As a preacher, I love the lectionary for its seasons, but hate all of the jumping around! This week’s story comes in between the Baptism (1/13) and the visit to the synagogue (1/20 & 27). Now we jump back to the middle. But that might be able to help us understand what is going on. Because we are tempted to take this passage out of context.

This passage is the temptation of Jesus in the desert. And with it, we have the natural confrontation with what it is that causes or creates evil in our world. I do my best to deal with the impulse to find answers and with what Jesus actually communicates, which actually seems at odds.

Eating Scripture is a short video series in which we explore the juicy and the crunchy in this week’s gospel in four minutes or fewer.