Title: WATERS AND WILDERNESS

Focus: The symbols of water and wilderness mark the person and work of Christ; these symbols also point to the nature of Christian living.

Function: To highlight the person and work of Jesus, and to encourage the people to embrace and work with these symbols in our daily living.

Text: Mark 1:9-13

If you have joined Christ and his church because you want an easy, rosy life, and you don’t want to be bothered with calls to follow Jesus through thick and thin in life, then I suspect the season of Lent is not for you. After all, the season of Lent is loaded with themes and symbols that call for spiritual grit.

On Ash Wednesday, for example, the Scriptures reminded us that “we are dust, and to dust we shall return.” And throughout the season of Lent we will hear the Scriptures call us to pay attention to Christ’s journey to the cross. Mockery, rejection, adulation and condemnation, betrayal, flogging, crucifixion, death and burial—these are the windows through which the Scriptures call us to ponder Jesus’ work and journey through life. I would not be surprised if some one would say, “Lent is downright depressive!”

If, however, you are serious in your relationship with Christ and his church, and if you wish to follow Christ wholeheartedly today, you’ll welcome today’s Scripture passage. For there we find the Lord Jesus in the midst of two powerful symbols: the symbol of waters and wilderness. And these symbols highlight the person and work of Christ, and these symbols encourage us as Christians in our journey of life.

I hope that you have the nerve and the grit to steel yourself in your Christian pilgrimage with the symbols of waters and wilderness. In my message this morning, I will move from making observations to making connections to applying the text.

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The first observation from the text centers on the waters. We notice that the water of the Jordan River has drawn John the Baptizer and Jesus to a pivotal moment—the moment of baptism. At the very beginning of his public ministry we find Jesus entering the waters to be baptized. Though sinless, having no need for repentance or cleansing of sin, the Lord Jesus nevertheless wants to be baptized? What is the significance of these waters and Jesus’ baptism?

The second observation centers on Jesus’ identity. As Jesus is baptized and comes up out of the water, Mark tells us that Jesus “… saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” Here we observe that Jesus is affirmed as the Son of God. That affirmation takes place by way of a voice from heaven, and by way of the christening or anointing of a dove descending on Jesus.

So, at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, we note that God reveals himself in a Trinitarian form: The Father’s voice is heard; the Lord Jesus is revealed in his baptism as the beloved, eternal Son of God; and the Holy Spirit anoints Jesus and manifest himself as a dove. If there is ever a sacred moment of heavenly revelation here on earth it’s here: at the waters of the River Jordan, where Jesus begins his public ministry and journey to the cross. We had better take note who this Jesus is.

The third observation from the text centers on the wilderness. Mark tells us that the Spirit of God “drove” (literally, threw out, cast out) Jesus into the wilderness for forty days, and there Satan tempted him, wild animals confronted him, and angels from heaven ministered to him.

This wilderness episode is very instructive about Jesus’ journey to the cross (and about our own journey as Christian disciples of Jesus today). We must pay close attention to its significance.

And that’s why we now move to making connections. For the waters and the wilderness are O.T. shadows that point to Jesus’ identity and work on earth. By connecting Jesus’ baptism and wilderness experience with the O.T. scriptures, it becomes much clearer what Jesus’ journey is all about, and what our journey of Christian living is all about.

1. The waters of Jesus’ baptism and the descend of the Holy Spirit on Jesus connect us with the Scriptures’ creation account in Genesis 1. Listen: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The creation account in Genesis one introduces us to God the Creator and his creative Holy Spirit and to Adam—the first human being formed from the dust by the hand of God. We know from Scripture that this creation has fallen into sin and suffers the consequences of Adam’s disobedience.

Now, centuries later, God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus. He is the second Adam. He is the Son of God, who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit will redeem our creation and usher in a new creation. The waters of Jesus’ baptism and the descend of the Holy Spirit, along with the affirmation of God the Father--these all remind us that restoration and renewal are at hand. Jesus ushers in the new creation, where the rule of God will be fully established, and where all things shall be made new.

2. The Wilderness and Jesus’

40 day encounter with Satan and the wild animals connect us with the first Adam in paradise. Satan tempted Adam. Adam and his wife failed to overcome the temptation. And thus they were driven from paradise into the wilderness, where the results of sin and misery would lead to this shroud of death hanging over all creation.

In the Bible, the wilderness is a place of discipline and temptation and judgment. Think, for example, about God disciplining and judging his people Israel for 40 years, being led out of Egypt on towards the Promised Land. Read the stories of Israel’s disobedience. Note how they were tempted to worship idols. Observe how snakes in the wilderness drove them to despair and death, and ultimately to their knees to pray for deliverance.

The 40 day period in the wilderness also points to a time and need for repentance. The prophet Jonah preached to the Ninevites and said, “’Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.’ The Ninevites believed God.” Thus as part of the 40 day period in the wilderness, we note the dynamics of mercy and repentance. The symbol of the wilderness and Jesus’ battles in the wilderness—all connect us with biblical shadows of mercy and discipline, of judgment and repentance. The wilderness is part of Jesus’ journey; it’s also part of our journey through life.

3. The waters of Jesus’ baptism connect us with the waters of the Flood in Noah’s days. Those waters were clearly an expression of God’s judgment upon the earth; These waters were also the vehicle by which God saved believing Noah and his family. In fact, out of these floodwaters, God raised up a cleansed creation, with Noah as its head. And Noah’s release of the dove corresponds with the descend of the Holy Spirit at the waters of Jesus’ baptism. Again, we see a connection: Jesus is the new Noah. He stands at the head of the new creation. Whereas God renewed his covenant with Noah at the time of the Floodwaters, so now God ushers in the new covenant under the headship of Jesus. In a sense, then, Jesus is the new Noah.

3. The waters of Jesus’ baptism also connect us with the Exodus event during the days of Moses. God parted the waters of the Red Sea and saved his people while he judged Pharaoh and his soldiers. They drowned, but the people of God were led through the waters of the Red Sea (and later through the waters of the Jordan River) into the Promised Land. Thus the waters of Jesus’ baptism introduce us to the new Moses. Whereas Moses was the mediator between Israel and God, so Jesus is our intercessor and mediator today.

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These symbols of waters and wilderness introduce us to the person and work of Jesus as he begins his journey to the cross. These symbols of water and wilderness are also instructive for us who wish to serve Christ in our journey of life. Thus we now move to applying the text to our lives.

# 1. Through baptism, Christians identify with Jesus’ work and cross. As Jesus went down the road of sacrifice, so we too must learn to embrace sacrifice—we must die to sin and self; we must rise to the life of love, service and obedience. Our baptism connects us with Jesus’ baptism.

# 2. Our baptism sets us apart from all other people. It gives us identity as children of God. Through baptism we receive the name of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We belong to him. And thus we are also to live unto him. Our baptism calls us to live counter-culturally; our baptism demands that we make repentance and renewal, purity and holiness—the mark of Christian living.

# 3. Our baptism reminds us daily that God has granted us his Holy Spirit. We are gifted with God’s presence and power. The Counselor or Spirit of God seeks to dwell in us and guide us every day. Thus we are not alone. Thus we are not powerless. For the Spirit of God is eager to work in us and through us and with us to advance the influence of God in our homes and neighborhoods.

# 4. As Jesus’ spent time in the wilderness, we should not be surprised when the Spirit of God also leads us, at times, into wilderness situations. Temptation will be ours, at times. But thank God, Jesus has shown us the way. Even if we should succumb to temptation, we may still appeal to Jesus’ victory over sin and death and to Jesus’ gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

Moments of discipline and testing will be ours; moments of pain and judgment, but also moments of grace and nurture will come our way. For just as heaven’s angels stood by to minister to Jesus in the wilderness and thus in his journey of life, so we too may be assured of God’s heavenly guidance, whether in the form of angels, or in the form of his Holy Spirit and Holy Word, or in the form of Christ’s holy body, the church. God will not abandon us.

So on this first Sunday in Lent, take note of the waters and the wilderness. Draw great courage from Jesus’ self-revelation and willingness to walk the crossroad. And let’s embrace and work with these symbols of water and wilderness in our pilgrimage of life. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.