Mark 1: 12-15 – First Sunday of Lent (Year B) | King James Audio Bible | KJV | King James Version
12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
The temptations of Christ in the wilderness follow immediately upon his baptism by John, the descent of the Spirit upon him and the declaration of Christ as the Son of God. Jesus has offered himself to perform what is now our first act of Christian initiation, to be baptized. When we are baptized, we are born again in Christ, and we recall the rite practised by John as we imitate Christ. As we embark upon Lent, once more following Christ’s example, we are called to renew our baptismal promises through the acts of penitence we make, once more following Christ’s example.
When Jesus goes into the wilderness he is truly tempted by Satan. The Bible account in the Gospel of Mark does not detail these temptations. St Matthew and St Luke give greater detail. There are the temptation of bread, the temptation of prestige and the temptation of power, which are the same temptations faced by the people of Israel in the desert after they went out of Egypt. Temptation is whatever draws someone away from the path toward God and instead toward sin. Jesus confronts temptation and yet remains true to God. He is tested in this way in the wilderness and he is proven. When we pray to and with Jesus, we may be confident that Jesus has confronted temptation just as we do. He has shared in this aspect of our humanity.
When Jesus is tempted by Satan we might think also of the Book of Job, which may be the clearest Old Testament expression in the Bible of the threat of the accuser, who is too in Job something like a game player with God, testing the faithful, to seek to reduce the good man to see if his faith in God survives. God grants Satan the right to test Job. Through the story of Job, we may come to see more clearly the redemption Christ gives to us.
Our understanding of Satan develops as we move from the Old Testament into the New Testament of the Bible. It might be said that it develops in parallel to our understanding of the redemption Christ brings to us. In other words, as we follow Christ’s teaching, in moving from the old to the new – indeed, in rejoicing as the new transforms the old – this is part of our ever growing knowledge of God.
Do we know what Christ experienced in the wilderness? Probably, in part, yes. We know in part our temptations. We know some of the stuff of life that clogs our communion with Jesus. If we look closely and honestly enough, we know our sins.
We try to be like Christ. There will always be ways in which we fall short. But as we try to be akin to Christ we can move closer and closer and closer to being like him. In this respect, our focus on our faith through Lent is a great opportunity. We declare a certain poverty of soul. We hunger for God, rather than immersing ourselves within the temporary pleasures of this world.
It is through the long forty days of temptations and penitence and abstinence that Christ becomes fully empowered to perform his ministry, and it is also following the imprisonment of John the Baptist and the repentance which he offered. It is when John the Baptist is imprisoned that Jesus returns to Galilee to preach. This is of great significance. As John himself says, he has shown the way; now the Messiah is here.
This is a time of completion. Through the forty days of penance and fasting in the wilderness, the time is now at hand; the kingdom of God is at hand. ‘Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.’
We are now just beginning our journey through Lent. We think of Christ and his holy journey through his time in the wilderness, and we look within ourselves to find everything that separates us from true and full communion with Christ.
‘Our pilgrim life here on earth cannot be without temptation for it is through temptation that we make progress and it is only by being tempted that we come to know ourselves.’ St Augustine
King James Audio Bible | Endnotes
Who Is The Devil In The Bible – In Christianity?
In the Old Testament, the devil is referred to as Satan, which means ‘adversary’ or ‘accuser’. Satan is depicted as a being who challenges God and seeks to lead people astray from Him. In the book of Job, Satan is portrayed as a being who challenges God to test the faith of Job, a faithful servant of God. Satan accuses Job of only being faithful because of his prosperity, and suggests that if God were to take away his wealth and health, Job would curse God. God allows Satan to afflict Job with various trials, but Job remains faithful to God throughout.
In Zechariah 3:1-2, Satan is described as an accuser who stands before God and accuses Joshua the high priest: ‘And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?’
In the New Testament, the devil is also referred to as Satan, but is also called the devil, the evil one, and the prince of this world. The devil is depicted as a tempter who seeks to lead people astray from God. In the Gospel of Matthew, the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness with offers of power and glory, but Jesus resists his temptations. In Matthew 4:8-10, the devil takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world, offering to give them to him if he will bow down and worship him. But Jesus responds, ‘Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’
In John 8:44, Jesus refers to the devil as a liar and the father of lies: ‘Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.’
In the book of Genesis, the devil is understood to be portrayed as the serpent who tempts Adam and Eve to disobey God and eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This act of disobedience leads to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden and the introduction of sin into the world. In Genesis 3:1-5, the serpent says to Eve, ‘Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’
Where In The Bible Does The Devil Challenge God – And So Is Cast Out Of Heaven?
The story of the devil’s rebellion against God and his subsequent fall from heaven is not described in detail in any single passage of the Bible. However, there are several verses in the Bible that are commonly interpreted as referring to this event.
One of the most well-known passages is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 14, verses 12-15. In this passage, the King of Babylon is being mocked by the prophet Isaiah, who describes his fall from power and greatness. Many Christians interpret this passage as having a deeper spiritual meaning, referring to the fall of Satan:
‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.’
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verse 18, Jesus speaks to his disciples after they return from a mission:
‘And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.’
The book of Revelation also refers to a war in heaven, in which Michael and his angels fight against the dragon (interpreted as Satan) and his angels. In Revelation 12:7-9, it is written:
‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’
Three further passages concerning the fall of Satan/the devil are:
- Ezekiel 28:12-19: ‘Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.’
- Jude 1:6: ‘And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.’
- 2 Peter 2:4: ‘For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.’
Psalm 68 expresses divine triumph, blessing, and glorious manifestation of God’s presence among His people. The psalm is a compelling and resonant exhortation to God, a celebration of God’s sovereignty, and an exploration of God’s redemptive and providential actions in the world [ … ]
The Carrefour will be open, where I can buy nuts for the red squirrel, who lives in Campo Grande. The red squirrel is Valladolid’s best bit. Even as a child, I had never seen one before, apart from in picture books. It was last term’s discovery. The most beautiful encounter. I didn’t know it was there – in the park. A complete surprise. The tiny little thing bobbled and hopped, as it received in its little hands a nut from the man’s hands. Each surprising instant – it was childlike. I whispered: ‘Oh my wow.’ I walk toward the El Cortes Ingles. There is, for now, that settled feel of friends in bookshops. Though a null-affect, neutral day – it won’t glean, it is not to be scratched at. The queues are long in the Carrefour. Though, as it might be, on relatively modest incomes, many people live centrally. Their behaviours neither pinched nor stark. Yet the shop so busy while the street so empty… An error in the simulation, a glitch in the code. I potter about the aisles, which are pleasant enough, then at the tills I flinch at how expensive a little bag of up-sold nuts can be. Nonetheless, I queue for a packet of almonds. Two English men queue directly ahead of me. They are stocky, and have gay voices, their wheelie-bucket piled with soft drinks and party food, while they bitch to one another about the obviously terrible party they’re going to. The air heaves relief as I wander up the way to the broad plaza fringing Campo Grande. This is a place to see – a piece of Spain. There is a tourist information office, though unopened. At these fountains, three girls take selfies. Pompous-looking buildings, the military offices aside, line the park’s nearest vicinities. Hotel-bars have their patches. Liveried doormen idle time, for there are no paying customers, in and out the doorways’ shadows. A mixed group of kids play at the hoops on the pedestrian boulevard, and two boys practise on skateboards, working the thing out. I pass by them, touched by the thought, and happy that they are there. Wistful, I smile at the odds of the ball spilling over to me, and play in mind the agreeable scene of a fleeting connection. Then I am through the park gates. An air now – of humanity become self-selecting. Modestly understated. Understatedly modest. Campo Grande is nice but it isn’t grande… I walk slowly, and very soon hear for a second time English voices. Not them – it is an English family, just a little way ahead, a Dad and a Mum and a younger boy and an older girl, and theirs are Midlands accents. Dad seems to have been here and to know the place. He gestures panoramically. Mum wants her lunch. The girl at a difficult age. She carries a balloon-on-a-stick. Though she is sprouting – yet wears a loud dress. Then leggings, trainers. Her hair is nice… Maybe she is being okay about it. And not horrific. It’s okay once they get into it, but those months… Yet then, they mostly blossom, if they come from a good home, and become rounded personalities, entering into their womanhood. It was that… when yet they weren’t… I shudder to think of it. They walk toward the pond, and I trail, and would follow had I not been going that way. I wish I could say something so they might hear I am English too. (Fake a phone call?) How my voice might sound – there’d be all college hurling around in such matter I… a demented thing, ludicrous blurt – of Henry, Geoff, and all of them – not to mention the personal predicament. Maybe they’re a nice family. She is letting him explain what he needs to explain. And it would blow his fire, me being English. Mum and Dad. You’d probably see them all having their lunch in a little while. All sat round the table. With napkins and the menus out. Dad looks safe. I look into the pond. Terrapins live in there. But not today. I walk toward the join in the paths where the squirrel lives. There, I crumple the packet of almonds, making noise. I peer and I squat and crouch – chewing a mouthful. All the peacocks have perched right up in the trees’ branches. That never looks like something they should be doing. It’s disappointing that the squirrel isn’t here – but then the not-knowing-if is a part of it. Now, next, my visit to the National Sculpture Museum is an obligation. Canon Peter stood literally aghast when I hadn’t heard of it. Mortified, I made resolute promises. Though a few weeks have passed, it isn’t just any old something I could do on the hoof. A great commitment – it must command a known and prepared and anticipated not-just-any-old-time. But, rather, the sort you must wait for – and listen for. [ … ] Beyond Plaza Mayor, there would be a brief series of old-town alleyways. The National Sculpture Museum would be – just up there, this archway, this next…They are bleached and forgotten-looking walls, and the smoothed paving could be medieval. Not that it is making Tomàs anxious – I follow the map. A kind of place – uneasy credit-cards, and modern vaccinations, and a phone, might not help much. I fancy I feel the back-wall of a church, and that – fancifully – pressure-release drawn out of me. Only I am playing games in a nice way – making play-scared on the uncertainty – with only myself to see. The National Museum is there, modestly signed on stencilled plexiglass stuck to the stone wall. A uniformed lady sits just a little way inside the doorway. She reassures me there is no money required, and directs me over the courtyard into the planned route, showing me where I can pick up a free map. I get my […]
As bishop, theologian, and composer, Saint Ambrose of Milan shaped the doctrine, liturgy, and moral character of Latin Christianity. Born into the elite of the Roman Empire and trained in classical rhetoric, Saint Ambrose rose from civil office to ecclesiastical leadership under unusual circumstances. His life exemplifies the intersection of Roman civic tradition with the emerging authority of the Christian Church. His writings, hymns, and pastoral actions continue to influence both theological scholarship and devotional practice [ … ]
