Mass readings for the 1st Sunday of Lent:
Genesis 9.8-15 Psalm 25.4-9 1 Peter 3.18-22 Mark 1.12-15
The story of Jesus being driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, upon some reflection, raises questions as to how we are to understand Jesus as the incarnate Son of God. How is he subject to the Holy Spirit in what appears to be an involuntary way?
Well, I suppose, it’s because it is the drama of the story that gives the impression of his being “swept away” by a force, a power beyond him, but that’s really not the intent of the passage as we read it in the larger context of the story of his ministry, particularly its beginnings.
After all, the whole matter of his baptism raises questions: why does he who is without sin need to be baptized? That was a question answered when it arose a few weeks ago: Jesus makes it clear that he is not simply the Son of God incarnate for the sake of the sacrifice on the cross. His coming among us, being human, was to establish and demonstrate a pattern for us all to follow. St. Paul tells us this more than once in his letters: that we should be the same in mind as Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5), that we imitate him (1 Corinthians 11.1 and Ephesians 5.1); St. Peter calls Christ “an example, so that you would follow in his steps…” (1 Peter 2.21) and St. John in his first letter says that we ought “…to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2.6).
And this is all part of God’s plan to renew humanity through the Holy Spirit as opposed to the drastic remedy of the flood with all its physical destruction. In that instance, the regeneration of humanity would be through the flesh, through the family of Noah repopulating the world. But in this instance, God will regenerate humanity through the spirit – the Holy Spirit.
So, baptism is a necessary step for us all, putting us on the path to salvation. Jesus shows us how this begins our life in him. And so, we should read and hear this story of the forty days in the wilderness in a similar vein: there is something necessary in this time of retreat from the world, in fasting and abstinence, in prayer and meditation for all of us, and not just something Jesus undertakes. Not to be flippant about the Holy Spirit “driving” Jesus into the wilderness, but perhaps thinking of this quite literally – the Holy Spirit takes Jesus where he needs to go, gives him “a lift” as it were, to the next stop in this journey of faith.
You know, when I speak with the kids at the schools, I must say they are pretty sharp when it comes to the matter of just what baptism does and does not do for us. I ask them, “Does baptism get you into heaven?” or “Does baptism guarantee eternal life with God?” And you know, I’ve yet to hear anything but the correct answer. Indeed, I will often get a chorus of “noooo” with them shaking their heads. Baptism is that good start, as St. Peter says to us in the epistle today, “…as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” It saves only insofar as we progressively open ourselves more and more to the Holy Spirit that will help us form that good conscience.
And so, our next steps in the journey are those of retreat, of preparation for whatever is next in our lives through prayer, and yes, fasting, meditation upon God’s word, participation in the sacraments such as reconciliation, perhaps anointing, the eucharist.
We need to emphasize to ourselves that this is a pattern we follow; that as sons and daughters of God, by adoption, we share in the life of the Son of God, just as we do in his death and resurrection. The disciple of Jesus must pass through the waters of baptism and have a time in the wilderness as preliminary steps to ministry, to our shared apostolic mission.
We see this in the careers of the Apostles, most exactly in the example of Saint Paul, who upon his encounter with Christ, albeit not in baptism, has a time in the wilderness – in his case, years in Arabia, where he sorts out, through prayer, study, spiritual direction and discernment, what has happened to him and what the consequences are to be: that he is called to missionary activity, and specifically to go out into the world beyond the historic borders of Israel, into Asia and Europe bringing the Good News.
With the other apostles, it might be argued that their time in the wilderness was the bewildering period between the Resurrection of Our Lord and Pentecost; for on both occasions there is a receiving of the Holy Spirit. The first time in the upper room where they were hiding, and Jesus’ breathing the spirit upon them was a sustaining grace through a time of fear, doubt, confusion that kept them together, and gave them hope. At Pentecost, then the Holy Spirit lifted them beyond mere maintaining of their small community to one that was confidently evangelizing the world.
So, the pattern is this: crisis of conscience, time of cognitive dissonance and its resulting confusion, disillusionment with the world as we had known it up to an event that caused the scales to fall from our eyes, whatever. This leads to decision, a resolution – for some adults this is in their choosing to be baptized, for others resolve to return to the faith, but both decisions in essence are for Christ and his way. Of a lesser kind is the faithful person coming to a crossroads in life, a decision of great importance is faced, and their good resolution is to trust in Christ and to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
And in all these cases must come the time of discernment; and so, time in the wilderness, metaphorically or literally. And we need that time, to process what has changed in us; but also, to open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit and so, be guided by him. And that will be true as much of the newly converted as it will be for the person of solid faith – to hear God in this world requires our attuning ourselves to him so as to hear that often “still, small voice” in the midst of the storms that rage. That’s why I encourage, when possible, a retreat literally into the wilderness, to places like Madonna House up in the woods near Combermere, Ontario, to spend a week in a tiny wood cabin in the pine forest of the Madawaska River valley. But if not that, other processes of discernment, of withdrawal from the world into the realm of the Spirit – the consecration program of Mary’s Mantle that is underway here in the parish, or perhaps, for those taking their first steps of either discovery or rediscovery of the life of faith, something like Alpha, of which in coming weeks we will learn more.
I know it would be a great convenience if God could simply furnish for us the answers we seek, lay out the plan of our action. But there is something of great importance in doing the work of discernment, in the struggle against the flesh to receive God’s spirit of wisdom. Not because the flesh is our enemy, but rather that these constituents of human life: spirit and flesh, body and soul, be properly reconciled and harmonized, made a disciplined unity for the sake of what God would have us be and have us do with our lives. We need to be changed, and these wilderness experiences effect that change.
Because with that accomplished, we then can truly serve as Christ’s body in the world, coming with a confident sense of who we are and what we are to do; able boldly and truthfully to declare to others, “the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Amen.