Calvin Synod Herald, 2012 (113. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2012-03-01 / 3-4. szám
10 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD Text: Mark 1:9-14 Were Not the Strong Man on Our Side This brief text from St. Mark is of crucial importance. Jesus, fresh from his baptism, is driven by that baptismal Spirit into the wilderness where he encounters the Adversary. He is peacefully among the wild beasts and the angels minister to him. St. Mark includes nothing about the temptation as told by St. Matthew and St. Luke, about stones into bread, or gaining a following by leaping off a parapet of the temple, or about bowing down in worship of the Tempter. There is simply the unnamed test to which the Adversary puts him. What St. Mark shows us is a great wrestling match between the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness. It’s more than mortal conflict. The St. Matthew/St. Luke stories present temptations over the destiny of Jesus’ mission. The St. Mark story shows a cosmic conflict over the destiny of the world. In the other gospels, when Jesus is tempted to worship the tempter in order to be given all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus does not deny that it is a legitimate offer. He knows that on terra firma he’s on the Devil’s turf. When Jesus enters the wilderness, he enters a pathless place, a place of loneliness where one can easily lose the way. A place where he is not so much tempted by this or that, but where every fibre of his being is tested. In St. Mark’s account of Jesus’ ordeal in the wilderness, there is no assurance that he will win the battle. He does make peace with the wild animals as did Daniel long ago in the lions’ den. And the ministering angels come to him so that he is not utterly alone. But the battle is just begun in the wilderness, not ended. The struggle continues all the way to the cross. Only on Easter mom is victory secured. This gospel shows that every one, including his disciples, are over and over again in league with the Devil. His own family suspicions he has “gone out of his mind” (Mark 3:21) and the scribes say he is possessed by the Devil. (Mark 3:22) Jesus replies, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house may be plundered.” (Mark 3:27) In so saying, Jesus speaks of his own invasion of the House of Evil in order to overthrow that power and replace it with the Reign of God. You and I live in a modem wilderness. As Americans we are part of the world’s great power, but have we lost our way? Do we really tmst in God against terror or are we relying on the same weapons of destruction that we ourselves fear? Must we resort to torture to win against terror? The wilderness is also personal. We live in the wilderness of neighbors who have become distrustful of each other, where drugs (legal and otherwise) have become a way of life for many, where people will cheat at the drop of a hat, on Main Street and on Wall Street. In this wilderness you and I need a strong man to be our companion and guide. And who might that strong man be? Christ Jesus it is he. He who trod the wilderness before us. And the wild beasts? Perhaps those are what ravage us on the inside-our doubts, our anxiety over what we shall put on, our obsessive concern for ourselves at the expense of others, and our fear of death.. Are these the wild beasts we need the Son of God to calm and tame in this Lenten season? Will not God’s angels minister to us in His name? The 16th century reformer of the church, Martin Luther, it is alleged, once became so aware of the power of evil in his room that he threw an ink bottle at the Adversary. Later he wrote the great hymn, “Ein Feste Burg”-A Mighty Fortress. In part Luther said: Though hordes of devils fill the land All threatening to devour us, We tremble not, unmoved we stand; They cannot overpower us. This world’s prince may rage, In fierce war engage. He is doomed to fail; God’s judgment must prevail! One little word subdues him. The message is about faith in the strong man who has entered alien territory where you and I live. He is the only One who can help us find a path in the wilderness, to calm the wild beasts and to get us safely across Jordan. You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He. Amen. David B. Bowman, Ph.D Saratoga, California FRANKIE People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Lk. 18:15-17 Whenever I hear or read this well-known Bible story a very personal experience erupts in my memory, it vividly provides the sparks of emotional flames of precious recollections of times gone by. These dear memories could not be erased by the storms and turbulences of decades past, because its origins are not manmade. This is the reason I would like to share it with you. Our local church in Kiskunhalas, Hungary in the 1980s every year organized a summer camp for the youngsters in Kölked. These well planned occasions had not the “smell of school”, they were homely, familial, providing ample opportunities to grow in faith, in knowledge, in patriotism. One summer I participated as a counselor. Kölked is the center of The Duna-Dráva National Park, which was established along the Danube and Dráva rivers, covering an area of some 50.000 hectares, 123 square miles. Water played the
