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THE GOSPEL OF MARK – IN THE WILDERNESS

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IN THE WILDERNESS

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. Mark 1:9-13

God’s pleasure in His son is expressed in an unusual way. The human tendency would be to cushion our sons by making their lives easier, plying them with gifts or just “spoiling” them in one way or another, but of what benefit would that be to them in the long term? God’s way of benefiting Jesus was to isolate Him in rough and hostile surroundings in order to put Him through the most stringent of tests – cut off from every comfort including a supply of food and water. He had to rely completely on His Father to sustain Him and keep Him alive.

We can be sure that the Father closely monitored every moment in that dangerous place – dangerous in both the natural and spiritual environments: extreme heat and cold, wild creatures and even the terrain itself were all pitted against Him. What kind of father would do that to his son?

God knew what lay ahead for Jesus. To be unprepared would have been suicide. It was the very love of God for His son that manoeuvred Him into that setting because the next three-and-a-half years would be fraught with dangers that would affect His eternal destiny and ours. There was no time for a little “spoiling” to express His love for Jesus. Far greater would be God’s approval and appreciation for His trust and obedience in the toughest of circumstances.

And what about you and me? Wherein lies the greatest of God’s favour and blessing? Yes, He does shower His benefits on us because of Jesus. We are the apple of His eye and the object of His extravagant love and furious grace, but sometimes His greatest benefits come to us in disguise. Why? Because God’s eye is focussed on the finish line and the prize, and it’s the journey to the finish line that matters..

Jesus was striving for a huge prize – the restoration of all things – and He could not rest and take His ease along the way. The “big test” was part of His journey and it is part of ours. That is the greatest evidence of God’s love.

 

The Father’s Blessing

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THE FATHER’S BLESSING

After that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased (Mark 1: 9-11).

Jesus was about to step out of phase one of His earthly life and into phase two. His public ministry would put Him in the limelight and set Him up against the most powerful religious leaders of His nation. He was God but He was also a man. He had purposefully chosen to put aside the privileges and power of deity and subject Himself fully to His humanity. This made Him as vulnerable as any other human being to all the experiences and emotions of being a man.

What He was about to do needed all the resources at His disposal if He was to succeed. Up to this point He had lived a sinless life through infancy, childhood and early adulthood. He was now at His prime, trained in the schools of His day, equipped with a thorough knowledge of the Word of God, and aware of His commission from the Father to represent Him to His people.

There were two more things He needed to take on the world, the flesh and the devil and to overcome. He needed the power of the Holy Spirit since He had set aside His own divine power. He also needed affirmation from the Father as to His identity and His track record so far. He could not carry on without the assurance that He was clothed with divine power and that He was who He claimed to be.

When He came up out of the Jordan River, having taken another step of obedience on His journey to perfect humanity, both the Holy Spirit and the Father joined together to provide the equipment He needed to complete His task. Matthew recorded that Jesus reassured John that it was right for him to baptise Him because He had to do the right thing.

What was the right thing at that moment? By allowing John to baptise Him, He identified Himself with sinful humanity; He identified with John’s message and He was initiated into His priestly office. But, wait a minute; He was not a Levite. He was born of the tribe of Judah. He was a descendant of King David. Ah, but He was designated a priest in the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:10).

At that moment the Holy Spirit came upon Him, alighting on Him as gently as a dove. A visible appearance? Apparently, yes. Why? Was it to reassure Jesus, or was it to identify Him as Messiah to the crowd? It seems that this manifestation was specifically for John’s benefit.

Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. And I myself did not know Him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.’ (John 1:32-34).

Of course John had to know that he had the right man! God would not have left that to chance. But, as much as John needed reassurance, Jesus needed the Holy Spirit. Without His anointing He would have been no different from any other man,

He also needed the Father’s blessing. What does this mean? There are three basic elements to a father’s blessing without which a child enters adulthood without an identity, without security and without the favour of his father in him.

God the Father clearly fulfilled all three elements – which Jesus sorely needed as He navigated a very difficult path to the cross.

  1. The Father acknowledged Jesus as His Son. 2. He affirmed His love for His Son. 3. He declared His pleasure in His Son.

Without this affirmation, Jesus could never have accomplished His mission to perfection. Equipped with His Father’s blessing, He could face anything because He knew who He was and He knew that He had His Father’s backing all the way. The Father had established His unity with the Son, and the Son upheld that unity to His very last breath.

What an example for human father’s to follow! We live in a world of fatherless people – having biological fathers, but never having received their father’s blessing, not knowing who they are and that they are loved and accepted, no matter what. It’s no wonder that the world had gone haywire!

Earthly fathers could take a leaf out of the Father’s book!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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