Mark 1: 9 – 15 Lent 1 1^st March 2009.

The Rainbow and The Cross

The choice of the two readings for today are interesting.

In Genesis we have God’s covenant with Noah, a covenant like all the Old Testament covenants, is an expression of the love and mercy of God in spite of our frailty and in exchange we accept our obligations to God. But it is an unconditional covenant, a covenant of love in which God promises to remember us even if we forget him. This covenant God made with Noah is really made with all humanity and all creation. There may be terrible disasters like the tsunami but God will never again destroy all mankind.

We may turn our backs on God, choose hate instead of love, destroy rather than create, break our relationships with others instead of

living in harmony. Despite our wrongdoings, God will remember his

promise to us. And the sign of this covenant was to be a rainbow, each time we see a rainbow we are called to remember God’s covenant with us.

And whilst many people probably have no knowledge of God’s covenant with Noah a rainbow always brings excitement – I doubt if there is anyone who doesn’t find the sight of a rainbow something joyous.

In the Mark we have the account the Christ’s baptism, his temptation in the wilderness and the very beginning of his ministry. In other words, the beginning of God’s final covenant with his people. Which, as Jeremiah said, would be written not on tablets of stone, but in the hearts of all people. But no-where did God take away our freedom of choice, we have the freedom to sin, the freedom to listen to the voice of God and follow his teachings.

It’s not that God isn’t sad when we sin, that he doesn’t want us to turn to him but his love for us is so great that rather than change his mind and send a disaster to destroy us, he sent himself in the form of Jesus, the son, to deal with our sins. Rather than kill, Jesus, who

was willing to die for our sins came to live among us. Rather than punish, God is willing to forgive. And to the sign of the rainbow God added The Cross, the sign of his unconditional love for us, of his willingness to be broken hearted for us, to be tortured and killed for us.

In our Baptism our parents and Godparents promise to care for us, help to uphold us in our new life in Christ, to bring us up in the faith, and in confirmation we make these promises for ourselves. But how do we know God’s wishes for us, how do we discern his will?

It is an essential part of our spiritual journey that we can discern God’s will for us. For in calling ourselves Christians, children of God, we acknowledge that God as called us, and our duty to him.

In today’s gospel we hear the turning point is Christ’s life, when he gives up what you might term his normal, and as far as we know anonymous youth and young adulthood. He came from Nazareth, and we are told that this is where most of Jesus’ life has been lived to this point. His family is there; he has grown up there, been educated in the scriptures there, and has learned his trade there.

He know doubt went through all the normal childhood things, no doubt in the rough and tumble of childhood, he learned how unkind children can be to each other, but also the love and care that come from family love.

So we read ‘at that time Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptised by John in the Jordan. As he is baptised a voice from heaven reminds Jesus who he is, and says that God is well pleased with him. Then we read how the Spirit called Jesus into the wilderness to live with the wild beasts and to face being tempted by Satan. Christ started his ministry through trial and tribulations just as he was to end it.

As we enter the season of Lent we too are driven into the wilderness with Jesus this Lent. By association we are brought into a time of reflection and discernment, every year for forty days.

Lent is a powerful season in the church year. Some may ridicule the attempts Christians make to better themselves – see fasting as a way to lose weight not as a way or drawing us closer to God. But I think there is something powerful about a time that calls us to make the connection between lived lives and the calling of God.

This discernment is not a one off; it is a daily calling, a daily commitment to seek ways of emptying our lives of all that cuts us off from God’s will for us. It is something which challenges, makes us stand still and take stock, makes us sort things out. We have to look how we can make more space for God in our over worked, modern stressful lives. Mark says there were beasts in the wilderness with Christ – what beasts are with us today? The beasts are many – materialism, pride, prejudice, envy, or just as I have said being too busy – too busy to make time for God.

This Lent we are again invited to join Jesus in the wilderness for a period of searching. Let us all take these forty days to listen to God’s voice, acknowledge your own weaknesses, name our individual temptations, and challenge the wild beasts. But also may we always be aware of God’s grace sustaining us. So that when Easter arrives, we may all be ready to proclaim with a loud voice the good news of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.