Sunday, March 5, 2006
Sermon: “ A Holy Helmet”
Scripture: Mark 1: 9-15
Reverend Larry Gerber 

Seems like there’s a helmet to fit just about every activity these days. Jesus shows us what a spiritual brain bucket is all about.

Say the words “Big Wheel” or “Schwinn Stingray” to just about any man over 40 and he will likely pull back some thinning hair to show you a scar and tell you a story — a story that usually involves participating in some variation of a copycat Evel Knievel stunt involving cinder blocks, plywood, a hill, pavement and a trip to the emergency room. For many baby boomers, getting a few stitches in the scalp was a childhood rite of passage.

Now that the boomers are parents, though, there’s no way they’d let their offspring be so scarred and scared by the ER doc and his needle (or worse). All the kids in the neighborhood are now fully helmeted, padded and protected by increasingly more high-tech and specialized safety equipment — whether they are riding their bikes or scooters or skateboards. Oh, and the formerly fearless boomers are wearing them, too — now realizing that their own bones and skulls are more fragile and are just one bad pothole away from being irreparably cracked.
 
Helmets are hip — even with teenagers, including the Tantrum Audex, a helmet with integrated headphones for snowboarders to listen to their iPods while thrashing some powder. Some models even incorporate a cell phone, though one wonders whether talking on one when skiing is even more dangerous than driving with one.

Skiing is an obvious application and so is bull-riding, where some macho cowboys are trading in their 10-gallon hats for high-impact plastic. Whitewater rafting, sky diving and rock climbing are others. But how about something a little more tame — like soccer. More and more youth recreation fields are witnessing soccer moms snapping a chin strap on their future Freddie Adu or Mia Hamm as a way of protecting them from knocking noggins while going up for that big header.

And it doesn’t stop there. Once mom piles the kids into the minivan, the day is coming when the kiddos will switch to another kind of helmet. The government is reviewing a patent for a child-sized car helmet. Chances are that Junior will soon look more like Dale Earnhardt Jr. commanding the back seat on the speedway of suburban life.

Chances are that if you’re into any kind of activity that involves leaving the relative safety of your house you’ve got one or more helmets in your garage — though, as studies have shown, more accidents happen in the home than anywhere else. So, how about a house helmet?

For what ever reason we wear a helmet, or a brain bucket, is no substitute for actually using the brain it protects.

Wearing proper protection to keep your head together makes good sense. A Holy Helmet is the answer for guarding the spirit when temptation sets in on some ill-advised risk.

But, what kind of holy helmet is best?

The temptation narratives in the gospels give us a clue as Jesus, venturing out on his own to begin his ministry, heads into the wilderness to engage in some extreme spiritual sports competition with Satan. Today’s reading from Mark’s gospel gives us the sense that Jesus was prepared to take on the challenge, knowing that his thoughts and his spirit were protected.

As the passage opens, we find Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River by his cousin, John. A voice from heaven breaks through the sound of the rushing water and the Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove. “You are my son, the Beloved,” says the voice; “with you I am well pleased” (v. 11).

God, the Father, is the one who gives Jesus his identity, marking him as someone special, someone who has God’s favor. In a very real sense, Jesus begins his ministry equipped and protected with nothing less than the Holy Helmet of full love from a divine parent. A child who is loved is more likely to take care of himself because parents express their love freely. They’ll put on the helmet at the parents’ request before jumping on the bike because they know that the folks have their best interests and safety at heart. Jesus goes forth into the wilderness with a similar feeling — knowing in a powerful way that he is loved.

As we go out into a world fraught with temptations and potential pitfalls, our first line of defense is to know that God loves us, too. That we are “beloved” because of God’s grace. The knowledge and experience, forged through the day to day relationship we walk in with God, are better predictors of heart, mind and soul protection than any high tech headwear. When we know that God cares for us, we can move out smartly to take on the bumps and jumps the day throws at us.

The Protective Power of the Word

Mark doesn’t expound much on the temptations that Jesus faced out in the wilderness, but Matthew and Luke do. Today’s message is another version of the message you heard if you were here on Ash Wednesday. Foundationally fitted with God’s love, Jesus is able to switch helmets effectively to protect himself against the tempter. Like a bullying kid standing at the base of a plywood ramp, Satan double-dog dares Jesus to do something risky. Using Scripture as a biblical brain bucket, Jesus doesn’t take the leap:

Satan says, “Satisfy your hunger and turn these stones to bread.” Jesus puts on the shell of self-denial, recognizing that everything comes from God and that God provides.

They go to the pinnacle of the temple. “Jump off,” says the bully, “and land unharmed. If you’re so great, God’ll protect you.” Jesus tightens the strap on the “skid lid” of common sense and knows that people who have real power don’t need to show it off or use it to suit their own ends.

Then there’s the big one — “All the kingdoms of the world can be yours,” says Satan, “if you’ll only worship me.” Jesus buckles on the helmet of humility and says that God is the only one worth serving.

Knowing who he was, what he was about, and what he had to do to accomplish his mission kept Jesus’ mind guarded and heart protected, not only in this wilderness temptation, but throughout his ministry and, ultimately, on the cross where he would again be dared to “come down” and do what a messiah was supposed to do.

Experiencing God’s love, knowing our Scriptures, and following Jesus’ example, not following Jesus, are probably the best ways to be spiritually protected as we roll through our days. We are appointed to go into the world, as followers of Jesus’ teachings. We need a helmet against the world, a Holy Helmet. We can’t escape the worldly temptations, but we can protect ourselves against them.

Think of it as the ultimate brain bucket — a holy helmet for all occasions — even if you’re just walking around! It won’t keep you from falling, but it will cushion the fall. Holy Communion is part of the armor of God: a Holy Helmet that helps us ward off the daily temptations, that breaks the fall, and allows us to get up, dust off the temptations, and go forward in strength.  Let us break bread together…….