Luke 4:1-13

Year C - Lent¹ or Conviction¹

February 14, 2016

Luke 4:1-13

No good deed goes unpunished. No blessing goes without challenge.

Are you a “Beloved”? Well, here is a test for you: prove it!

 - - -

You’re right, you can’t prove it, only live it.

But, my, don’t we try anyway!

So don’t go too deeply into this passage by parsing out temptations for the whole story is over in the first verse: Full of Spirit is to be led by that same Spirit into and in Wilderness.

No matter what your temptations have been, are, or will be, such tests are always over before they begin. Then, when taking this for granted, we find ourselves at a right and ripe time and place to presume our Belovedness will bring us prosperity or keep us safe from temptation—Oops.

Fortunately failing a temptation to avoid belovedness is not the end of being a beloved (read the Velveteen Rabbit again as you begin a Lent that will leave you threadbare). Here’s a Valentine tradition for you—read the VR every year to yourself or with another or others (there is no upper limit).