The First Sunday in Lent, February 18, 2024

Mark 1, 12–15

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

St. Mark condenses the temptations Jesus underwent in the Judean wilderness, reported in detail in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, to just a couple of verses.  He does, however, add a detail not found in the other accounts: “He was among the wild beasts”.  This remark tells us that the Lord had gone far out into the wilderness where lions still roamed, and where he would have found food and water scarce.  Mark says that the Lord was “tempted”, or, better, “tested” by Satan out there in the wilderness.  The Evangelist sums up the whole of Christian life in these verses: that we who are members of the Body of Christ abide in the wilderness of this world for a certain, definite, period.  During that time we are “among” the wild beasts of the heathen, and in addition we are tempted-tested by Satan.  We are thus subject to three dangers: of being savaged by the unbelievers, or of adapting to the wilderness of this world as they have in order to prolong our stay in it, or of falling to the temptations and the testing of Satan and losing our faith altogether.  Yet, as the angels “ministered” to the Lord, they minister to us as well, interceding for us, consoling us, and inspiring us.  This ministry, while invisible, is necessary for us and we would have little hope of heaven without it.

“After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God.”  Mark tells us here that the Lord remained in Judea until John the Baptist had been arrested.  He then came to Galilee, as though an outsider, proclaiming the Gospel of God.  “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  He proclaims this as a herald, for the Greek word translated as “the Gospel” actually means an announcement of a king or other ruler, usually of “good news”.  The “good news”, the Gospel, announced by the Lord is that the kingdom of God has drawn near.  It is customary to translate the phrase as “the kingdom of God is at hand”, but that is not what the Greek says.  The kingdom of God is represented as itself on the move, not that it has suddenly appeared or that we have unwittingly drawn near to it.  It has been coming for a very long time, and now it has approached so that we can see it, and its Herald has reached us.  He tells us that we must now repent and to believe that it has approached.  If the reward is before us, we ought to be spurred on to great efforts in order to attain it.  We strip ourselves of all encumbrances so as not to be slowed in any way from attaining it: we repent of our sins, we do penance with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we give ourselves completely over to the Herald, who will assist us with directions.

Those who desire to be saved must truly believe that the Kingdom of God has approached, that we are living in the last age, and that before we can enter, we must render an account of what we have done in our time on earth.  The sight of this Kingdom drawn near will frighten many and as a result they will oppress the faithful more fiercely, and they will deny that there is a Kingdom.  They will truly reveal themselves to be “beasts”.  But let us live as saints that we may dwell with the angels in the Kingdom the Lord has announced to us,