Ministry Exam Time—Lectionary Reflection for Lent 1B (Mark 1)
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Mark 1:9-15 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. 11 And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tested 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 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
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When I
was in seminary, I discovered that some denominations required ordinands to
take rather extensive exams before being approved. I was “fortunate” not to
face as difficult a path, but perhaps there is value in making ordinands run
the gauntlet before taking on the challenges of pastoral ministry. The Lenten
journey begins by remembering the exam that Jesus faced as he began his
ministry. With that in mind our Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Lent,
Year B, takes us back to Mark 1 where we read about Jesus' baptism, his testing
in the wilderness, and the beginning of his ministry.
The
liturgical season of Lent is understood to be a time of spiritual preparation
that is centered on Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness where he was tested by
Satan. It is often understood to be a season of fasting, of depriving oneself
of certain pleasures in life. Different denominations have different rules and
words of guidance, but it is understood to be a time of introspection, prayer, and study, as the church moves from Ash Wednesday to Holy Week, ending on Easter
Eve. The forty days do not include Sundays, as they are understood to be days
of celebration of the resurrection.
The
reading from the Gospel of Mark begins with Jesus’ baptism and the affirmation
of his calling by the voice from the cloud, declaring him to be God’s Son, the
Beloved. We do not linger long at the Jordan as according to Mark the “Spirit
immediately drove him into the wilderness.” When Mark speaks of the Spirit
driving Jesus into the wilderness, he doesn’t imagine the Spirit being an Uber
driver. What is interesting here is the Greek word in Mark that is translated as
“drove.” The word is ekballō, which is the same word used for Jesus’
exorcisms. Thus, as Eugene Boring notes, we might translate the sentence to
read that the Spirit “cast Jesus out into the wilderness.” [Feasting on the Gospel: Mark, p. 17]. In a sense
the Spirit threw Jesus into the wilderness, which isn’t a lush forest, but a
deserted place, where he would fend for himself as he experienced testing by
Satan while hanging out with wild animals. Thus, as William Pacher writes: The
wilderness is a dangerous place, undomesticated, unsafe, the abode of demons
(Isa. 34:14), and indeed Jesus encounters Satan there. Yet Israel remembered
the wilderness as a place where they had been closest to God (Jer. 2:2), and
pious folks and loves of solitude down the centuries have sought out wilderness
for contemplation” [Placher, Mark, p. 27]. Thus, the location of this
time of testing is complex, such that Eugene Boring notes, there is a reversal
going on in how Mark envisions salvation, such that while “John promised a
Mighty One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit—but instead of baptizing and
dispensing the Spirit, Jesus himself is baptized and receives the Spirit.”
Thus, “Jesus does not merely fulfill the hopes and promises of salvation
already in place, he redefines, reforms, and reverses expectations, even as he
fulfills them” [Feasting on the Gospels: Mark, p. 17].
If Mark uses an interesting word to
speak of Jesus’ movement into the wilderness, we should also take note here of
the word “immediately” as it is a favorite of Mark. In his rendering of Jesus’
story there is a sense of urgency. Mark wants to get us to the climax as
quickly as possible. Even in Mark’s rendering of the story of the wilderness
testing, we only get two brief verses before he heads out on his ministry. Of
course, we know from other Gospel accounts there is more to the story. But for
Mark, simply noting that Satan tested him is enough to get us going forward.
What Mark doesn’t tell us in verses 12 to 13 is how Satan tempted/tested Jesus.
Mark also doesn’t tell us that Jesus fasted during this time in the wilderness,
only that angels ministered to him. While in other Gospels the angels come at
the end of the sojourn, it appears that they were with Jesus throughout his
time of testing. As to what this testing entailed, we will have to depend on
other Gospel accounts. As for the identity of Satan, that is also left
undefined. Is Satan a proctor of the exam working for God or an adversary
seeking to derail Jesus’ movement into ministry? The former would correspond to the depiction
of Satan in Job, but the latter would reflect apocalyptic imagery that emerged
in the later Second Temple period. If we read these verses in light of the
entire Markan story, then we will read it in cosmic/apocalyptic terms. Thus, as
Eugene Boring points out, Mark envisions a grand cosmic narrative that includes
this moment when “before beginning his life’s work, the representative of God’s
definitive act of salvation is tested by the ultimate power of evil, and
emerges victorious” [Feasting on the Gospel, p. 19].
The two
verses that describe Jesus’ time of testing sit between his ordination at his
baptism (verses 9-11) and the beginning of his ministry, which according to
Mark’s account, takes place after John the Baptist’s arrest. At that time Jesus
went to Galilee and began proclaiming the good news, telling his audiences “The
time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in
the good news” (Mk. 1:14-15). The reference to John’s arrest signals a change
in personnel. John has completed his ministry. He prepared the way for the
messianic figure who would baptize with the Spirit and fire through his
ministry of baptism for repentance (Mk 1:1-8).
The
reference to the time being fulfilled gives some definition to the nature of
the time of testing. Unlike with Job, Jesus’ faithfulness isn’t being tested.
He’s being prepared for a difficult journey that leads to the inauguration of
God’s realm. This again signals that this is a cosmic/apocalyptic message. The
signal begins with the heavens being torn open so the heavenly voice can affirm
Jesus’ ministry at his baptism. In other words, with Jesus’ baptism, the realm
of God has come near. It has broken through, so it is time to begin revealing
the nature of this realm, even if as we see in Mark the fullness of its
presence needs to be kept quiet, at least until the time of Jesus’ resurrection.
As Mark
reveals Jesus’ ministry as it emerges out of his baptism and time in the
wilderness, where he was tested by Satan, he is not described as being a sage,
a teacher of wisdom. Mark doesn’t offer us many parables; thus, Mark’s Jesus
isn’t a dispenser of proverbs that will assist people in living a better life.
No self-help material here. Mark’s Jesus is on a mission, and it has urgency. While
Jesus’ message of God’s realm has clear political implications, he is not a
political provocateur. He faces accusations of being a political rabble-rouser,
but he doesn’t ally himself with any revolutionary movement. He does, however,
proclaim the coming of God’s realm, which will look very different from Caesar’s
realm. God’s realm doesn’t come through military conquest but through the
in-breaking of God’s rule, which will be revealed in the cross and resurrection
(even if Mark’s version of the resurrection in Mark 16 seems a bit clipped).
What Jesus wants his audience to know is that the time is short. The world is
ripe for God’s reign to break into the world and Jesus is its embodiment.
What is
clear from this passage is that Jesus’ time in the wilderness helped prepare
him for what would come in the days following as he engaged in his ministry of
preaching and healing (including his ministry of exorcism), such that he
revealed elements of the coming realm even as he kept portions hidden. The
reference to angels ministering to him during this time of testing by Satan
might serve as a word of encouragement to us, suggesting even as Jesus was not
alone during his wilderness experience, the same is true for us. Leah McKell
Horton writes that “we have hope because the same Spirit that accompanied Jesus
and provided for his care during this time of testing has now come to dwell
with us. When we find ourselves in those places where we see nothing but empty,
terrifying space around us, we too can trust that we are not there alone” [Feasting on the Gospels: Mark, p. 17].
As
we begin this Lenten journey, with Jesus’ baptism, time of testing, and the
beginning of his ministry, might we take hold of our own missional calling as
followers of Jesus? Thus, with our baptisms serving as our ordination to
ministry, and our life experiences serving as times of testing, we can join
Jesus in proclaiming the good news that God’s realm is close at hand, a
proclamation that includes a call for repentance. As Donald McKim notes “to
repent is to have a complete reorientation of life, a ‘turning’ from one
direction to another” (Feasting on the Gospels: Mark, p. 24). In his
time of testing in the wilderness, Jesus was faced with a choice. Would he turn
back from the path set before him by the Spirit? Mark doesn’t describe the
tests so we don’t know what they entail, but could Jesus have decided not to go
forward with a ministry of proclaiming the coming of the realm of God? As for
us, might repentance involve a reorientation of our lives so that like Jesus we
take up our calling to proclaim the good news of God’s coming realm? That is the question for us to wrestle with
during this Lenten season, so let the exam begin!.
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