Week 1: Day 2
Today Martin is taking a look at Mark 1:9-13 - covering Jesus' baptism as well as the temptation he faced in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized 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.”
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Intro: Hello and welcome to Orbit, a little moment in your day to help you put God at the centre of your life. I'm Martin Saunders, and I'm part of the team at Satellites. Each weekday we spend just a few minutes reading a part of the Bible with you, and give you with one simple way to put it into practice today.
Bible: Today's reading comes from Mark chapter 1 - and it's verses 9 to 13:
At 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.”
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Thoughts: There are four gospels - stories about Jesus written by four men with different perspectives. The great thing about Mark is that he doesn't mess about - he goes straight into the action. The others spend time talking about Jesus' birth and early years, but Mark takes us straight to Jesus as an adult, about to embark on three years of ministry that will change the world forever. It's the action movie version of Jesus' life.
In this brief reading, Mark whooshes through two big events. First - the baptism of Jesus - the moment where John, who we heard about yesterday, performs the religious ceremony that dedicates Jesus' life to God. Now, since Jesus was actually God himself, this might feel a bit weird: God being baptised by a man, to be dedicated to... God? But actually there are two things going on here: first of all, it's a demonstration of the relationship between God the father, and God the son - they actually function as parent and child. God the father really, really loves God the son - and that's really important because later on, he's going to have to watch his son killed on the cross. And actually, there's a third part of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit - which also appears at this moment, and descends on Jesus from above.
The second reason why this is important is because it's a sign that when Jesus came to earth, he became fully human. He had feelings, he had moments of pleasure and pain, and he had to go through all the same things that humans do - like being educated, getting a job, and then - even though it might feel strange - deciding to publicly say 'yes' to God.
Another really important part of Jesus being a real, full human being is that he was tempted. As a human being, Jesus definitely felt the temptation to do things wrong. We know that he made it to the end of his life without ever committing a sin... but that doesn't mean he didn't think about it. And here we read that straight after his baptism, he went into the wilderness - the wild, empty land around the Jordan river - and spent 40 days being tempted by the devil. FORTY DAYS! All that time, the devil was whispering in his ear, promising him power, money, and food - and by the way, he didn't eat anything in that time.
If you're anything like me, you'll know that you wouldn't have lasted five minutes. At least when it came to the food. But Jesus holds out - he's fully human, but he's also superhuman. And the reason why he's superhuman, is because he's just been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit at his baptism.
Realistically, we're not strong enough to resist 40 days of temptation. We're not Jesus! But we do have access to the same Holy Spirit as Jesus, and we can invite the Spirit to fill us, and to strengthen us every day as we seek to follow Jesus.
Pray: (You might want to put your hands out in front of you) Holy Spirit, I pray that you would fill us now. Wherever we are - whatever we're doing - it doesn't matter. We receive your power, and ask you to strengthen and guide us. Would we know your presence right where we are - and would you give us the ability to choose you, and resist temptation today. Amen
Silence: We're just going to take a moment of silence now, just to rest in the presence of the Spirit.
Action: Every day on Orbit we give you a simple practical challenge to help you put this passage into action in your life. Here's today's:
Take a moment to consider - what's the bit of your life where you always seem to mess up - where you give in to temptation? Maybe ask God to show you. Today - when you feel the temptation to do that thing: to talk about someone in an unkind way, or to tell a little lie, or look at something you probably shouldn't online... take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit to help you, to be the person in that situation that you really want to be.
Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us - we'll be back with another reflection tomorrow.