Nicholas Knisely<p>You can want something to happen, but it’s the means that matter, not the end. Contrast this to Ovid, the poet who wrote flattery paeans of praise to the Emperor Caesar Augustus to try to be returned from Exile on the eastern frontier of the Empire and/or Machiavelli’s interpretation of Ovid. Ovid wrote in his Heroides (II, 85), “Exitus acta probat” or “The outcome justifies the deeds”</p><p>In this week’s Gospel reading, the Ruler of this World, the Devil, tries to convince Jesus to establish his Kingdom by having it granted to him by the Devil’s authority. Jesus rejects that offer, and the meaning of the offer and the way the offer is rejected is the focus of my sermon this week.</p><p> </p><p>You can find or view this sermon directly at by following <a href="https://vimeo.com/1063861859" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this link</a>.</p><p><a href="https://vimeo.com/1063861859" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/1063861859</a></p><p><a href="https://entangledstates.org/2025/03/08/we-want-the-same-thing-as-others-but-we-have-a-very-different-path-to-getting-to-them/" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://entangledstates.org/2025/03/08/we-want-the-same-thing-as-others-but-we-have-a-very-different-path-to-getting-to-them/</a></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://entangledstates.org/tag/sermon/" target="_blank">#Sermon</a></p>