Readings: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Psalm 51; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
Grace and peace to you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Today is the First Sunday of Lent, Year A. On this First Sunday of Lent, the Church takes us on a journey from a garden to a desert, from the fall of Adam to the victory of Christ, from disobedience to obedience. In the garden, Adam was surrounded by abundance. Jesus in the desert was surrounded by emptiness. Adam had every tree to eat from; Jesus had nothing. Yet, Adam failed and fell, and Jesus triumphed. This is not accidental. St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading that Jesus is the new Adam. What the first Adam destroyed, Christ restores.
In the past, I have shared reflections on each of the individual temptations of Jesus and how they speak to us today. Today, I would like to reflect on seven important truths about temptation.
I. The first target of temptation is to sow doubt in the mind.
The serpent begins with a question: “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1). Temptation always tries to distort God’s Word and make us doubt His goodness, His love, and His intentions.
In the desert, Satan also challenges Jesus: “If you are the Son of God” (Matthew 4:3).
The battle begins in the mind. The tempter wants us to doubt everything that has kept us hopeful, trusting, and obedient. He attacks God’s love, God’s Word, God’s goodness, and God’s power to save.
Perhaps this is why the Church gives us the Act of Faith to pray often: O my God, I believe in You and in all that Your Holy Church teaches, because You have said it and Your word is true. Amen.
II. Temptation gives us the opportunity to prove our love and obedience.
When we are tempted and we resist, especially when we keep resisting, we are using our freedom rightly. God has given us a will, and every temptation becomes a moment of decision. Will I choose myself, or will I choose God?
Love is not love until it is tried. Loyalty is not loyalty until betrayal is possible. Obedience is not obedience until disobedience is within reach.
If there were no temptation, there would be no arena in which faithfulness could be demonstrated. Adam failed that test; Christ passed it. Each time we say no to sin, we are saying yes to God. We prove that our love is not sentimental but deliberate and chosen.
III. Temptation teaches humility and compassion.
Temptation makes us aware of both our strength and our weakness. It keeps us humble and reminds us to rely on grace. It also makes us merciful toward others. Those who know their fragility judge less and pray more. Psalm 51 becomes the prayer of the tempted heart: “Have mercy on me, O God.”
IV. No temptation is greater than the grace given to us.
Many say, “This temptation is too strong. I cannot resist.” That is not what Scripture teaches.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says: “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.”
God never permits a temptation beyond our strength. With every temptation, He provides sufficient grace. Temptation may knock at the door, but grace always stands beside us. We are never overpowered unless we surrender and refuse the help God provides.
V. We are tempted according to our needs and circumstances.
Adam was tempted with food and with disobedience to the only instruction he was given. Jesus was tempted when He was hungry and tempted to use His power wrongly and to take a shortcut to glory.
Temptation often touches real needs. The single may struggle with sensual desire. The successful and even the spiritual may struggle with pride. The poor may be tempted with dishonesty, the rich with greed, the dedicated with discouragement, the desperate person with the devil’s alternative to patient trust. The priest and religious with disobedience, impurity, and material attachment. The married with infidelity. The enemy studies our vulnerabilities, but God knows us better and supplies grace if we cooperate with Him.
VI. Temptation promises freedom but produces slavery.
The serpent promised knowledge and godlikeness. Instead came shame and hiding. The devil promised Jesus the kingdoms of the world but was it really his to offer? It is the same today. “If you do this, you will be happy, you will be satisfied, you will have fun, you will be respected, you will forget your sorrow, you will be feared, loved and desired.”
At the end, there is shame, regret, and bondage. Sin always overpromises and underdelivers. What looks like independence and pleasure ends in slavery.
VII. We need spiritual strength to overcome temptation.
Jesus entered the desert full of the Spirit and armed with the Word. We too need spiritual strength. We gain this strength through prayer, self-discipline, study of God’s Word, the sacraments, especially penance, learning from the saints and invoking their help, and through dependence on the Holy Spirit.
If we are spiritually weak, we fall easily. We allow sin to master us and lead us gradually away from God.
Brothers and sisters, Lent is an opportunity to repent where we have fallen and to draw close to Christ, the new Adam. It is a time to journey from the garden of the fall to the wilderness of victory. Our confidence is not in ourselves but in the One who says, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on February 22, 2026