The ashes are gone – washed off our foreheads – but their darkness still stains our thoughts and spirits as we begin Lent once again. Tiny grains of ash, like the darkness of sin, may have fallen in our eyes or down our faces. Annoyed, we may have rubbed our eyes or brushed our cheeks….

Wet and washed, Jesus walked out of the river, full of God, full of God’s Spirit. That Holy Spirit led him into the wild land west of the Jordan River. He headed for the wilderness out of which his cousin John had come, preaching and calling people to come to God and be cleansed in…

Today’s Gospel passage begins with an incredible contrast. Luke tells us that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit, and then he is led into the emptiness of the wilderness. Remember, in Luke’s account, Jesus has just been baptized. We read that this Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice from heaven…