Tears streamed down Elmer Johnson’s cheeks as he watched pickup truck after pickup truck drive out of his farmyard ... filled with things he had treasured dearly. It was the day of his auction. Like many other American farmers, Elmer Johnson just could not make ends meet any longer. The farm had been in the family for three generations. First his grandfather and then his father had made their livings off this land. Elmer was glad they were not around for the auction. He felt ashamed enough the way it was. He certainly would not have been able to face those who had gone before him on this land. Just thinking of Dad and Grandad made the tears flow even more. It was terrible to see a family dream come to an end. It was terrible to have to live through this auction. It was terrible to see his machinery and equipment sold in front of his very eyes.

Elmer Johnson replayed the events of the past few years over and over in his mind. Where had he gone wrong? What could he have done differently? Once again, in his latest replay of the events, he was unable to answer his question. He felt like he was a victim - a victim of many circumstances. Things had happened to him and other farmers over which they had no control. There was the tremendous jump in fuel prices, the Russian grain embargo, the steep rise in interest rates, the decline in land values, the low prices he received for his products, and so on. He had had very little control over his own destiny. He was, indeed, a victim of circumstances which very few farmers could have foreseen.

Our story from Mark’s Gospel today begins with two brief verses telling us that Jesus had an encounter with Satan. Matthew and Luke tell this story in some detail. Mark only gives us the bare facts. We remember that the Holy Spirit had descended upon Jesus when he was baptized by John the Baptizer in the river Jordan. Immediately after his baptism, Mark tells us, the Spirit that had come upon Jesus drove him out into the wilderness. Jesus was in that wilderness for forty days. Satan tempted him there. Angels ministered to his needs. We know from the accounts in Matthew and Luke that Jesus faced Satan down and defeated Satan in this wilderness encounter.

From the earliest years of the Christian church one of the dominant motifs of the Lenten season has been the story of Jesus’ encounter with Satan. The lesson for the first Sunday in Lent, appropriately, deals with Jesus meeting Satan. In Jesus’ time, the power of Satan was understood to be a power that oppressed human life. There were evil forces at work in the world that worked against the wholeness of human life. In many and various ways people felt that they were victims of forces over which they had no control. If Elmer Johnson had lived in Bible times, for example, he might have attributed his farm problems to Satan. Elmer Johnson felt victimized. That is what the power of Satan was all about. It was about alien powers working against human life. Satan claimed many victims. Many human lives could not flourish and grow. The powers of Satan were simply too strong for people.

Jesus Christ began his ministry by confronting a powerful force that oppressed and victimized many human lives. Jesus Christ encountered Satan and then, according to Mark, spoke the very first words of his ministry. They were words of good news to all the victims of Satan. They were good news to all oppressed people. "The kingdom of God is at hand," Jesus said. "The kingdom of God is at hand."

As we read on in Mark’s Gospel we see immediately what Jesus meant by his announcement of the kingdom. One of the very first things that happens to Jesus is an encounter with a man who had an unclean spirit. Here was a man who was one of Satan’s victims. And Jesus had a word for this oppressed man. Jesus had a word for all victims of demonic oppression. "Be silent, and come out of him!" Jesus said to the unclean spirit. And the unclean spirit came out. A victim was set free. That is a sign that the kingdom of God is at hand. (See Mark 1:21-29.)

Mark’s story of Jesus continues. Jesus left the synagogue. He entered the house of Simon and Andrew. As they came into the house, it was discovered that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever. Here is another victim. This time it is a woman. She is a victim of disease. Many people in Jesus’ day would have believed that such a fever, that almost any disease, was caused by Satan. Very few of us believe that disease is caused by Satan. We can identify, however, with the feeling of victimization that comes with disease and illness. So often the diseases which strike our bodies are matters over which we have no control. Disease is something that happens to us. We are the victims of disease. There is some good news in this story for every victim of disease. We read that Jesus took Simon’s mother-in-law by the hand and lifted her up. Immediately the fever left her. Another victim is set free. That is a sign for us that the kingdom of God is at hand. (See Mark 1:29-31.)

On the next day Jesus encountered a man who had leprosy. The leprous man was the victim of the most dreaded disease of his day. Leprosy was dreaded not just for the disease itself but also for the consequences. Lepers were cast out of normal society. They were isolated, cut off from the daily flow of life. We might say that leprosy was a social disease. It was a disease with social implications.

Lepers, of course, are not the only persons who are cast out of society. Human communities in every age, including our American community, have made decisions about who belongs and who is left out of its social life. Prejudice is one form of social ostracism. People from the wrong family or the wrong nation, people with a different color skin, become the victims of the will of the ruling classes. There are people with what we might call social diseases in every human community.

Jesus healed the leper with a word. He healed his body and he saw to it that the man was restored to the human family. Jesus that is, also healed the leper’s social disease. A victim of society’s judgment is restored to the fullness of human life. That, too, is a sign that the kingdom of God is at hand. (See Mark 1:40-45.)

Just one more example. Jesus went to dinner one day in the home of a tax collector named Levi. The room was filled with a class of people despised by the Jews: tax collectors. The room was also filled with those judged to be sinners by the religious establishment. Tax collectors and sinners. That is who sat at the table with Jesus that day. Tax collectors and sinners. People who were the victims of the judgment of others. You might think about what people among us are victims of the judgment of others.

The scribes and Pharisees, those who helped to shape society’s rules, were shocked by Jesus’ behavior. "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" they asked. The oppressors had their say. Then Jesus had his say. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners," Jesus said. Jesus stood on the side of the victims. That is a sign that the kingdom of God is at hand. (See Mark 2:15-17.)

"The kingdom of God is at hand," Jesus announced in the aftermath of his encounter with Satan. Satan is a symbol of oppression. Where satanic powers are at work, where the principalities and powers of this world hold sway, people become the victims of oppression. There is, perhaps, a hint of satanic presence in every form of oppression, in every power that blocks the full expression of human life. Unclean spirits, disease, social ostracism, and prejudicial judgments over people’s lives are obstacles to the fullness of human life that we have seen in Mark’s story of Jesus. We can add those forms of oppression and victimization that we know to the list. Elmer Johnson felt victimized by the circumstances that worked against farmers. The very poor in our society feel victimized by an economic system that has no way of counting their worth. Many women in our society feel victimized by structures of society basically put in place and operated by males. We could go on and on with our list. You can name in your own heart the areas of life where you feel victimized.

But naming the oppressive powers that victimize us and others is not to be the end of our story. We do not end with the bad news. We end with good news. The good news is that Satan, the great oppressor, will not win. The powers that block human life will not triumph forever. The forces that often make us victims in our individual and corporate lives will not prevail. The good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand. The good news is that satanic powers have been and are being destroyed by Jesus Christ. The good news is that a new kind of ordering for human life is at hand. We call it the kingdom of God.

The coming of God’s kingdom will finally create a victim-free-zone for human life. All the oppressive powers that block the fullness of human life will be overthrown. The structures that rule in our world to the detriment of human life will be crushed. There is a new world coming for us through the work of Jesus Christ. Let us celebrate the coming of God’s kingdom that we have already experienced. Let us rejoice that God’s kingdom will most assuredly come ushering in a victim-free-zone of life and health and peace. The kingdom of God is at hand. Alleluia!