Mark 1:9-15

On my day off this week I installed a new toilet paper holder.

Now you should know I’m not the handiest person around. While I can accomplish some simple household tasks, it always takes an extra measure of effort and concentration. I was prompted to do this only because my old toilet paper holder had fallen off the wall one time too many and I had had it.

So it was that I went out and bought a new toilet paper holder, brought it home, and took it out of its package.  I studied the instructions carefully, or so I thought.  I figured out how to take the set screw out with the tiny Allen wrench which was provided — even though the instructions didn’t exactly tell me how to do that.  And I gathered up my electric drill, my measuring tape, and a pencil.

Now I did notice there was a template provided in the instructions, but I thought that was a bit superfluous as all I needed to do was hold the mounting bracket against the wall and mark where the holes needed to be.  I did so.  Once I measured the required distance between the two brackets and I marked again, I started drilling.

Well, in spite of my careful measuring, it turns out that I put those brackets too close together. So I measured again and moved the left one over.  This time?  They were almost too far apart, but I figured they were close enough to actually hold the toilet paper — as you can see in the above picture. This was good enough for me, for this much I do know: too many holes in the dry wall and it won’t hold anything. So no, it’s not perfect, but it’s not too bad for someone with my particular skill set.  Or lack thereof.

Here is what I discovered later though. As I went to recycle the instructions, I realized that the included template not only showed how far apart the screws should be on each bracket, but how far apart those brackets should be placed on the wall.

And so it is that I have learned once more that templates are not so superfluous after all. No, in fact, when used they can give us something to measure against so that our home improvement projects hold up. Templates — or guides or examples — in the rest of life aren’t so bad either.

Now I know that the story before us now is so much more than a template. For one thing, the cosmic battle which Jesus successfully engages in while in the wilderness demonstrates how very different he is from any one of us. Even more than that, we are reminded that in these verses the stage is set for Jesus finally vanquishing evil itself on the cross so that you and I won’t have to.  Even so, I have spent enough time in the wilderness to know that it is also ours to come up against evil in powerful and terrifying ways and I find it profoundly helpful to know that Jesus has already been there. Indeed, I have found it to be pure gift to be able to lay my experience alongside his and to look for wisdom on how to deal with even those smaller battles which are mine to engage.

The only challenge is that in Mark’s Gospel we are given so little to go on.  I mean seriously, it might almost be possible to miss the piece about Jesus and his forty days in the wilderness when we come upon it here.  For as you can see, it is but two verses nestled between the dramatic account of the voice of God sounding his identity at his baptism and Jesus’ first sermon which quickly follows. You might almost miss it.

Indeed, we are left without the detail of the story we hear in Matthew and Luke — most especially that specific triad of temptations which we almost cannot help but superimpose on Mark’s telling as we listen in now.  No, this time through this is all we get:

• The Spirit drives Jesus out into the wilderness;
• Jesus was in that wilderness 40 days;
• Over those forty days (and might I add, nights) Jesus was tempted (or perhaps more accurately ‘tested’) by Satan;
• There were wild beasts and angels present in the wilderness.  Actually, the wild beasts are simply named. The angels are said to be waiting on Jesus.