{"id":693338,"date":"2026-01-26T11:40:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:40:48","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-06-24T15:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:02:02","slug":"on-temptation-lent-1-a-february-22-2026","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/on-temptation-lent-1-a-february-22-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"On Temptation, Lent 1 (A)\u00a0\u2013 February 22, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-343338_47afa8-13 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-343338_47afa8-13 .kt-divider{border-top-width:2px;border-top-color:#330072;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-343338_47afa8-13\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=DFMS4854595644&#038;light=true\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-343338_0ec736-c8 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-343338_0ec736-c8 .kt-divider{border-top-width:2px;border-top-color:#330072;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-343338_0ec736-c8\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>[RCL] <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/lectionary\/lent-1a\/\"><strong>Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32<\/strong>;&nbsp;<strong>Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seldom do we get such richness in Scripture\u2014two of the most powerful and evocative stories in the Bible on the same day. And when it comes to stories about temptation, these readings just about cover the waterfront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First is that wonderful account of Adam and Eve and their problems in the garden. Here they are, in paradise, everything\u2019s going just great, and along comes this lousy snake with a smooth line and some new ideas. Next thing you know, temptation triumphs, paradise is history, all is lost, and the man and the woman are left with fig leaves, regrets, and a sour after-taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, in a powerful contrast, Jesus is driven from his baptism into the wilderness\u2014which is just about as far from paradise as you can get. There, unlike Adam and Eve (who were surrounded by ease and plenty), Jesus has nothing; he is exhausted, starving, weak, and alone as he struggles with his time of temptation and challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lent-1A-sermon-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-343339\" style=\"width:512px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two stories form such an obvious contrast that it\u2019s impossible not to compare them, and to look for what emerges when they are taken together. On one level it looks simple enough: Jesus is the winner, and Adam and Eve are the losers; they are weak and he is strong. So, you might conclude, it\u2019s better to be like Jesus than like Adam and Eve.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s more, since today is the First Sunday in Lent, there is the added point that Lent is supposed to make us stronger so we will be more like Jesus than like Adam and Eve\u2014at least as far as such things as&nbsp;<em>temptations<\/em>&nbsp;are concerned.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that\u2019s almost right. There really is such a thing as being more or less in shape spiritually, such a thing as being more or less able to handle the demands of a serious Christian life. This has to do with character, and with the development of virtues, or habits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doubtless, the disciplined rigor of a holy Lent can take us several important steps in a good direction. The spiritual \u201cmuscles\u201d\u2014again, really just habits\u2014we develop with disciplines like a Lenten rule are exactly the same ones we use in daily life, when the decisions we make can have serious consequences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And don\u2019t forget, what makes the story of Adam and Eve a&nbsp;<em>true<\/em>&nbsp;story is not simply that it describes something that happened somewhere else a long time ago\u2014that\u2019s not what\u2019s at issue here. One way the story of Adam and Eve is a true story is that it describes exactly what life is like here and now. It tells the truth, not about them, but about us. And over and over again, we find ourselves just like them. We are forced to decide what to do with something which, on the one hand, looks really good\u2014something that seems useful and popular, and just might teach us a thing or two\u2014but which, on the other hand, we strongly suspect is not what God, and our better selves, think best for us. And we must choose. When that happens, we might well find that it is better to be stronger, to have developed some of those spiritual habits that help us to choose in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So there is a real value to the familiar notion that we all need to buff up a bit, and that Lent is a good opportunity for doing this, or to begin doing it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, there are also some risks to coming at things this way, as useful as it might seem. For one thing, all this talk of getting into shape can lead to the sort of macho spirituality exemplified by the young monk who bragged that he could fast any man in the monastery right under the table\u2014which sort of misses the point of spiritual growth. For another, we can fall into a mistaken idea of what victory is really all about.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notice again what\u2019s going on in Jesus\u2019 temptation. He has fasted and prayed for a long time, for long enough to get the job done (that\u2019s what \u201cforty days\u201d means), and he\u2019s famished\u2014he\u2019s exhausted, worn out, beat up from the weather and the loneliness and the effort it takes to sustain something like this.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He\u2019s not at his best; he\u2019s not bursting with physical or spiritual or any other sort of strength. He\u2019s used all that up by just making it to where he is\u2014by just being faithful to the fast. And this is when the temptations hit Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, I suspect that if the tempter had caught him on a good day, Jesus would have had all sorts of answers of his own to the devil\u2019s three challenges\u2014to the temptations\u2014he was given. He might have told wonderful parables or asked clever and insightful questions right back at him\u2014and put the devil on the spot. But strength and energy and cleverness were all gone. There weren\u2019t any left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We know about this, too\u2014and this is a different sort of temptation from the one Adam and Eve faced. This story models times when we face strong, or compelling, or addicting, or beautiful, or just plain hard temptations and we have flat run out of resources to resist them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No matter how strong we were to start with, we simply can\u2019t any longer move in the direction we want, and we are drawn instead along lines defined against our will, by our appetites and our ego. It\u2019s not just a matter of not being strong enough; it\u2019s a matter of being empty. That\u2019s where Jesus was\u2014he was famished; he was out of gas; and he was tempted, really tempted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Look at what happens: Jesus does not say one word of his own. Instead, he quotes scripture in a simple and straightforward way that is quite unlike how he uses the Bible almost everywhere else in the Gospels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus has no words, no resistance, no strength of his own\u2014he\u2019s simply holding on to the Father, and letting the Father\u2019s words, and the Father\u2019s mind, come through him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus\u2019 response to the tempter is not a victory of personal, spiritual strength in some sort of holy temptation-lifting Olympics. Instead, his victory is the gift of grace that comes from surrender.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doubtless his time in the wilderness gave Jesus a stronger and more disciplined relationship with the Father. (And, as a human being, Jesus paid attention to such matters, just like we do.) But it also gave him something else, something more, something we see emerging in this story of his temptations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His time in the wilderness gave Jesus the insight and the courage to surrender, and so to depend not on his own best efforts, but on an emptiness that can only be filled by the Father, and that can only be filled by a gift of grace.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several months after this all happened, Jesus said to his disciples: when you are handed over to your enemies, \u201cdo not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time.\u201d It\u2019s fair to suspect that, when he said this, Jesus could taste the dust of the desert and hear again the voice of the tempter, could remember that hunger that reached out greedily even to the stones around him. He knew what he was talking about.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the end of the day, the spiritual life is never about us, about what we can and cannot do. At the end of the day, it is always about God, and about God\u2019s gifts\u2014gifts of grace, gifts that do not fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>The Rev. James Liggett<\/em><\/strong><em>&nbsp;is the retired Rector of St. Nicholas&#8217; Episcopal Church in Midland, Texas. He is a native of Kansas and a graduate of the University of Houston and the Episcopal Divinity School. He has served parishes in Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-27736f68-2c1c-4d4d-92d1-6ba2ba01b3dd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lent-1A-sermon.docx\">Word &#8211; Lent 1A sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lent-1A-sermon.docx\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-27736f68-2c1c-4d4d-92d1-6ba2ba01b3dd\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-60a42c2b-b860-4a2a-af7a-38d6aaee40be\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lent-1A-sermon.pdf\">PDF &#8211; Lent 1A sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lent-1A-sermon.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-60a42c2b-b860-4a2a-af7a-38d6aaee40be\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[RCL] Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32;&nbsp;Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11 Seldom do we get such richness in Scripture\u2014two of the most powerful and evocative stories in the Bible on the same day. And when it comes to stories about temptation, these readings just about cover the waterfront. First is that wonderful account of Adam and Eve&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[51,43,52,3],"tags":[150],"class_list":["post-693338","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","category-lent","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-lent-1a"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":51,"label":"Lent"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":150,"label":"Lent 1A"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/693338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/693338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":948011,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/693338\/revisions\/948011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}