The First Sunday in Lent 2026
February 22, 2026
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Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119;
1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37
Let us spend a
moment in the Garden of Eden before we get to the Desert. We imagine Eden to be
idyllic, a place of care and plenty, a time in our lives in which we easily
allowed God to provide for us. It was beginning of God’s plan for humans on the
Earth, a plan that was marked by beauty and communion. Humans came from
inanimate dust that was created by God and divine life was breathed into it. We
were made humbly and yet we were spiritually exalted. Every human being
therefore carries the breath of God, which means we are to respect the dignity
of each human person today. We were given boundaries to live by, and yet, we
were designed for enlightenment. Could it be that, from the very beginning, we
are supposed to expand our consciousness? Was this always part of the plan?
After all, all of creation is still evolving.
Knowing that we are built to strive for greater knowledge, we experience
temptation, just as Jesus did. For Jesus, this temptation came from God, and it
was to clarify his experience of trust. In his first test, at his point of
physical vulnerability, Jesus was tempted to take control of his own needs
rather than to trust God’s plan for him. Jesus showed us that trust precedes
gratification, and his real hunger was to realize that God abided by him. In
the second test, Jesus teaches us that faith does not impel us to prove
anything. He learns that spiritual strength lies in not testing God, it is
having one’s life testify to God through daily actions. Jesus was called to
obey God, not to presume to act on behalf of God. The third test is that hardest
one of all. Jesus was tempted to worship success, status, political gains, or
approval from others. He reminds us the making idols is easy and a daily
practice and can immediately resolve some huge problems, but he remains
committed to God as an act of worship. Jesus chose obedience to God rather than
assume real power. He shows that he rightly worships God.
In today’s world, we see religion is falsely used as a means to gain or to
exert power. This is not faith in God. It is the worship of human power and
glory. Many people use religious words and piety and devotional practices to
speak for God, and some gain many followers. Politicians, religious leaders,
and lobbyists use a “fear-based” spirituality to win people over to their
position, and many times, people use sin language to control behavior.
Ideologies such as religious fundamentalism, nativism, neo-traditionalism, and
religious nationalism, and prosperity theology shape faith and culture today,
and there is a tendency to replace power for God. All this stands in contrast
to the example of Jesus in the Gospel. All this stands in contrast to the “God
is love” spirituality of Jesus and Scripture.
What is the invitation for us today? We can begin by taking increased time for
silence and prayer to get to know about this God that Jesus teaches us. We need
to make dates with ourselves, spend time with ourselves. We want to experience
that type of friendship that Adam and Eve would have had with God – harmonious,
trusting, comfortable, thankful for the divine generosity. We want to
experience the trust of Jesus in God – knowing that God saw him, knew him, and
understood him. We can know that these temporary temptations come from God for
our benefit so we can learn how to worship authentically. With out human
freedom, we want to continue to evolve and to expand our consciousness so that
we grow in wisdom and to know that this is part of obeying God. We want to test
those boundaries, search for God’s vital voice, and to discover how to trust in
this complex environment. To stay faithful is to keep choosing God when
something else feels easier. And when can always be consoled as Jesus did when
those temptations ended. Angels came to minister to him. In other words, God
will find some way to console you, to remind you of your goodness, to tell you
that you are loved, and to thank you for the person you are becoming.
