Our lives are overflowing with the aftermath of the clouds and storms. Still we have a place of quiet rest, and in ways great or small, our God has made us glad. For this we give thanks!
Our gospel lesson is from Mark 1. 9-15. Jesus is being baptized, he goes into the wilderness and leaving begins his ministry of bringing God’s good news.
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ 12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news* of God, 15and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
Last week we met Jesus being transfigured on a mountain with his disciples. They were terrified seeing Moses and Elijah in the flesh after they had been gone for centuries.
If that was not scary enough, they heard with their own ears, the very voice of God affirming Jesus as beloved and directing them to listen to him.
This week, on the first Sunday of Lent, we find Jesus in some type of wilderness.
Have you ever been in a wilderness? Sometimes there are television shows that feature people who go into the wilderness for a journey. They spend their time making fires to ward off wild beasts howling in the night, enduring cold weather, searching for clean water, food, and waiting for light to sweep away the darkness.
It seems the wilderness is a place of special
adventures, but we rarely make it our home. The wilderness is usually a place
to go through, not to go to.
The founder of Methodism,
John Wesley gave a sermon entitled “The Wilderness State.”* In it he refers to the wilderness not so much as a physical place, but a spiritual state wherein one is distressed, tempted, tormented, conflicted. He notes that the wilderness is a place of hopelessness and powerlessness. It is a place when we have lost faith, lost love, lost, peace. It is a place where we are face to face with monstrous fears and doubts.
Wesley understood that it is good to make our peace
with God and find our way out of the wilderness with all its misery and
temptation. He said, “We know everyone who has peace with God, through Jesus
Christ, has power over all sin.”* His father was a minister, but it seems his mother
Susanna had taught him as much or more about the spiritually disciplined life.
Susanna Wesley was the youngest of 25 children. She gave birth to 19 of her own, several of whom died young. Susanna taught her children well to not only think about God but to have a personal relationship with God. She herself was brave enough to think independently. At the age of 12 she left her father’s church and joined the Church of England. Five years later she married Samuel. Samuel was a preacher and on the rode a lot, but Susanna, was equipped with the skill and commitment to be a preacher herself – if women had been allowed in those days. She was intentional about teaching her children.
In one of her husband’s long absences she wrote this
in a letter to him: “I take such a proportion of time as I can spare every
night to discourse with each child apart. On Monday I talk with Molly, on
Tuesday with Hetty, Wednesday with Nancy, Thursday with Jacky (John), Friday
with Patty, Saturday with Charles.”*
It was through that mother mentoring that John and
Charles Wesley became God’s messengers and leaders, assuring the church would
be kinder and gentler. Their leadership is proof once again that children have
to be taught. They have to be carefully taught.
Even as an adult, Susanna would dialogue with John
about God in ways that could keep him on a righteous path. In a letter to her
son, she writes, "Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of
your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of
spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind,
that thing for you is sin."
Many Christians and wise parents have had the habit
of dialoguing and writing letters to children and grandchildren. It is good to
keep the conversation going. At Bethel we are starting Monday Mini Bible
studies on March 22nd in order to have meaningful dialogue.
Hopefully, all of you can join us.
John Wesley knew something about the wilderness
since his conscience was troubled at times. He struggled to learn that all that
he was and all that he had belonged to God. He tells the story of when he was
decorating his home with lavish paintings and enjoying expensive cigars, a cleaning
woman came to the door. It was winter and she had no warm clothing. John Wesley
was filled with compassion, as many of us would be. He reached into his pocket
and found no money to give her. He knew God was not pleased that he had spent
most of his money on himself.
From
that year, 1731, he began to limit his expenses so that he would have more
money to give to the poor. He records that his income was 30 pounds and his
living expenses 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his
income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds
to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds. He kept
28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds. In the fourth year, he received 120 pounds.
As before, his expenses were 28 pounds, so he gave away 92 pounds. Soon he was
living on 30 pounds and giving away nearly 1,400 pounds a year. Although his
giving began as a religious practice to help the poor it soon became the habit
of a born-again preacher who was evangelizing vast multitudes across the entire
nation for Christ.**
It is good to pray about everything. God’s answer is
not always the same for each of us. Money matters can easily drag us into a
wilderness, whether there is too much or never enough. Our wilderness may also have
strained relationships – tempting us to do and say things we regret or, physical
and emotional health issues may tempt us to taint our testimony. Unholy pride in our abilities and discontent
with disabilities may from time to time drag us into a wilderness state, as we
fall in love with the praises of people, neglecting the praises of God.
The first chapter of James tells us a lot about temptation.
It says that each of us is tempted to do the wrong thing because of the evil desire that has somehow got inside of us, by ignorance or invitation. We are seduced and if we court that desire, we eventually become wed to that desire and soon give birth to sin. When sin is full-grown, it gives birth to death. Lent is an opportunity to walk and talk with God and live an abundant life.
Wesley offers us three questions to ask whenever we
find ourselves in the wilderness and far away from being at peace with God.
First, what is the nature of this disease?
Secondly, what is the cause? Thirdly, what
is the cure of it?* In
other words, what is it, what caused it, what can fix it?
When we feel far away from God, it is probably us
that has moved, not God. The farther away we are from God, the more at risk we
are in every way. The more at risk at risk are those around us. So, we can ask
ourselves. What is this person, place or thing that is keeping us far from God,
what caused it, what can fix it? What
hurt is coming between us and God? What fear? What rage? What relationship?
What attitude? What pride? What dream?
There are two women I heard about this week for the first time. I think of them as having been in a wilderness. The first is Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett,
a lead scientist for the National Institute of Health in the development of a Covid 19 vaccine. It is likely that she has experienced her share of persecution and pressure as well as criticism and competition. She says she made the hard decision to be upfront with her talents rather than be a “hidden figure.” The second woman is FKA Twigs,
a thirty-three year old British musician who recently talked about her abuse at the hands of actor Shia LaBeouf. As she recovers from her hurt, she notes “I gave his dysfunction back to him.”
We
can see how, like Jesus, these women have left their wilderness and are proclaiming
some good news. Verse 14 tells us that after he left the wilderness, Jesus
came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
It was after spending time in the wilderness, that he was equipped to begin his
ministry of bringing good news.
We all need good news in order to survive the wildernesses of life. We all have some good news to share to help somebody else along the way. We love to bring good news.
That’s why we gather, to be and bring good news. It’s our ministry and we love it!
Good news does not just happen. Good news is nurtured and
stirred up in our hearts with the help of the Holy Spirit moving in those who
care enough to teach us, mentor us, talk to us, and write letters to us,
especially as we move in and out of life’s wilderness moments. This was a
serious task for Dr. Martin Luther King, his father and his grandfather who
were all ministers of the gospel. It was a serious task for Susanna Wesley and
her husband Samuel and his father, and his grandfather who also represented
three generations of ministers.
However, you don’t have to be a minister to dialogue and keep a good conversation going from generation to generation, to write a letter, to affirm and support someone, guiding them with the good news of God’s love and God’s light and truth for their path, but you do have to be intentional and faithful. You do have to know that you are the good news and that you have good news to share
and that somebody needs the good news that God has given you.
No need to worry about what to say and how to say it. Just tell
God you want to be used in any way God wants to use you. Be available. God will take care of the rest. Amen.
God who is with us in the wilderness, we
welcome you into our lives. Show us the way to life. Help us to abandon our
evil desires of selfishness and pride and learn to love you. Give us a clean
heart and renew a right spirit within us. Open our eyes to see your will and
your way until righteousness and truth prevail. Have mercy upon those who need
you most. Send us to minister with good news and good deeds and good attitudes.
Next week we go to Romans 4.13-25 “I Love My Faith.” If you would like to make your contribution to the great ministry and mission of Bethel, the website is www.bethelumchurch.com.
*http://www.wordsofwesley.com/libtext.cfm?srm=46&hl=31626
**http://www.limerickcitychurch.com/blog/john-wesley-1703-1791
No comments:
Post a Comment