March
12, 2000
Mark 1:9-15 (CEV)
About that time [when John the Baptist showed up in the desert]
Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in
the Jordan River. As soon as Jesus came out of the water, he saw
the sky open and the Holy Spirit coming down to him like a dove.
A voice from heaven said, "You are my own dear Son, and I
am pleased with you."
Right away God's Spirit made Jesus go into the desert. He stayed
there for forty days while Satan tested him. Jesus was with the
wild animals, but angels took care of him.
After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee and told the good
news that comes form God. He said, "The time has come! God's
kingdom will soon be here. Turn back to God and believe the good
news."
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1.
This section about Jesus beginning to announce the good news that
comes from GOD echoes all through this church year. The time has
come. The time has come! Yes! the time has come!
2.
It is time to hear our name called out and identified as "a
beloved." It is time to acknowledge the importance of your
time. GOD's domain beckons your time and energy. Investigate the
changes needed to live as a "beloved."
3.
Forty days of testing. When you are just trying to make it one-day-at-a-time
this seems like a great much. Who can face temptation for forty
days, much less forty minutes? By ourselves alone, probably no
one. Keeping in touch with creation and the perspective it gives
(the wild animals) is one place to be grounded. Keeping in touch
with eternity and the perspective it gives (the angels) is another
place from which to find the wisdom to be delivered from evil.
We are beginning the season of Lent. Forty days, not counting
Sundays, until Easter when we see how even the temptation to give
in to death as an ending spot can be blessed. May your forty-day
Lent bridge your having been blessed to your being a blessing.