Welcome to Thursday’s podcast. Today we start a new Gospel, the gospel of Mark and so our reading is Mark 1: 1-15 but today I will focus on 12-13.

At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

REFLECTION:

In 2002 I moved to London. In those days my monthly commute on the London Underground cost me £100. During my time in London I lived in various parts of the city. Before getting married in 2004, I decided to economise. I shared a flat with a married couple (to save cash) and started cycling. The problem was, my old Raleigh Amazon bike which I’d had since a teenager wasn’t the best commuter bike – it was heavy, the gears slipped and it needed a lot of money spending on it. Also it just wasn’t very cool. Once I had got interested in cycling, I began to take notice of bikes – cool bikes, fast bikes and expensive bikes. My old Raleigh Amazon that had been my faithful companion during my paper-rounds, teenage years and uni just no longer fitted the bill. So, bearing in my mind I was in a season of saving money, I bought (on finance) a beautiful commuter bike. The stunning black Shimano wheels looked fantastic. People loved it. Other commuters would admire it and I loved it – now I was a proper London commuter.

Until one day – I really sensed God asking me to get rid of it. I wrestled with that like a fish on the line. Why would God want me to get rid of it, I thought? So, I ignored Him – until one day a colleague randomly asked me if I was thinking of selling it. I knew it was God. I sold it and paid off the loan.

Today we begin a journey into Mark’s gospel. It contains the shortest account – a very brief overview of Jesus’ temptations in the desert.

The sequence of events surrounding Jesus’ desert experience have always puzzled me. The profound moment at the beginning of his public ministry – his baptism and affirmation by God the Father – which is the most incredible thing in and of itself – the challenge to all of us that we start from the place of acceptance, approval and grace – wow. We don’t earn it from what we achieve – we have it from the start in Jesus’ love – demonstrated through baptism.

This could well feel like the end of the road – like the response time at church on a Sunday – coming forward to be prayed for – experiencing God’s love.

But the sequence in this short clip from Mark – the Holy Spirit sends the publicly affirmed Jesus into the desert. Why?

The desert is a symbol of testing. Deserts are beautiful on Instagram but they can be lethal. You can die in a desert. Nothing grows – robbers and bandits would wait for lone travellers – it wasn’t comfortable. Jesus went without in the desert and he was tempted by Satan. All the temptations designed to undermine, challenge and oppose the very things that were sealed in his baptism – and promised for his future. In some sense those 40 days are a bit like a like a movie trailer – a snapshot of what his Jesus’ life will be about – defeating Satan and rescuing people. Jesus’ first mission is to resist Satan & overcome him – to do internal battle ready for the external battles.

This tells us something: the life of discipleship is a life of surrendering our will – our motivations over to him. Put another way, the move from being ego-centric to theo-centric. The human heart – the very centre point of our existence – needs careful nurturing. In the parable of the sower which is found in the first three gospels we are told that the heart is like soil – Jesus wants good soil – Jesus wants the harvest and so good soil is needed.

The season of Lent, which we are now into, is the reminder of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness running from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. We go without.