Homily For The First Sunday in Lent 2025

From dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return.  These are the words spoken unto each of us who received the mark of the ashen cross on Ash Wednesday.  More importantly, they are the words spoken by God to Adam, our father, declaring the truth that sin’s consequences are death - returning to the dust from which we were created.  Adam’s sin condemned us all to death.  Physical death and that which is infinitely worse - eternal death separation from the God who lovingly made us. 

The mark of ashes reminds us of the reality of death.  We will die, and we mustn’t deceive ourselves and act as though the decisions we make right now are not of eternal consequence. We have a finite number of minutes allotted to us.  Barring Christ’s return in our lifetimes, we will pass through death.  We will become dust like our Father Adam, like all our ancestors.

On this first Sunday in Lent, we travel with Jesus into the Wilderness and witness via the Holy Scriptures his conquest of Satan.  In the process, Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, offers the obedience and love that Israel owed God in the desert but failed to give.  This is the most apparent association with his 40 days in the Wilderness.  Christ, indeed, is obedient; he is the second and final Adam as we see in the temptations that Christ undergoes and overcomes.

We read that the Holy Spirit led Our Lord out into the Wilderness where Jesus would fast and pray for 40 days.  In the previous section of St. Matthew’s Gospel, we hear the declaration from heaven of the divine, eternal sonship of Jesus - the Father expressing his delight, the Spirit descending like a dove, anointing the Messiah.   Instead of reveling in His Sonship, our Lord enters a season of affliction and temptation in the place of demons, the Wilderness.  

He is alone and hungry.  It is at the point of weakness and physical need that Satan tempts him.  Turn these stones into bread if you are indeed the Son of God.  Satan is not questioning that Jesus is the Son of God. He is testing to see what kind of Son Jesus will be.  In Genesis 3, God forbids Adam to eat of ONE tree.  He could eat anything else.  He did not need food; rather, Satan tempted him with gluttony - Taste the forbidden fruit.  Indeed, Adam and Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes.” (Genesis 3:6)  . They had no need; they were in bliss.  Abiding in sinless perfection.    Yet, they fell through the desire for the fruit for food, their stomachs’ desire.   Israel also failed when tempted by hunger and adversity.   What kind of Son would Jesus be?  He quotes Deuteronomy 6 to the devil.  Applying it to his circumstances.    Indeed, in doing so, Jesus shows his love of the Father by preferring to commune with God and eat, as it were, the words of truth that proceeded from God’s mouth - that word that he meditated on day and night in the Wilderness.  

He would rest in his Father’s provision, unlike Adam, who chose to disobey the only instruction that he was given.  Jesus fed on every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.  

The twisting of Scripture is an old tactic.  Adam and Eve received the full brunt of Satan’s perverse words.  The evil one takes the words of God and then casts them in the light of injustice.  How dare God do that?   This is the tone of the approach to Eve in the Garden.  Satan focuses on the one thing that God forbade and then creates a justification of why it was better to disobey than serve God.     

Next, we read that Satan took Jesus to the top of the temple complex.  Here, on the height of the Temple, Satan uses the twisting of God’s word to tempt Jesus to put God to the test: presume upon His divine Sonship to make God save Him.  Jump off the Temple and show everyone that he truly was the Son of God, and in doing so, make a spectacle of His vocation.  Jesus, knowing the fullness of the Scriptures, spoke to the true issue.  Even the Son should not put God to the test.  

It is proper to pray/plead according to God’s goodwill and promises. Trusting that God will know best.  Saying to Him - if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me, while being willing to fully believe, “Not my will, but thy will be done.”  Jesus will not allow Satan to twist the Words of God so as to put the Lord to the test.  Adam fell through vanity and ambition when Satan said, “You will be like gods.”  Jesus was tempted with the same vain ambition when Satan says - “If you are the son of God, cast yourself down.”  Jesus triumphed once again in the temptation to which Adam fell. 

The third and final temptation features Satan showing Jesus all the power, prestige and earthly glory of all the kingdoms of the world.  He could have the glory and power of these kingdoms if he would take a moment and bend the knee to Satan.  Adam and Eve fell to Satan’s temptation to bypass God’s timing and plan in regard to their growth in godliness.  They wanted to be like gods - immediately.  

They wanted to know good and evil independent of God.  Satan stirred them up to pride by an unholy eagerness for an exalted position.  They eagerly took the fruit to their souls’ destruction.  Satan is tempting Jesus here with an “expedited” Messiahship.  He could install his program of rule according to God’s law.  Jesus could bring peace to the world.  He could bypass all the suffering of the cross and all the humility to the Father and accomplish what Messiah was all about - rightful rule.   Yet, it was God’s plan for the Messiah to suffer and die and then be resurrected for our salvation.  The suffering was a part of the greater plan of redeeming mankind from sin and death.  The Son must walk slowly toward the cross in daily, humble obedience. There would be no shortcuts to man’s redemption from sin and death.   In due time, Our Lord was exalted to the heavenlies - where he rules the heaven and the earth.  All dominion has been given unto the Lord Jesus Christ.   Yet, the King made his way to the true throne through patience, affliction and suffering. 

So, this morning, this first Sunday in Lent, let me ask you some questions.  Do you struggle with sins of the bodily appetites: gluttony and inordinate sexual desire?  Our Lord conquered them.  He conquered the work of the devil.  Do you struggle with sins of ambition? Pride? Jesus Christ is greater. He has overcome the temptations of Satan.  Adam failed.  Israel failed. We have failed, but the Son of God conquered, and we share in his victory.  He has accomplished all that is necessary for us to enjoy a renewed relationship with God.  Through the obedience of Jesus Christ, we have adoption as sons, and our vocation as Christians is to become more like Jesus Christ.  To offer to God ourselves in humble trust.   Lent is a time of spiritual warfare.  It is a time of retreat - not to the lonely Wilderness but into the quietude of God’s family.   As we look at the victory of Jesus in the Wilderness,  we should pay particular attention to his feeding on the Word of God.   

As he fasted, he feasted on the truth of God that gave him patience in his affliction.   It is early in Lent, and you have probably been assailed by temptation.  Turn to the Lord by meditating on His word.

Through His grace, God can convert Lent into a feast of His divine presence through feasting more fully of the Holy Scriptures.  The Church has given us a great gift of antiquity - lifetimes of godly life experience - a systematic reading program through the lectionary.  Please read it even if you can’t read/participate in Morning and Evening Prayer.   If possible, print them out and read them slowly after praying for the direction of the Holy Spirit.  In doing so, may we store up and meditate on the Word of God during the Wilderness of our Lent so that we might be better equipped and receive from God those truths that lead us to obedience and wholeness.  So that we are more inclined to resist the lies of Satan throughout the remainder of the year.   Amen.