David Bahn – Reflections

Mark 1:9-13

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

¹² The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³ And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

How is it that immediately after God’s heavenly exclamation, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased,” Jesus is led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan? It would seem that beloved sons would be protected from Satan’s evil deceit. Jesus himself teaches his disciples to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from [the] evil [one].” But here, on the heals of glorious exaltation, comes this desert time of temptation and battle.

Part of this is simply a reality of life in a fallen world. The devil – Satan – is a roaring lion seeking to devour those he can (1 Peter 5:8). His rebellion in the earliest of time and his success in leading Adam and Eve astray resulted in a world that is not always pretty and an adversarial saga of Satan versus God. We may often be only vaguely aware of his schemes and workings. But he is at work in the world. He is even called the prince of this world. Jesus is in the world; he will encounter Satan. He will bump up against death, sin, and evil.

But Jesus’ encounter with Satan here immediately after his baptism and God’s words of praise is not just happenstance. He was led by the Spirit into this encounter. And the Spirit is Holy and good. There is a good intent here. Jesus will face down the devil. He will resist him and begin a war that will climax in Jesus’ seeming defeat on the cross, be won by Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. Jesus is being led into the wilderness by the Spirit to do battle. Jesus is God’s champion. He will stand down the devil. This is but the first fierce skirmish. And when it is over the angels will minister to him.

God may yet lead his beloved into difficult places. Some will even face death because of their faith. But this is no sign of God’s displeasure. It is a sign of God’s desire to defeat Satan in his own terms. In fact the war has been won. When we must go to those troubling and difficult places, we go as his beloved sons and daughters. And when we face down Satan angels will minister to us.