did.  We know there were wild animals there – but that doesn’t tell us what he did either.  We also know the angels “attended” to his needs – but again, that doesn’t tell us what Jesus did.

So I began to wonder what I would do if the Spirit suddenly drove me away into the desert.  What would it be like to be suddenly plopped down in the middle of the wilderness?

Years ago, while I was still taking flying lessons, I attended a lecture on survival techniques for Navy pilots  The instructor had no idea that God was going to speak to me through him that evening.  But God’s voice was clear as I considered the implications of the scenario the instructor offered as an illustration; a scenario that sounds an awful lot like the situation in which I imagine Jesus was in.

He told us to imagine we are flying “cross country” over a sparsely populated area when the engine fails.  After getting the plane on the ground, we are now faced with a series of questions and dilemmas that may make the difference between life and death.  Getting on the ground was only part of the problem.  We also have to survive there.

If we suddenly find ourselves caught in the middle of the desert – or a wilderness area – or any isolated setting – what should be the first thing we do?

Well, the survival instructor began by reminding us that we can live a long time without food – maybe as long as six weeks.  Jesus fasted for 40 days, after all – for those who aren’t as good with your math, six weeks would be 42 days.  So searching for food should be low on our priority list.  There will be plenty of time to find food.

In a downed airplane, the first consideration is air.  We can only live a few minutes without clean air to breathe.  If there is smoke in the cockpit, you need to get out of the plane, he reminded us.  If you’re under water, you need to get to the surface.  Without clean air, a year’s supply of food is useless.

The next most important thing to consider is shelter.  Depending upon the location and the time of year, we can only be exposed to the elements for a matter of hours.  Too hot or too cold, and we die.  A fire for warmth has the added benefit of warding off most predatory animals, too – another danger of the elements.

After getting clean air and some shelter, the next most important thing is water.  The human body can only live a matter of days without water.

While it isn’t exactly accurate in a scientific way, I heard a clear voice from God at that point in the lecture as the instructor told us to keep our priorities clear from the start:

“You can live six weeks without food.

You can live six days without water.

You can live six hours without shelter.

You can live six minutes without air.”

(But you can’t live six seconds without God.)

I have no doubt that the first thing Jesus did when he found himself in the wilderness was to pray.  And the angels tended to him – by sheltering him from the wild animals perhaps.  Maybe they brought him water.  Eventually the angels may have brought food, too – unless Matthew and Luke are correct in saying that he fasted for the entire time he was gone.

But Jesus could not have survived without prayer.

Nor can we.

Prayer is as essential to our lives as air and water, food and clothing.

But there is something else.  The assumption on the part of the survival instructor was that we do not intend to remain in isolation permanently.  He assumed we would try to get help.  He assumed people would be trying to find us, too.

It is the unnamed recognition that in addition to the necessities of life we also need community.  We were created as social beings that were meant to be in relationship with others.  We were “made for each other” (Gen. 2:18).

Even the most introverted souls know they need to be with other people on occasion.  That was said most clearly – and most famously, perhaps – by the 17^th Century British preacher/poet, John Donne.  In 1624, John Donne published a series of meditations.  None of them were named, but the seventeenth in the series includes the oft recited line, “No man is an island.”

Not even Jesus could live in isolation.  Mark reminds us that angels tended to his needs much as we tend to the needs of one another in this fellowship of people we call “the church.”  Because we know we cannot live on our own, we become angels to each other.

In times of sorrow, we bring comfort.

In times of struggle, we bring hope.

In times of temptation, we bring strength.

In times of joy, we bring celebration.

Just like Jesus learned in the wilderness, we are never alone in our struggles.  That doesn’t mean there won’t be struggles.  There are always temptations.  There are always things that “go bump in the night.

But, thanks be to God, we are not alone.