1st Sunday of Lent – Feb. 22nd, 2026

Lectionary Readings: GENESIS 2:15–17; 3:1–7; PSALM 32; ROMANS 5:12–19; MATTHEW 4:1–11

Temptation in the Wilderness

This past Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we began the season of Lent.  (The 40 days leading up to Easter, not counting Sundays). Lent while it is most often referred to as a Penitential season. I like to think of lent as a time of contemplation, a time to think about one’s faith, reflect on the relationship I have with God;  and what I might need to do in order to sustain my faith in the way that is needed in today’s world? How might God be inviting me to see something in my life that needs attending too;  What might God be calling me to in this season of my life? Lent is a time to be intentional, about our faith, and our relationship with our God. 

The gospel for this 1st Sunday of Lent, is the ‘temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.(Matt 4:1-11).”  Right after his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus is led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. 

It’s not at the beginning of these 40 days, but at the end of it, when Jesus was the most vulnerable, ‘he was famished,’… that the tempter comes, and says to him, “if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (3).

Jesus having fasted 40 days and 40. Nights, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal if he had satisfied his hunger, a personal need, with some bread.   It wasn’t that bread was the problem, Jesus would later turn 5 loaves and two fish into enough to feed the whole multitude.  Rather, it was the subtle way the tempter had in getting Jesus to do his bidding. That is how evil works in the world to convince, coerce, and control others, getting them to do their bidding, in sublte ways, ‘if you do this it won’t hurt’, if you do it this one time….but then there is another, and another!

“If you are the Son of God”, the tempter say, .”if you are….”, If Jesus had turned that stone into bread, it would be to prove who he was. The Father having already affirmed for Jesus in his baptism who he was, he had no need to prove it, and says, “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  It is not only to know the scripture, but to know the Father, in relationship with him, that we know to trust in him at his word. 

The tempter however wasn’t finished, and while the next two temptations were about power, Jesus proving himself in a display of power before others, if he were to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple as the tempter commanded him to, quoting from the scriptures.  It’s not only the faithful, or those who know and follow God’s word that have access to his word however. All do, even those who have never read the bible, will use it for their own purposes to gain control over others.

The tempter quoted from psalm 91: 11-12. A psalm many turn to in there time of need, trusting God as the protector over them.  The tempter however was using it for his own purpose, that he might get Jesus do what he wanted, jump of the temple, expecting the angels of heaven to save him; a stunt perhaps to get Jesus display his power in front of  others, but one that could have also ended very badly, and no doubt would have been quite pleasing to the devil to have put an end to the Father’s plan of salvation for the world; 

Jesus however knew the Father, and wasn’t about to put him to the test, because that is what he would be doing, not just showing his power to do great things,  but testing the Father in it.  Jesus says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”  we are not to test God’s word through doing stupid or foolish things, it is likly only to get ourselves in more trouble as we know; no, God’s word is trustworthy and true as he tells us it is, (ps 33:4) and we are to look to him in faith.

The third and final temptation was that of worldly power, “taking Jesus to a high mountain the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world, all this I will give to you, if you fall down and worship me.” 

Will It certainly would have been an easy way out for Jesus to not have to go to the cross and still have all in his power, have control over the world; it however would mean Jesus having to bow down to the devil if he had; and that was not the reason for which he had come into the world, but as he says, later in the gospel,”the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matt: 20:28). Jesus’ whole life was about serving the Father, doing his will, proclaiming God’s kingdom coming into the world. And he couldn’t do that focusing on his own personal needs, his own will, serving his own self-interest, or concerned with preserving self,  but walking in faithful obedience to the Father and doing his will that Jesus would go to the Cross. “Get away from me Satan, ” he says, “for it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”  

The temptations of Jesus started in the wilderness, they however didn’t all take place there, the second was on the pinnacle of the temple in the Holy City, and the third was on a high mountain.  One was personal, the other was in community amongst the people,  and the third in the world.  And so we know temptations are not only in the places of struggle as such, but are to be found everywhere in life.

Jesus however was able to resist them, through the relationship of trust he had with the Father; and that too will be our greatest defence in our own time of testing.  When we find ourselves facing temptation  in life, however they come, and when we think we are alone in it or there is no way to resist; ….there is ..,because we know Jesus has been there too, …isolated and alone, …tested in all the ways we can ever be tested in this world, …and more. And it is looking to him, to the resistance he had,  the strength found in the trust he held in his Father’s love, his purpose, and the hope for the world, that he overcame the tempters snare.  And so can we too. 

May we always be so faithful and trusting in our almighty God, his love and protection over and for us, in all the trying/testing places of our lives.  

Amen, God Bless.