Love 101: Resisting False Power

In this special episode of Your Week with St. Luke’s, Pastor Jad launches the Lenten series called Crossroads with a reflection on Matthew 4:1–11, where Jesus faces temptation in the wilderness. Framed as “Love 101: Resisting False Power,” the episode explores how Jesus, freshly named God’s beloved Son at his baptism, is tested not in his identity but in what that identity means. Drawing connections to Israel’s wilderness story, Pastor Jad unpacks three temptations: self-sufficiency, spectacle, and compromise, and shows how each invites Jesus to misuse power for self-protection, self-validation, or control. Instead, Jesus chooses trust, faithful dependence, and wholehearted allegiance to God. Listeners are invited to see Lent not as punishment but as formation, a season to notice where we grasp for control and to practice small, intentional acts of trust that reflect the way of love.

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