In the first reading from Genesis, we see humanity at the very beginning. God forms Adam from the dust of the earth and breathes into him the breath of life. It’s a beautiful image! We are not accidents. We’re not random. We’re personally shaped and personally loved. God breathes His own life into us.
God sets humanity into the garden of paradise. “You may eat of every tree…except for the one in the middle of the garden”. Our story with God begins in generosity.
But the serpent introduces a question: “Did God really say…?” The real temptation is the suggestion that God is holding something back. That God cannot be trusted. That we must take matters into our own hands to be fulfilled.
And that is where the fall happens—not simply in eating fruit, but in doubting God’s goodness, God’s generosity.
In the Gospel today Jesus is in another garden, the garden of the wilderness. Forty days of fasting. Forty days of hunger and of vulnerability and it is in such times and places that the tempter appears.
But this time the story ends differently.
When tempted to doubt God, Jesus does not fall for the tricks, he trusts.
Turn stones to Bread. Prove yourself! TAKE POWER!!
Where our first parents fell, Jesus stands!
And here is the good news for us on this first Sunday of Lent: Jesus stands for us, with us.
Lent is not about proving how strong we are. It is not a spiritual competition. It is not about holding on tight till Lent is over. Lent is about learning to trust again.
Most of our temptations are not dramatic. They are subtle. They are a whisper:
“God isn’t coming through for you.”
“You need to secure yourself.”
“You deserve this.”
“Just this once won’t matter.”
“I am a holier monk than he is! I am a better Christian than them.”
“They speak a different language so they cannot be trusted.”
But the Gospel tells us something joyful: temptation does not have to define us. Failure does not define us. Christ defines us.
The message is of HOPE!! Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert. The desert is not outside God’s plan. The struggle is not a sign that God has abandoned us. Most of the time it is where we grow strongest.
Life can be a desert for some, and Lent is a desert, but both are a desert walked with Christ.
When we fast or abstain from things, we are not punishing ourselves. We are saying, “God, You are enough.”
When we examine our lives, when we examine our thoughts and feelings, we are not checking a box. We are saying, “I trust in you God, to remake me in your image”
When we give to the poor and needy, we are living God’s generosity.
When we recognize the humanity in people who are different from us, we live the life he created us to live.
Every small Lenten sacrifice is a yes to God and God’s original plan for us! A relationship of goodness and trust, a RELATIONSHIP of Love.
The Gospel story ends with angels ministering to Jesus. The desert is not permanent. Trust leads to strength, and relationship with God and leads to freedom.
Lent has begun, don’t be discouraged by temptation or failure. Expect it. But more importantly, expect grace. When temptation comes, it’s not an opportunity to prove yourself, but an opportunity to choose trust, an opportunity to stand with the one that stood, and stands with and for us.
This week, when something tugs at you: impatience, discouragement, self-reliance, anger, selfishness, racism, hatred, mistrust of the neighbor who is different, pause and say simply: “Lord breathe your life into me again!”
That pause could change everything!
Lent is not about the fruit in the garden or the stones in the desert, but about whether we will trust the God who has breathed His life into us.
~ Fr. Adam Patras, OSB