Sermons

First Sunday of Lent
Sunday 5 March at 8am and 10am

Kathryn Elliott
Readings: Genesis 9.8-17; Mark 1.9-15.

Sign Sacrament and Service

From dust you came and to dust you shall return; Remain faithful to Christ. These words were spoken to us only a few days ago as we received the sign of the cross, in ash, at an Ash Wednesday service. We can almost re-live that moment if we concentrate… The dust reminds us that we are mortal; the death of our physical bodies will happen. Lent is a period in which we can make time to consider, What's my life all about? What am I here for?

Important moments or events in our lives are marked by special tokens, a piece of jewellery, an exam certificate, a tankard, a Bible. These tokens are signs which recall the significance of the event or new stage in our lives.

In today's readings, we meet Noah and Jesus at a significant moment in their life; at the end of one stage and the start of a new one.

The flood waters have retreated and Noah and his family have just emerged from the Ark to start a new life; Jesus has just emerged from the waters of baptism to start his itinerant ministry of service. Noah received the sign of the rainbow; Jesus, the Spirit coming down on him like a dove - a symbol of purity and gentleness.

Let's focus on Mark 1.9,10,11 where we notice that the three persons of the Trinity are involved: the Father speaks, the Son is baptised and the Holy Spirit comes to anoint Jesus.

Jesus was approximately 30 years old when he went to John for baptism (c 27 AD). Mark wrote, Jesus came from Nazareth. Nazareth was Jesus' home town; he was a Nazarene, which in Jesus' time was a synonym for despised, which reminds us of Isaiah 53.3, he was despised and rejected.

Who does our society reject today? Jesus identifies with them as he does with us in his baptism: Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptised by John (9). People who came to John were publicly acknowledging, by their immersion under the water, their dying to lifestyles which were not worthy of God. Then, as they emerged from the water, they intended to turn towards God and his direction for their lives.

Jesus underwent this 'baptism of repentance', not for his sins, but as one who identified himself with us and with a desire for God, a desire to be faithful to his Father's purpose for his life - to be the longed-for Messiah foretold in psalm and prophesy.

Love envelopes Jesus' baptism; I feel Jesus underwent the sacrament of baptism because of his love for the Father and his Father responds with words of love: You are my own dear son; I am pleased with you. Or, as paraphrased in The Message: You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life. And therein lay Jesus' commission.

You are my own dear son echoes one of the psalms that describe the Messiah (Psalm 2.7): You are my son; today, I have become your Father and I am pleased with you echoes one of the Servant Songs in Isaiah (Is 42.1): Here is my servant, my chosen one in whom I delight: Jesus must have known that these servant passages culminated in the Suffering Servant of Isa 53.

The suffering begins immediately when Jesus is made to go into the desert; the word Mark uses is ekballo rendering the sense of 'thrust away', even expelled into the desert. Jesus' remaining years in the service of preaching, healing and dying have begun in the Judaean desert - a wilderness so terrifying that it is know as The Devastation

Why is Jesus told how much he's loved, then thrust into the barren wilderness to be tortured by the heat and tempted by Satan? The desert is a solitary place… the bustle and business of daily life are replaced by space and time.

There's time for Jesus to pray, to thrash out the full meaning of God's purpose, to consider the obstacles and suffering which lie ahead. He identifies his destiny and focuses on his Father whose will he has come to do. Jesus is not only envisioned by the Spirit but empowered by the Spirit

Dare we follow Jesus into the desert this Lent?

Tucked away in Hosea is a beautiful verse (2.14) in which God speaks of Israel: I am going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.

Jesus was thrust into the desert but we have a choice. We need not be afraid to follow; just as angels ministered to Jesus, God will provide for us. The desert can be a place where we experience God's love afresh and be energised in our commitment to be faithful to Christ

Sign, Sacrament and Service.

The sign of the cross in ash, the sacrament of baptism, God's loving dealing with us in the desert as we discover his purpose for our lives in his service…

Think on these things.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay