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Monday, March 06, 2006
Where The Wild Things Are
Psalm 25:1-10; Mark 1:9-15
We begin the Lenten Season with a look at Jesus' temptation out in the desert right after his high moment of public baptism. Mark tells us angels and wild beasts were also on the scene, flanking Jesus and the devil. Dangerous stuff!
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It's not an easy thing to figure out why the Roman Empire bothered to pick on the earliest Christians.
I mean, their Founder went out of his way to preach peace and nonviolence, and side-stepped every hint of invitation to lead a rebellion against the Powers That Be.
But there they were, in the Colosseum, entertaining standing-room-only crowds with their deaths. Sometimes as human torches tarred and ignited on tall poles at sundown to shed light on the gladiators and wild animals, more often just marched out there to be the beasts' next meal.
I think that risky pricetag for faith in Jesus is why Mark mentions wild beasts in his version of Christ's temptation.
He doesn't bother to tell us the devil made three specific offers to Jesus, let alone what they were. Matthew and Luke sure do. But Mark is up to something different.
I believe he wants to encourage people who live daily on the edge of destruction by the Roman authorities -- the same way their Lord and Savior had been destroyed. That is, in the most cruel and nasty way possible.
Our ornamental gilded crosses are a far cry from the rough wood truss Jesus hung on that "good" Friday, all naked out there in public shame and agony. "Take that," said the soldiers. And the crowd made fun of him for it.
If Jesus, who knew and trusted God so well, wasn't spared a cruel death -- then why should his followers expect any different fate?
But Mark adds there were angels there at the temptation, too. In the midst of deadly danger God's good guys stood by to "wait on" Jesus through the worst of it. I'm sure they were nearby his cross as well.
Not to save his life. If that was an angel's job description, God would have fired most of them long ago!
Angels aren't so much heroic EMTs, but more like personal trainers. They're there to give a timely word of instruction, to show you how to do the right thing in the right way. They stop you from doing something wrong or harmful. They remind you what you've already learned but have lost track of during stress and strife.
Remember the cartoon image? On one shoulder sits a leering devil, whispering nasty little nothings in your ear. On the opposite shoulder is a conscientious angel exhorting you to do the right thing. What will you do? Who will you obey? It's your call now.
A wise Native American elder tells a young boy about two wolves who live inside every one of us, struggling to gain dominion. One is good, the other evil. "Which one will win, Grandfather?" asks the boy. The old man replies, "The one I feed!"
I suspect the Imperial mind couldn't wrap itself around such modest spiritual logic.
After all, in the words of the Berkeley bumper sticker, it "subverts the dominant paradigm." Buy into the Jesus way of choosing, and nothing is ever quite the same again. For you or for the world.
posted by Jack Buckley at
11:04 AM
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