No Half Measures

Lent does not begin with denial.
It begins with choice.

Before Jesus teaches, before he heals, before he gathers disciples or confronts authorities, he is led into the wilderness. Not by accident or as punishment. The Spirit leads him there.

The wilderness is not a place of performance. It is a place of clarity. When comforts are stripped away and distractions fall away, what remains is the question that cannot be avoided: Whom will you serve?

That is the question behind every temptation in today’s Gospel.

Said one man, “I saw images of war and human brutality on screens everywhere—violence so overwhelming it demanded a response. So, I did what I could. I changed the channel.”

Temptation rarely begins with cruelty. More often, it begins with distance—with the quiet decision to disengage, to look away, to tell ourselves that what we are seeing is too much, too complex, or none of our business.

We often imagine temptation as an invitation to do something obviously…