FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
22 FEBRUARY 2026
Jesus
has just been baptized by John in the Jordan River, where he heard the Father’s
voice, “this is my beloved Son.” Now,
the Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tested for forty days, just as his
Father had led his ancestors into the desert to be tested for forty years. They had passed through the waters of the Red
Sea. Now, they complained that they were
hungry. They flunked the first test,
because they did not believe that the Lord would provide for their physical
needs. As they continued their journey,
they complained to Moses that they were better off in slavery in Egypt. Where was God in this wilderness? They flunked the second test. At Mount Sinai, God gave them Covenant of
love. In Moses’ absence, they worshiped
a golden calf and abandoned the God who saved them. They flunked the third test.
Now, the
tempter tests Jesus in much the same way.
He has fasted for forty days and nights and is famished. The devil tests him. If you are really God’s beloved Son, then
turn these stones into loaves of bread.
Jesus passes the test by saying that hungering for the Father is more
important than satisfying physical hunger.
Then the devil takes him to Jerusalem stands him on the parapet of the
temple, the place of God’s dwelling. The
devil tells Jesus to test whether or not he is the Son of God by throwing
himself off the highest part of the temple.
He even quotes Scripture, indicating that anyone can quote Scripture to
prove a point. Jesus passes this second
test by insisting that no one can put the Lord God, to the test. Finally, the devil takes Jesus to a very high
mountain, a place of communion with God.
The devil promises to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in their
magnificence if Jesus worships him.
Jesus says to the devil, “Get away, Satan!” Jesus trusts the Father as his beloved Son,
even if that means enduring the agony and horror of the cross. He passes the third test and begins his
public ministry.
The Spirit
has led us into the desert of Lent. The
Spirit must lead me, because I don’t choose Lent! We have passed through the waters of baptism
and have become God’s beloved sons and daughters. Just as Jesus used his time in the desert to
become more convinced that he is God’s only beloved Son, Lent invites us to be
more convinced that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters. Like the ancestors of Jesus in their journey
through the desert, we have failed to act like God’s beloved sons and
daughters. The disciplines of prayer,
fasting, and almsgiving can help us to better live our baptismal promises as we
prepare to renew them at Easter.
In this
desert of Lent, the devil will never stop trying to test us. We fail the first
test when we make the same mistake as Adam and Eve. Instead of trusting that God truly loves us as
his beloved sons and daughters, the devil wants us to believe that wealth or
food or other comforts will satisfy our ultimate hungers, instead of God. We must remember who we are, and whose we
are. We pass this test by saying, “I am
God’s, and that’s enough.” In the second
test, the devil wants us to conclude that if we are faithful and do everything
right, God will protect us. God is with
us and loves us as his beloved sons and daughters even when life falls apart
and even when we fail. Finally, the
devil wants us to abandon our obedience to our baptismal promises. He wants us to trade integrity for influence
and to seek approval from other people instead of God. We are the people of God with two things to
do: “Worship God, and truly serve him.”
We spend
these forty days in the desert together.
The devil will intensify his testing.
In this desert, the issue is not whether the devil will test us. The issue is that he will definitely test us
and challenge the truth that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters. We can pass these tests, because Jesus
did. We can emerge together from this
desert of Lent to share the victory of Christ over sin and death at Easter, precisely
because we are his beloved sons and daughters.
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