02.22.2026- 1st Sunday in Lent - Pastor Chris

Welcome to Lent. And with the beginning of Lent, we also get the well known reading of Jesus’ temptation. If you’ve been around church-world, chances are you’ve heard some (if not all) of these before, but they’re still good reminders.

It’s interesting that it’s The Spirit that leads Jesus out into the wilderness. I’ve always wondered how that works into the relationship of the trinity. I’ve also long wondered why Jesus was tempted at all. Was this necessary? Was it needed to prove to the early church that Jesus was the one or maybe it put the devil on notice that Jesus would ultimately triumph over the devil.

Lutherans aren’t the best with this but many other traditions utilize spiritual practices in their faith life. Fasting is one of the better known practices and we can see it has been around a long time. Was Jesus already planning to fast during this period of time or was it spontaneous? The number 40 is usually used to refer to a set period of time when someone, or a group, prepares for something important that is about to begin. (Noah, Moses, etc.)

It’s when Jesus is famished that the tempter shows up. Timing is everything. I love how Jesus responds to each of the temptations. Jesus doesn’t rely on his on craftiness or intelligence, he simply quotes scripture. It is written is how Jesus begins each response. Oddly enough, and maybe even a little scary, the devil quotes scripture with the second temptation!

Temptation is referred to as anything that comes between us and God. Certainly we’ve seen images that depicted what temptation looks like, but when we simplify it to anything that comes between us and God, we see how easily it is for us to be tempted. As we will all experience temptation, may we learn from Jesus here. May we lean on our faith instead of our own wit and will. If it worked for Jesus, I think it will work for us.