ABSTRACT
It is tempting to address the topic of the Lenten Preacher as if it were about preaching the Lenten themes. The choice, stones or bread, is about the source of the author's life as a preacher. Sermons cannot be detached from the people who preach them. Unfortunately, it is easy to do no more in the pulpit than shuffle a well-worn pack of cards, laying them out in different sequences and arranging them in pretty patterns. The pinnacle of the temple is about the nature of the author's relationship with God. The background to the temptation is a question taken from the murmuring tradition of the Exodus wanderings. Jumping from the pinnacle might be an instance of trusting God but might be provoking him. The preacher undergoes a similar test. It is tempting to shape what the author has to say by reference not to God but to other voices and other lords.
