I always hope to preach on the themes of the Gospel that we are in and I still hope to do that this week. However, Year A will jump into the Gospel of John for the last 4 Sundays in Lent and make thematic preaching a little harder. So, using this Matthean text to set up the season of Lent could be very helpful. Also, it is a good chance to dispel some of the modern myths and bad theology of Lent and return to some of the spiritual practices that are intended to bring us closer to God.