I had the chance to go and see the movie Red Tails on Friday evening. The movie screening included members of the Chicago Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, the African American Air force unit the movie was inspired by. The event was sponsored by the Veterans Memorial Hall for Black History Month. After the movie, I had the chance to meet two the veterans, Tuskegee Airmen Virgil Pool and Julius Jackson. When I shook their hands, I say what I say to every veteran which is “thank you for your service”; which Jackson said oh you don’t have to do that. Then I said to them both “thank you for your endurance”.
They have gone through the American wilderness of human inequality, with some experiencing that wilderness more like a desert than others, where there are more beasts than angels. We stand on this side of civil rights and we give God praise for the movement toward a world of human dignity and peace, knowing that we stand on this side of the desert. God has provided a way through the wilderness of American civil injustice.
In today’s reading from Mark, chapter 1, we see that the wilderness is surrounded by a baptism and the first preaching of good news. The journey begins with identity and baptism. Still wet from his baptism, Jesus hears, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” The commissioning means a conflict[1] for Jesus. Identity is so important when facing struggles. This identity doesn’t mean there will not be challenges! There are beasts out to devour Jesus in the wilderness!
The one who has declared who Jesus will now test him! Jesus will go beyond the comfort of warm water and be moved through the green grass lands of the river Jordan into the desert. He will move out toward the dark night of the soul. When Jesus entered the 40days, he didn’t know how long it would last! It will be the right amount of time. The reality is we don’t know how long the desert will be. We recall Moses didn’t know he was going to be 40 days on the mountain. Noah didn’t know the rain would last 40 days upon the Ark. How many animals did Moses bring on the ark? None! Noah did and Moses didn’t. Elijah didn’t plan to run and hide 40 days in his struggles. So we too enter the wilderness seasons and wonder how long will this dreadful period when we feel paralyzed by grief, fear or doubt! Perhaps because we know it will be 40 days, we may run away and hide and avoid such a wilderness!
So it is the Holy Spirit that in mark throws Jesus into the desert. We don’t want to enter the wilderness of testing and we don’t go willingly into struggles. Why? Because we know we will fail on our own as we are tempted to do it on our own. But this temptation is not toward a particular activity of sin! We are tempted not by what we cannot do but what we can do with the power of the Holy Spirit. The heart of the deception is an offer not to fall but to rise. We avoid the wilderness because we don’t want to recognize our complete dependence upon God! The tempter in the garden did not ask, "Do you wish to be as the devil?" but "Do you wish to be as God?" No self-respecting Satan would approach a person with offers of personal, social and professional ruin! We are tempted to think we are doing this on your own. Why then can’t they just pull themselves up by their bootstraps? They don’t have any boots? We believe that a rising tide will raise all boats unless you don’t have boat in the first place; then you die.
The thing we know about the wilderness is that Jesus encountered the wild beasts. There are two possibilities: Jesus encounters the wild beasts and masters them; gives them a noogy. Or we reflects upon Isaiah 11:6-9 – “The lion & the lamb shall lie down together” and we see that Jesus is with the wild beasts, and they do not harm him. It’s not because he puts them in a head lock but because both can exist together. Jesus is with the wild beasts because this is the beginning of the time that is fulfilled. The reign of God has come near. Something new, entirely new, has dawned.
It is in this place of the wilderness that we wrestle with the wild beasts that lie within each one of us; that dwells within our very culture and country. We see that all the beasts that we have wrestled with are still with us; taunting us to try and master them again. We can’t master them without the presence of the holy with us. Then we know because we are the beloved children of God, we can let them lay there with gentle lamb and experience God’s reign living within us; in our homes; community and world. The reign of God is ushered in when we know we can be together with the beasts all around us.
It is then that we see that God will send angels to serve us; to “Diakonia” us and provide for us all that we need. God provides for us in our testing by sending us messengers who are like angels who will serve us and care for us. In the midst of battles with the beasts of the world, we are promised that others will surround us and serve and care for us.
The greatest temptation is to run from the calling we have to celebrate that we are a mosaic community, sharing the grace of Christ with all. We shall night run away from that calling, with all the wild beasts that are within us. We know that at the end of Lent the desert of lonely abandonment will culminate in Jesus' cry on the cross and it is then that the reign of God will be ushered in, where creation and humanity will live in peace; where men and women of all races and creeds will live in harmony. Something new has begun and Jesus is announcing it as good news. The time is right! We are invited to repent and turn around this very day and see God is here. The time is here…
Let us pray:
[1] Interpretation: Mark, Lamar Williamson, Jr. (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983), pg 36-40
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