Six weeks, each with a text, a claim and the thing that makes it uncomfortable. Ash Wednesday notes at the end.
Week one: the wilderness
22 min[the Spirit drives him there - do not soften that verb]
Text: Mark 1:12-13. Four lines and almost no detail, which is the opportunity.
The claim: the wilderness is not a punishment or a detour. Mark says the Spirit drove him out there, immediately after the voice at the baptism said this is my beloved Son. The affirmation and the desert are consecutive.
The discomfort: this means some hard seasons are not evidence that something went wrong.
Week two: bread
22 min[the first temptation is the reasonable one]
Text: Matthew 4:1-4. The claim: the first temptation is not to do evil, it is to meet a genuine need by the shortest route. He is actually hungry. The bread would not have hurt anybody.
The discomfort: most of what deforms a life is not wickedness, it is legitimate hunger satisfied too quickly.
Week three: the temple
22 min[the temptation to be visibly vindicated]
Text: Matthew 4:5-7. The claim: the second temptation is to force a public proof. Throw yourself down and be caught in front of everyone, and the question of who you are is settled at a stroke.
The discomfort: the devil quotes scripture correctly here. Being right about the text is not the same as being right.
Week four: the kingdoms
22 min[the shortcut to the actual goal]
Text: Matthew 4:8-11. The claim: he is offered exactly what he came for. All the kingdoms. The destination is not in dispute, only the road.
The discomfort: a church can want entirely the right outcome and take a road that costs it the thing it was for.
Week five: setting his face
22 min[the pivot of the gospel]
Text: Luke 9:51. He set his face to go to Jerusalem. Everything in Luke after this verse is a journey towards a death he has already described.
The claim: this is chosen, in advance, with full information. Not endured, not stumbled into.
Week six: the last week begins
22 min[hand into Palm Sunday - do not resolve it]
End the series unresolved, on the edge of the last week, and let Palm Sunday pick it up. A Lent series that reaches Easter early has spent the thing it was saving.
[Ash Wednesday note: if you hold a service, keep it to twelve minutes, one text, and the imposition. It is the one service of the year where less preaching is obviously right.]