Heel Marks in the Sand

Lent 1B; Mark 1:9-15; St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC 2/22/2015

Jim Melnyk: “Heel Marks in the Sand”

Probably most of us are familiar with Mary Stevenson’s poem titled, Footprints in the Sand.  You recall the poem recounts a person’s dream.  In her dream she is walking along the beach with the risen Christ.  As they walk, scenes from her life flash before her, and she sees two sets of footprints along the beach, her prints and those of Jesus.  She notices that during the roughest times in her life there is only one set of footprints, and she asks Jesus why he had abandoned her during those hard times.  Jesus replies, “I love you and will never leave you.  Those times when you see only one set of footprints are the times I carried you.” 

The dream walker sighs in precious content to know this wonderful truth.  But did you know the rest of the story?  Jesus points to more than a few places where there is one set of footprints and two deep grooves in the sand.  “You see those deep grooves in the sand?” “Yes.” “That’s where I had to drag you along.”

Okay, so we might chuckle about that one, but perhaps it’s a good illustration of what it’s like for us when we enter into wilderness places in our lives.  We don’t like going outside our comfort zones – at least I don’t know too many people who revel in that reality.  And while Jesus didn’t exactly get dragged out into the wilderness, Mark tell us he was driven by the Holy Spirit – a word that can be literally translated as “hurled into the wilderness” as in throwing a javelin; or “cast into the wilderness” using the same word used by Mark when Jesus would cast out demons.  So it’s not exactly a picture of a voluntary journey in Mark’s gospel – there doesn’t seem to be a lot of choice involved. 

The wilderness in Jesus’ time was a metaphor for chaos, and a reminder of Israel’s testing by God following the exodus from Egypt.  In the wilderness Jesus is among wild beasts and what sounds like the constant presence of the Tempter – and the constant presence of angels as well. 

Matthew and Luke, on the other hand, write about a Spirit-filled Jesus being led into the wilderness – which seems a bit more of a mutual act on the part of Jesus and the Spirit.  However, once in the wilderness, the Jesus of Matthew and Luke seems to be left on his own, and by the end of the forty days he is famished. 

Only toward the end of his forty days does the Tempter come upon him, and Jesus goes head-to-head with him in a battle of spiritual wits.  And it is only after the Tempter leaves that angels come to minister to Jesus in the versions of the story told by Matthew and Luke.  God, why is there only one set of footprints?

Even though we’ve heard these different versions of the temptation, or the testing, of Jesus in the wilderness many times over the years – in fact, every year on the First Sunday in Lent – perhaps we still wonder what it’s all about.  Why would Jesus, who is the Son of God – why would Jesus, who is God’s own Beloved, attested to at his Baptism – why would Jesus, the Word of God made flesh and come to dwell among us – why would Jesus, of all people, need to be tested – or tempted – as he prepares to begin his ministry?

Well, we could talk about our assertion that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine – and that in the midst of all that’s happening the human side of him needs to be aware of what his journey means.  We could talk about the idea that Jesus’ Messiahship is an unfolding reality in his life – something his human nature slowly comes to grip with over the course of his ministry.  And we would have a part of the picture.

But perhaps there’s more – perhaps Jesus has to come to grips with what means as a human being to be hungry – to be famished – and perhaps that’s a memory he carries with him when he feeds the five thousand in a remote place.  Perhaps Jesus being driven into the wilderness by the Spirit of God has something to do with Jesus coming to grips with the history of his people, who wandered in the wilderness with only God to depend upon.  Jesus actually living a part of the wilderness journey as a reminder of who he is, and who he is to become for Israel and for the world. 

My sister-in-law Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk writes, “Jesus goes into the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry, in order to embody the act of remembrance…. He remembers the story of his people and he strives to re-member their covenanted relationship with God. He is aware of what has been, but he also understands and believes in what may yet be” (http://motherglyn.com/tag/fourth-day-of-lent/).  It is what Glyn calls, “purposeful memory.”

We’ve mentioned the sparseness of Mark’s gospel before – the lack of details in some of the stories.  Matthew and Luke flesh out the encounter in the wilderness for us.  Temptations to claim his power as the Son of God long before he is ready – to claim that power as a quick fix – as a shortcut to what he and God have envisioned for the people of this world.  Temptations to use power to manipulate the hearts and minds of humanity and gain a throne without the challenges – without the struggle – without the suffering – without the mess – without the cross. 

Perhaps Jesus’ wilderness journey reminds him that like Israel and her forty years of struggle, Jesus and those whom he will meet and serve, each need to experience wilderness in their own lives to better understand the presence of the Holy One in their own lives as well.

Because, you see, Jesus knows that it was in the wilderness of Sinai that Israel came to know and love God with all her heart.  It was in the wilderness of Sinai that Israel began to understand what it means to love her neighbor as herself.  It is in the wilderness of Sinai where God woos Israel, and where God and Israel argue like young lovers learning about one another.  Jesus knows that it is in the wilderness of Sinai that covenant is made, where God says, “I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians” (Exodus 6:7).  And it is in the wilderness that Jesus remembers the covenant, and finds the strength and the love to stand against the powers of this world that seek to separate us from the love of God, and to live and die for the people he loves.  Jesus “will re-member himself as the embodiment of all that God has called him to be” (op. cit.).

Most of us, I believe, know something about the wilderness – especially the wilderness as a place of chaos and wild beasts – the wilderness as a place where our faith is tested and tempted – a lost job, struggles at school, challenges at home, chronic illness, even the death of a loved one.  Perhaps we identify with the person in Stevenson’s poem, who upon looking back on our lives sees only one set of footprints and think of ourselves as having been abandoned by God. 

Perhaps we’ve found ourselves digging our heels into the ground, feeling as if we’ve been dragged into the wilderness against our wishes.  Mark’s witness – Jesus’ story – the story of his people in Sinai – all point to the promise that we don’t enter the wilderness alone, nor is the wilderness our final resting place.

But sometimes, if we’re fortunate enough, we recognize the wilderness as a place into which the Spirit of God leads us from time to time – a place where we can be still in quiet and listen for God – a place where we remember God met and wooed Israel – a place where Jesus found not only his purpose, but his courage to stand in the breach for us.

Lent can be wilderness experience for us allowing us to enter a place where the busyness of life doesn’t have power over us – where the distractions and demands that overwhelm our lives don’t have power over us.  Lent can be a season of opportunity – opportunity to seek God’s purpose in our lives, and to come face-to-face with that which tests and tempts us away from following Jesus.  

Lent can become a place of covenant renewal for us, a place where once tested and re-purposed, we remember God’s promise to be present with us always.  And so, having been tested, we can come to the joy of Easter Day as a people renewed – ready to celebrate and proclaim the kingdom of God.