Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter
3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15
What a wonderful gospel
passage - short, clear, powerful and profound! In addition it's a great
template for what we should be doing for Lent.
It begins with the Holy Spirit. Did your Lent begin with the Holy Spirit or did you decide on your own how you would spend it? Jesus didn't wake up one morning and say, 'Hmm, I might go and spend a few weeks in the wilderness.' No, it was the Holy Spirit of God who drove him there because that's what God wanted him to do.
So, the lesson for
us is that Lent probably won't be all that fruitful if we just rely on
our own plans and do what we think might be a good thing to do. In my
experience, anyway, the less I consult God about how to make my Lent the less
likelihood there is of my persevering.
Another profound
word we find in this Gospel is the word: wilderness.
It stands for that place in which we must rely totally on God in order to
survive. Remember the Hebrews who escaped from Egypt? They were led into the
wilderness, not for 40 days but for 40 years, and they soon discovered that
they had to place all their trust in God in order to go on living. It was God
who drove them into the wilderness through the parting he made in the waters of
the Red Sea. It was God who fed them there with manna and who drew water from
the rock and sent them quails for meat.
The wilderness is
therefore a special place for learning to rely on God and to trust him more and
more.
So, does that mean
during Lent we should find the nearest wilderness and head off? Well, yes, sort
of but not exactly. If you think about it now, and allow yourself to reflect on
this a little, you will discover that the wilderness is not as far away as you
think. In fact, it is right there with you in your own life.
So, I hear you
asking, how do I get there? Well, the first thing, as I've already said, is to
ask the Holy Spirit and let him drive you there as he drove Jesus into the
wilderness. Let me give you an example.
Wilma is a nice
Catholic lady. She goes to Mass every Sunday, she prays, is
a good mother, a faithful and loving wife, she loves her neighbour BUT – she has
a secret – she gambles. Not every day, and not huge amounts but she has worked
out that perhaps she likes it a little, maybe a lot, more than she should, and
there are those things the kids need for school.
Lent comes along and
Wilma makes her plans and decides – no sugar in my coffee, no chocolate, and no
morning TV. Fortunately, she is sufficiently attuned to the Holy Spirit that a
little sense of dissatisfaction enters her heart. She begins to pray and
immediately, without a moment's delay, the word gambling enters her
mind.
'I should really
stop gambling altogether.' The words sneak to her lips before she can stop
them, and, strange to relate, she speaks them aloud as though she were really
saying them on someone else's behalf, like: Wilma, you should really stop
gambling.
Well, that's the
Holy Spirit, taking us where we would really rather not go.
Wilma decides –
"Ok, that's it. Gambling it is! No gambling! – for Lent!
Next day, at 2 pm,
before the kids or hubby come home Wilma begins to think of the Club, and then
the sickening recollection of her Lenten resolution hits her with all its
force. "Oh, no!"
At that very instant
Wilma finds herself transported into the wilderness, her own personal wilderness – the place where she will
learn again, with Jesus, to turn to God her Father, to trust him, and to love
him more deeply.
And now for the next
part of the Gospel: and he remained there
for forty days, and was tempted by Satan.
Wilma had allowed
herself to be driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and though she kind
of 'regretted' having said yes, she was close enough to God to know that he
would help her to remain there for forty
days, but every single day she was tempted
by Satan.
The wild beasts
attacked ferociously, making her short with the kids and occasionally cold to
her husband. She was hungry but God fed her with manna; she was
thirsty for the thrill of the pokies but God gave her to drink, and she was even
tempted to believe from time to time that the
angels were looking after her.
By the end of Lent
Wilma was different. She felt she had been through a war and had come out the
winner. She was aware of God's grace in a new and powerful way AND she was
strong enough and wise enough to put away all thought of ever returning to the
poke-atorium.
I might add that
Wilma started to attend a weekday Mass or two each week and that her husband
commented one morning how well things were going for the family. The kids
seemed to have settled down and he felt they were much
happier.
It takes a real hero
to enter the desert. It takes a real hero to stay there. And the
presence of a hero in our midst makes everyone better.
