Where the Wild Things Are

"GOD CAME NEAR"
Mark 1:9-15
Faith United
March 1, 2009


Don't you hate that word "repent"?
I do
It gets in the way, somehow
it makes me want to stop listening, stop reading
"Repent" reminds me of when I was a teenager in New Jersey
and during the summers we'd walk the boardwalk in Ocean City
and there were these guys
really weird looking guys
with long hair, long beards,
and they kind of looked like the group "ZZ Top"
They wore those sandwich boards
or carried signs that said, "Repent! Jesus is coming soon!"
It was embarrassing, it was a joke
nobody took them seriously
but that's what I think of when I hear the word repent

and I wonder, repent of what?
what do you want me to do?
But the word repent means literally, "turn around,"
take a U turn, change direction
It doesn't mean, fall on the ground, feel your own unworthiness
lament and feel like piece of garbage
and fear the coming of the Lord
Which is basically what those ZZ Top look-alikes
wanted us to do
to fear the coming of the Lord
So I have trouble with the language
it has baggage for me, clearly

And another thing I don't get
is why….
Why was Jesus sent to the desert
and why was he sent there to suffer?
Why was he tempted for 40 days
by only God knows what?
It was more than the temptation to jump off buildings
and be saved
or to turn stones into bread
or to bow down to Satan
like Matthew talks about…
He was there forty days, with wild beasts, it says
tempted by Satan, by evil…
but we're spared the details
And now we enter the season of Lent
40 days,
the same amount of time Jesus was tempted
Why?
and are we supposed to suffer now?
are we supposed to give up something we love
so that we can get a taste of that temptation?

I'm tempted to think
that my giving up ice cream or French fries
somehow doesn't reach the depth of suffering
that Jesus went through in that desert
Just a hunch
So why?
Why did he go there?
and why did the Holy Spirit send him there?
Shoot, if that's what the Holy Spirit does
than I don't want anything to do with it!

In the old book and movie, "The Greatest Story Ever Told,"
it says,
"On a hillside, Jesus found a cavern and there made his
solitary camp
His sole reason for retreating to this grotto was that
he must become acquainted with human suffering
and temptation…"

I think of the children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are"
Jesus went to the desert where the wild things are
what did he hear?
what did he see?
what did he feel?
The desert is not a pleasant place
it's harsh, dry, and stark
you can become dehydrated out there
and start to suffer hallucinations
There aren't any people out there
for forty days he was without all human contact
he was left on his own to find food and water
to not go crazy
We don't know the details of what happened out there
We do know that he was sent there right after his baptism
right after being anointed for this ministry
for being bathed in the waters of baptism
and declared by God
as the Beloved one
Bummer…
what a harsh follow up to a wonderful blessing!
I wonder if when he was out there
he ever said, "Hey, why me?"
Why do I have to do this?
God, if you love me so much, why do I have to endure this?
If I'm so great, than why are you torturing me?"
If he did think those things,
he didn't tell anyone or write it down
what happened out there remains a mystery
all that we do know is that he was out there
in the harsh, unforgiving desert
where the wild things are
for forty days and forty long nights

I wonder if he heard voices out there
taunting him, daring him to relinquish his faith in God
his trust in God's love
after all, what kind of loving Parent
would send their child out into the desert to suffer?
That's what Satan could have said
how can you trust a God that would allow you to suffer?
how can you believe that God loves you
if God is letting you thirst and hunger out here
in the unforgiving elements?
Huh, Jesus? Are you crazy?
Are you stupid? He might have asked….
How smart is it to love a God who allows such suffering?
I can hear Satan say….

We've never heard that, have we?
When we've been faced with a horrible thing
like cancer or death or any kind of tragedy
have we heard that voice in our head,
"why you??"
Ask yourself, the voice says, ask yourself, why ME?
How can you trust a God that allows you to suffer?
How can you hope in a God
that allows such pain?

Have you heard that voice?

Years ago in Tilden, I was at the hospital with a parishioner
who had undergone some major surgery
one of many that she'd already endured
and I tried to be pastoral and helpful,
tried to be encouraging
when she finally looked up at me and asked me,
"Peggy have you ever had surgery?"
Well, no, actually I haven't
"Then," she said, "you have no idea what I'm feeling
you have no idea of the pain…"
I couldn't argue with her, she was right
I have no idea
I'm sure I won't get out of this world
without someday having to have some kind of surgery
but right now, no, I have no idea
And what she was saying is that helpful as I want to be
I can only help so much if I haven't been there

And the thing about Jesus and the wilderness
The thing about Jesus going where the wild things are
is that we can know that He has BEEN THERE
Wherever THERE is,
he knows what suffering and torment is like
he didn't go through that because
there is something glorious and admirable
about suffering
He suffered because WE suffer
and because we need a savior who has Been There, Done That
We need a savior with credentials
And Jesus has been there, done that
he has suffered despair, he has suffered incredible physical pain
and mental anguish
so that whatever we go through
we can know, he truly DOES understand

That's the strength of groups like Compassionate Friends,
Alcoholic's Anonymous, Al Anon,
Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous,
Depression Support Groups,
any of those groups
When we go through things in this life
we don't want to talk to someone who hasn't suffered
who hasn't felt what we feel
We want to be with someone who has walked the walk
that we're walking
who has suffered the pain we're suffering
someone who has Been There, Done That
Only they can understand what we're feeling
what we're wrestling with
only they can understand the intensity of emotions
we experience that take on a life of their own
Only a person who has lost a loved one
has the credentials to help others through grief
only someone who has known the ravages of addiction
can truly help someone who is battling that demon
Only someone who has lost a child
can truly help someone going through the same thing

I think the temptation story is too often reduced to a G rating
too often we think, ok, Jesus was tempted in the desert
so he understands our temptations

Rev. John Claypool, a retired pastor
wrote that he believes that our biggest temptation
our worst temptation in this world
is the temptation to despair ….
Despair can suck you under like a tidepool
till you can't breathe
and fills your mind with sick thinking
that you will feel better
you will never have hope again
Our world is full of despair
and full of people who give in to it
and allow it to wash over them like drowning waters
Claypool suggests
that Jesus opened himself up
in that desert to the temptation of despair
he was all alone, physically
hungry, thirsty, maybe on the brink of dehydration
there was nothing but howling winds
stirring up the dry sands that stung his body
wild beasts howling on the perimeters
perhaps voices in his head tempting him to give up
to let the waters of despair wash over him
to let go, let it all be over
drift away and allow himself to be take away
by the strong pull of darkness
To truly believe that that voice from God
back there at the river Jordan was only a dream
that is finally overcome and extinguished
by the very real pain of living
and practicality

I can imagine the strong pull of temptation
the voice of temptation whispering to Jesus,
"Save yourself, get out of this mess,
spare yourself the trouble and tell God what he can do
with this so-called blessing…"
I wonder how many times Jesus might have walked
to the edge of the desert
tempted to go home and resume his work
of carpentry
and live a simpler, easier life?
When we're faced with a terrible diagnosis
or a horrible tragedy or loss
we're often tempted to say, "why me?"
It's perfectly understandable
but I think it's unrealistic to think
that we can get out of this world
without suffering
People think Lent is depressing,
and I suppose it could be if you think of it that way
but I think focusing on Jesus' suffering
is a way to know to receive the good news
specifically that God has come near to us in Jesus
God took human form
with all it's physical pain and emotions
with all its despair and suffering
so that God could indeed be near to us
and know what life is like for us
and to literally walk us through
Why me? Why you?
Why not?
We live in a world of suffering
God doesn't send that suffering
humans do
God does not delight in pain
Jesus didn't suffer in the wilderness
or on the Cross just for the sake of suffering
he suffered because he had the audacity
to put on human flesh
and to lead us to a better way
to the Kingdom of God
To get us to take a U turn
and set our faces toward the Kingdom
We will suffer in this world
whether we know God or not
we are never assured any immunity from pain
because we love God
But we are given hope
we are given a vision and a companion
we are given a membership in the Beloved Community
marked by our baptisms,
blessed by God
God gives us the ability to turn our suffering into ministry
To use the bad things that happen
as an instrument of good and grace
to even offer it to God
as a gift
and say, take this, God, use it for something good
even as it still feels so bad

Maybe I've told this story, I don't know
But the Rev. Henri Nouwen,
who lived the later years of his life
in the community of L'Arche
which was a community for the mentally disabled
in Toronto
Nouwen tells the story of a woman
who was severely handicapped
but a wonderful lady
She came to him and said, "Henri, can you bless me?"
He walked up to her and made the sign of the cross
on her forehead
And she said, "No, Henri, that's not what I mean…"
Nouwen was embarrassed
and said, "I gave you a blessing…"
She said, "No, I want to be BLESSED."
And he didn't know what she meant
Later, they had a worship service
and a large congregation of the community was there
After the service,
Henri said, "Janet wants a blessing."
He had on his robe and stood up front
Janet came up to him and said again, "I want to be blessed."
She put her head against his chest
and he spontaneously put his arms around her,
held her and looked right into her eyes
and said, "Blessed are you, Janet.
You know how much we love you. You know how important
you are. You knolw what a good woman you are."
She looked at him and said,
"Yes, yes, yes, I know."
He suddenly saw all sorts of energy coming back to her
She seemed to be relieved from the feeling of depression
that she often suffered
as she suddenly realized that she was a blessing
She went back to her place and immediately other people
came forward and said, "I want that kind of blessing too."
The people kept walking up to him
and he suddenly found himself embracing people
He said after that,
one of the people in the community who assisted the handicapped
a strong guy, a football player who towered over Nouwen,
said to him,
"Henri, can I have a blessing too?"
Nouwen said he and the big husky guy
stood facing each other and Nouwen said to him,
"John, you are blessed.
You are a good person. God loves you.
We love you. You are important."
And they embraced….
We all spend time out there in the desert
where we are alone with our thoughts
alone with our despair
alone with whatever it is that is threatening
to tear us down
whether it's illness, old age, broken relationships
whatever
The good news that Jesus brought
is that we don't walk this lonesome valley by ourselves
we don't live through this world all alone
and Jesus has been there
he knows, he gets it
there is nothing we suffer that he can't understand
But he calls us to take a U turn
to turn around, to set our eyes upon the Kingdom of God
the Beloved Community
of which we are a chosen part
You are my beloved, God says
You are important, you are beautiful, you are treasured
Your life has meaning
Trust that there are angels ministering to you in your darkest hour
as they did for Jesus
trust that you are never alone
and that God will give you the strength
to take another step
and find life after whatever darkness you experience

And that… is what helps us make it through the night….