​At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the Gospel tells us that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and for forty days He fasted, prayed, and faced temptation, so this moment echoes the journey of Israel in the desert, but it also prepares the path for everything that will follow. The wilderness is a place of spiritual testing, but it is also a place of spiritual clarity because in the quiet of the desert, stripped of comfort and applause, Jesus reveals something essential about holy love: love rooted in God does not collapse under pressure. Instead, it grows stronger through struggle and in our Lenten journey we follow Jesus into that wilderness since Lent is not simply a season of giving things up; it is a season of discovering what truly sustains us. The temptations Jesus faces, power without obedience, provision without trust, glory without sacrifice, are the same temptations humanity has always faced but each temptation offers an easier path, a shortcut to influence or security. Yet Jesus refuses them all because His mission is guided by holy love, a love that depends entirely on the Father and this love cannot be manipulated by hunger, ambition, or fear.
 
The wilderness teaches us something profound: love that comes from God is not built on circumstances but on dependence and Jesus answers every temptation with Scripture, reminding us that love remains faithful even when the environment becomes hostile. Holy love does not seek domination; it seeks obedience, in fact, in Wesleyan language, we might say that Jesus models perfect holiness, not a distant purity, but a living trust in God that shapes every decision. This moment of testing prepares Jesus for the ministry that follows, Luke tells us that after the wilderness, Jesus returns “in the power of the Spirit”, in other words, struggle has not weakened Him; it has clarified His purpose and the wilderness is not the end of the story; it is preparation for mission. When Jesus enters the synagogue in Nazareth, He reads from the prophet Isaiah. His words reveal the nature of the love He has come to embody:

• To proclaim good news to the poor.
• To proclaim freedom to the prisoners.
• Recovery of sight to the blind.
• To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

 
This is not an abstract love, it is a love that moves toward the marginalized, the imprisoned, the wounded, and the forgotten; it is the kind of love that restores dignity and opens new possibilities. It is the biggest love in the universe, unexpected, transformative, and deeply personal. Yet something surprising happens, cause the very people who hear this message reject it.  At first, the crowd admires Jesus, but admiration quickly turns into resistance and when Jesus reminds them that God’s mercy has often reached outsiders, foreign widows, outsiders in need, their admiration becomes anger. Eventually they try to push Him out of town. Why would people reject a love that heals, liberates, and restores? Because real love exposes false loves. Fake love promises comfort without change, fake love protects privilege and maintains familiar systems, fake love is satisfied with appearances, but the love Jesus brings does something deeper: it reveals the truth about our hearts, it calls us beyond our comfort zones and invites us into a new way of living, and sometimes that invitation feels threatening, Jesus’ message offers clear signs of authentic love. These signs help us recognize real love beyond the surface:

• First, real love proclaims good news to the poor, it does not ignore inequality or suffering; it speaks hope into the lives of those who feel forgotten.
• Second, real love proclaims freedom to prisoners, that freedom may be physical, emotional, or spiritual. Love seeks liberation from whatever binds the human spirit.
• Third, real love restores sight to the blind, it opens our eyes to truth, about God, about ourselves, and about the needs of others.
• Fourth, real love announces the year of the Lord’s favor, a season of grace where reconciliation and renewal become possible.
• These are not merely spiritual ideas; they are social realities; Holy love transforms both hearts and communities.

 
This week we also remember the International Day of Women, a moment to recognize the dignity, resilience, and leadership of women around the world. Throughout history, many women have embodied the kind of love Jesus proclaimed love that lifts the poor, seeks freedom, and restores dignity. John Wesley himself recognized this, at a time when women were rarely given leadership in the church, Wesley affirmed their spiritual gifts, he encouraged women such as Mary Bosanquet Fletcher and Sarah Crosby to preach and lead communities of faith. Wesley saw that the Holy Spirit was working through them, and he refused to silence what God was doing. This decision was not easy or popular, and many criticized him for allowing women to teach and preach, yet Wesley understood something essential about holy love: it recognizes the image of God in every person. When love is genuine, it breaks barriers and expands the circle of grace. The love Jesus proclaimed in Nazareth is the same love that empowered women in Wesley’s movement and continues to inspire justice and dignity today. Each of us encounters wilderness moments, seasons of uncertainty, testing, or struggle. During these times we may question whether love truly sustains us, yet the Gospel reminds us that holy love does not disappear in the wilderness. In fact, it becomes clearer there: struggle often reveals what we truly depend on, cause when distractions fall away, we discover whether our lives are rooted in God or in temporary comforts. The love of Christ invites us to trust that God’s presence is enough, even when the road feels difficult.
 
The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus because His love demanded transformation, but the invitation remains open for us today, so, will we accept a love that challenges our assumptions? will we allow God’s grace to reshape our priorities? To follow Christ is to embrace a love that reaches beyond us, it is to care for the poor, advocate for freedom, restore dignity, and proclaim hope. This is the love that the wilderness prepares us to carry into the world. The love of Christ is often unforeseen, but it appears where we least expect it, it challenges the systems we trust. It calls us into deeper faith and wider compassion. Yet this love is also the greatest gift we can receive. It is the love that sustained Jesus in the wilderness, the love that shaped Wesley’s ministry, and the love that continues to renew the church today. As we continue our Lenten journey, may we open our hearts to this unforeseen love, holy, courageous, and transformative. And may that love to guide us to proclaim good news, freedom, healing, and grace in every place where God sends us. Amen.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a sacred season inviting us to return to God with humility and renewed intention. The ashes placed on our foreheads remind us that we are dust, fragile, and dependent on God’s sustaining grace. This is not a moment of shame, but a gentle reorientation of our hearts toward the deepest love that calls us home through prayer, fasting, and acts of generosity. We prepare ourselves spiritually for the journey toward Easter. The biggest love in the universe invites us back into a relationship before it asks us to change our lives. Lent begins with a call: “Return to me with all your heart”, that is the cry of the prophet Joel; it is not a threat, it is not condemnation, it is an invitation. “Return,” the Hebrew word carries the meaning of turning back toward someone who already loves you; it is relational language, it assumes connection, it assumes covenant.
 
In the Wesleyan tradition, we understand this as prevenient grace, the love of God that goes before us, reaching toward us even when we are distracted, distant, or wandering. Before we change, before we confess, before we improve, God loves. That is why the key idea for this series is simple: The biggest love invites us back before it asks us to change. Repentance in Lent is not shame, it is reorientation, it is turning back toward love. In Luke 4, Jesus enters the wilderness for forty days; Lent mirrors that journey; the wilderness is not punishment; it is preparation. Jesus faces temptation, power without obedience, bread without trust, glory without surrender. Each temptation is about control; each temptation offers a shortcut, but Jesus resists because He trusts the Father’s love.
 
For us, Lent becomes a wilderness space where we confront our own temptations: self-sufficiency, comfort, distraction. Prayer slows us down, fasting teaches us dependence, and almsgiving reminds us that love moves outward. In Free Methodist theology, holiness is not isolation; it is love perfected in relationship. John Wesley called it “social holiness”; our transformation is never only about personal morality; it is about becoming people shaped by love in community and in the world. There is an old song that asks a question: How deep is your love? The lyrics speak of needing love in a world that can feel cold, of depending on someone who won’t let you down. Though written as a romantic song, the question resonates spiritually. John 15:13 answers: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” That is the biggest love in the universe, a love that gives itself, a love that sacrifices, a love that does not abandon. The cross is not divine anger; it is divine depth. The cross reveals how far God is willing to go to restore a relationship, love that deep is not sentimental. It is costly.
 
Today, our world feels fragile. News of war reminds us how quickly fear escalates into violence, how distrust turns into destruction, when nations clash, ordinary families suffer, children suffer, and communities fracture. War exposes the absence of love at a systemic level; it reveals what happens when pride overrides humility and power replaces compassion. As followers of Christ in the Wesleyan tradition, we affirm that love is not weakness. Love is the strongest force in the universe; it confronts injustice, it seeks reconciliation, and it refuses to dehumanize even enemies. Lent calls us to examine not only our personal sins but also the systems that distort love, racism, violence, exploitation, nationalism, without compassion. Just as slavery had to die for justice to grow, so too must hatred and prejudice die in every generation. Holiness is not withdrawal from the world; it is engagement shaped by love. Where Do You Need to Turn? Joel says:
​
 
“Return with all your heart.”
From where do you need to turn?
perhaps from distraction to presence
perhaps from resentment to forgiveness,
perhaps from fear to trust,
Prayer reconnects us to love,
Fasting reveals what controls us,
 almsgiving expands our hearts toward others,
These practices are not spiritual performance.
They are pathways back to love.

 
And this is why Communion matters; the bread and the cup are not symbols of shame; they are signs of love. At this table, we remember that Christ gave Himself for us before we deserved it; the table is the visible proclamation of John 15:13. When we come to Communion, we declare that love is stronger than division, stronger than history, stronger than war. Love is the only force that can truly connect people and nations; political treaties may pause conflict, but only transformed hearts sustain peace. In Wesleyan theology, the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace. It is not merely memory; it is an encounter. As we receive the elements, we receive the renewing presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit. We are strengthened not only for personal comfort but for mission. We become people shaped by the biggest love in the universe.
 
That old song suggests needing someone who understands weakness, someone who lifts us when we’re falling. The Gospel tells us that in Christ, we have that love. A love that does not fluctuate, a love that does not abandon, a love deeper than failure. Lent asks: How deep is our love in response? Are we willing to love sacrificially? are we willing to forgive? Are we willing to stand for justice? Are we willing to pray for peace even when the world trembles?  Lent is the season of returning, Easter will be the season of rising, but we cannot experience resurrection without first turning toward love. The biggest love in the universe is not abstract; it is revealed in Christ’s obedience in the wilderness, His sacrifice on the cross, His victory in the resurrection, and His presence in Communion, and today, that love calls us:

Return,
come back to love,
trust the depth of it,
live from it.
because before God asks you to change, He invites you home.
Amen