Every year, on the first Sunday in Lent, we move into the wilderness with Jesus, to contend with the Adversary, and this year is no exception. Our text is Luke 4:1-13, and it is relevant.

On the surface it looks like a conversation between Jesus and the Devil. A series of “temptations” (as the Bible itself calls this story). But this year, Rev. Cari framed the story by repeating a quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me. The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie.”

That is what Jesus shows us how to do in this narrative.