Our Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent each year concerns Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by Satan. Mark’s account is very brief, but remember this story is our story. It shows us vital ways that Jesus is bound to humanity’s long struggle with the sin that separates us from God, and vital ways we are bound to Jesus. Some lessons are found in the three types of danger Jesus faced, and some are in how his temptation is framed in the narrative.

The first danger is that Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness.  That wilderness is desert, so very little water or food either.

 This morning Meg and I got pictures of our 2-year-old granddaughter wishing us a happy Valentines Day and Ash Wednesday. It seems an odd juxtaposition, but perhaps we can find where they intersect.

The prophet Joel said on the Day of the Lord, “Like blackness spread upon the mountains, a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come,” That put me in mind of something more recent; it seems a recurring theme.

The common, brief explanation for the start of World War I goes something like, Bosnian terrorists assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, which triggered responses from Germany, Russia and France, then Belgium and England. I’ve even heard it said that the limited communications available in 1914 - letters by courier - played a part in it.