Lent is for Your Ears
Mark 1:9-15
February 18, 2018 – Redeemer
Epiphany is a season for your eyes. It begins with Jesus’s baptism and you see heaven torn open and the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. In Epiphany you see water is turned into wine. You see the tables are turned on the unclean spirits and now they are afraid and running. Blind people see. Lame people walk. Dead people live. And at the end of the Epiphany season, last Sunday, the Divinity of God shines through Jesus so that His face and body are transfigured before Peter, James, and John. In Epiphany you could see that God’s Kingdom had come, that the little baby of Bethlehem, Jesus of Nazareth was God in the flesh. You could see it.
Lent is a season for your ears, because what you see with your eyes will confound you. In many ways today’s Gospel reading begins with Epiphany (something for your eyes) and ends with Lent (some words for your ears). It begins with heaven torn open and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. Then the Father speaks from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” What we see in the Gospel can only be comprehended by what we hear from the Father.
For instance, Jesus is being baptized. Baptism is for sinners. If Jesus is sinless (and He is) then should you see Him getting baptized? Why should the Father be pleased that His Son is swimming with sinners in baptism? Close your eyes and listen to God’s Word which tells you that God made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us. Jesus came to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins – the substitute – like the ram caught in the bushes that takes Isaac’s place, like the Passover Lamb who died in Egypt to save the Hebrews, or like the scapegoat on Atonement Day who bore the sins of the people into the wilderness to take them away. God is pleased with His Son because His Son is taking the place of sinners. Jesus has come to take your place.
But then what do your eyes see right after Jesus’ baptism, after the Father’s bold declaration “I am well pleased” with Jesus? The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan. Is that what you expect to see after baptism? Temptation? Satan? Maybe you should keep your children from playing in the baptismal waters. It looks dangerous. God is well pleased with His Son, yet the Holy Spirit drives Jesus away, alone, to face an enemy.
You have seen this in your life. You are a baptized child of God. Because of Christ Jesus, God the Father is pleased with you. Jesus has covered your sins and you are lovely in your Father’s eyes – a favored child. Yet, what do you see? Does it look like you are God’s favorite? Or does it look like He has left you all alone? Is your life one of peace and happiness or do you see conflict and battle? The baptized children of God see more testing and temptation than those who do not believe in Christ. Your unbelieving friends do not see the troubles you see or face the temptations with which you are tempted. They do not care if their children don’t go to church or their grandchildren aren’t baptized. They don’t experience guilt over pestering sins and falling into temptation. They aren’t plagued by the Devil dredging up sins that Christ buried long ago. If you judged baptism by the results you saw you might want to stay out of the water.
What do you do when you’re sorely tempted and battered around by your sinful flesh and the attacks of the Devil? Why must Jesus be tempted by Satan? Why must Abraham give back his son? Why does the world oppose the children of God when God Himself says He favors us? Why is our faith so tested?
Lent teaches us to close our eyes and listen with our ears. When you don’t see what you expect, cling to God’s own Word and promises. Jesus is God’s own Son. He was tempted by the Devil and tested by His Father, and He beat every temptation and passed every test, not with power or might, but by God’s own Word. God’s Word tells us that He was driven out into the wilderness for us. Adam didn’t beat Satan’s temptation or pass God’s test of faith, and that’s why you and I are sinners, but Jesus beat the Devil and He did that for you.
Saint Mark gives our ears something to hear that no other Gospel writer tells us. Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals. That description of Jesus with the wild animals, calls our ears to remember Gods’ Word about the Day of Atonement. On that day the priest confessed Israel’s sins over the head of a goat and that goat was led into the wilderness – the Devil’s domain, where the wild beasts would devour it. The goat carried away the sin of Israel never to be seen again.
The Good Word for us is that Jesus carried our sin and our flesh out into the wilderness, to be tempted by Satan, but He came back. Martin Luther taught us in the Hymn of the Day, “For us fights the valiant One.” Jesus beat Satan and came back. He is your substitute in actively defeating Satan’s temptation. He is also your substitute when He goes to the cross – there too He goes off by Himself, the Sacrificial Substitute, the Scapegoat – all alone into the hell of His Father’s anger. He is the burnt offering for our sin and God’s anger burns itself out on Jesus. Three days later He comes back.
This is God’s Word for you when you suffer, when you see and feel what you do not expect, when it appears that God has forgotten you instead of favors you. Jesus went into the wilderness, beat Satan, and came back. Jesus went into death and hell with your sin. He was judged guilty, sentenced to death, was crucified, died and was buried for you. He went away with your sins into death and came back alive without them. When you see what you do not expect close your eyes, and with your ears hear the Word, “The Father has forgiven you and He favors you.” in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
17 February 2017 anno Domini