Mark 1:9-15
So much is said in so little. It is the suggestion of scholars that Mark was wrestling in his gospel with the question of If Jesus was the Son of God and did all the wonderful things he did, why did so few people recognized him during his earthly life? The answer suggested in Mark's gospel is that Jesus intentionally kept his identity as much of a secret as he could. So like a mystery story writer, Mark gives us lots of information in compressed and symbolic statements.
Jesus has just finished his Baptism and has been declared and identified as the Son of God. Jesus has been given a clear statement of his identity. He has been given his marching orders. He has his assignment. The Baptism is vocational confirmation. The Baptism is the revelation of his true identity for him. He now has been given a self-awareness of who he is and what he is to do.
If Jesus is the Son of God, if He is the Messiah, there were a number of expectations that many would immediately happen. When the Messiah comes, He will bring in the long promised Day of the Lord, and in that day of Judgment there will be a might conflict with the powers of darkness and evil. If Jesus is the Son of God, you would expect his life to begin with a confrontation with Satan and that his whole ministry would be a war between the powers of goodness and the forces of evil.
So the first thing that happens after Jesus has received the assurance of Baptism as to his true purpose, he is driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. He is driven, not invited, not encouraged to go, not permitted to go, but driven, forced, compelled to go because God is mightily at work in Jesus and this confrontation with the powers of evil is central to the whole work.
Jesus is driven out into the Wilderness by God to engage in the testing of the power of Satan. The wilderness is the dwelling place of the demons and forces of evil. The wilderness is the moral and spiritual dumping grounds. The wilderness is the Warren County of the spiritual world for into the wilderness are driven all the scapegoats who carry upon their heads all the sins of the world. The wilderness is that God forsaken place of chaos and abandonment. Lonely and fearful at night. Wild and vicious beast. The wilderness is the place where the Children of Israel wandered in punishment for refusing to trust God. There in the wilderness Jesus engages in the temptations of evil. Home court advance to team evil.
Forty days. A long time. Forty days and forty nights God made it rain in judgment. Forty days were the number of days for mourning in Egypt for the beloved Abraham. Forty years the children of Israel wandered in that desert and ate manna. Forty days Moses was on Sinai. Forty years were the days of peace in the time of Gideon. And David reigned over Israel for forty years. Forty days we will be in Lent. Forty days Jesus endured the agonizing testing. Always the temptation is the same. To hold on and remain faithful to that new revelation of Grace that God has given or to give it up, let it go, settle for something less.
