February 23, 2026    Second Week of Lent  8-10 inches of snow

SJU First Sun of Lent   Feb 21, 2026

Today we address the gospel reading in which Jesus is tempted in the desert.  Evil powers, false truth cleverly tempt him to abandon any plan for the mission that the Father has asked him to accomplish.

       What about temptations?   “Been there; done that,” we all agreed at the Jesuit breakfast table this morning.  The devil tempts all of us and the reading today confirms that the devil has no shame and tempts even Jesus.  Jesus, for his part, lets us know that there is nothing unusual about being tempted, tempted to be someone other than God calls us to be, or to do something other than what God urges us to do.   We even have early tell-tale experiences.   The great Saint Augustine wrote in his Confessions 1600 years ago about an adolescent experience.  He writes:

"There was a pear tree near our vineyard laden with fruit, though attractive in neither color nor taste. To shake the fruit off the tree and carry off the pears, I and a gang of naughty adolescents set off late at night… We carried off a huge load of pears. But they were not for our feasts but merely to throw to the pigs. Even if we ate a few, nevertheless our pleasure lay in doing what was not allowed."  How does this sound to us?   Our pleasure lay in doing what was not allowed!    

Augustine’s story recalls one of my own.  When I was about 12 yrs old friends Lee and David Newcomb and I needed some dried corn kernels to carry out some no-good Mischief Night scheme and in broad daylight we snuck on to a farming property near our homes to steal some dried ears of corn still on their stalks.  We almost got away with it but the farmer darted out from the farmhouse with a rifle.  The cops got there quickly and the three of us were arrested and kept at the police station for an hour or two until our parents came for us.    It was only later when I read Augustine’s story that I reflected on our prank.  How much pleasure Lee and David and I got out of disrespecting the farmer and thumbing our noses at the cops who made such a big deal out of a few ears of corn.  And still even today: I regret to say that I still enjoy telling this story.  In fact some of you here in this chapel may have heard it before!   Such short-sightedness when I should be thanking God for having parents who could keep me from being locked up.  

We all have such prideful stories of deceit and disrespect.  There is such pride in following our own will and, to top it all off, the devil even insists that we really can get away with it.         

So first the tempted Jesus. We get an exceptional look at the person of Jesus in today’s gospel.  Our usual images of him are rarely of his temptations. The usual images of Jesus present him as suffering on the cross, calming the seas, feeding the five thousand.   Rare in Christian art is the depiction of Jesus being tempted by the devil.  But there is in a nearby church such a depiction in stained glass.  A red-robed Jesus is turning his head heavenward while before him is the figure of the devil with a green-hued donkey-like head.  The devil looks invitingly at Jesus and holds in his boney hands what looks like the whole world.            Think about it: Calming seas, feeding five thousand, suffering for humanity on the cross.  These are not experiences that any one of us is likely to have.  But the experience of temptations.  This is an experience of real everyday life.  This tempted Jesus is one with whom we all can relate.   Here the devil invites Jesus to reject the path that he and his Father had chosen.   Moreover, the scripture readings depict the devil’s suggested path as compelling and reasonable just like the false invitations presented to us. 

And let’s not depict the devil as some kind of donkey-faced, boney-handed freak.   No, the devil that meets with Jesus in the desert is good looking and versed in marketing skills.  The devil fast talks Jesus tempting him to prevent hunger down through the ages with bread made from stones.   What could be wrong with that?  The devil fast talks Jesus tempting him to wow us by throwing himself from the pinnacle, defying gravity and showing control over nature.   Indeed why not wipe out all natural illnesses and disasters?  What a wonderful thing!    The devil fast talks Jesus promising to grant him control of a worldly kingdom, one that could be eternally peaceful.    Nothing wrong with any of this except, except that Jesus recognizes the devil’s world as the destruction of the dignity of the human being.  Jesus knows that we are created to magnify God’s glory with our own free choice to love God and neighbor.  Jesus, thus, answers the devil with words from the mouth of his Father:  I will listen to my Father who will not allow me to so transform the world with gifts of bread and flashiness and automatic peace.  These would strip of its meaning humanity’s free choice of love.  I will not brush aside in my service to you Humanity’s call to the free choice of love.  No, never!   Rather I will announce a Kingdom where all humanity can follow me in the works of love and of saving the world.

In this way Jesus respects and loves our humanity.   Jesus will not pamper us, Jesus will not wow us, Jesus will not control us in his own self-ordered world.   No, Jesus invites us to help him fashion that world in which everyone has the choice to love as he does by loving God and our neighbor.   We bake the bread and feed the hungry children; we heal with love and care those suffering from natural illnesses and disasters; we govern ourselves in our search for peace.  In these ways we glorify the God who created us.

About our own temptations, then!  It helps to look at them solely in the light of our call to follow Jesus.   Our attitude in time of temptation must be a desire to follow the course that Jesus models for us.  We must reject a misuse of material things because Jesus will not misuse Creation.  We must reject the misuse of our skills because Jesus rejects what would be a misuse of his own skills should he choose to make human freedom meaningless.  In this friendship of following Jesus we can be confident.          

Finally we remind ourselves that we are now in the season of Lent, the season that ends with the devil mocking Jesus.  Jesus is rejected and executed.  We, on our part, call ourselves to prayer, to fasting and to acts of charity.  An understanding of the mystery of Jesus and the salvation of the world may elude us.  But we make no mistake following the simple practices of Lent.  These practices are simple and they will show us the way, the way to turn from sin and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. 

The risen Jesus for his part puts the final nail in the devil’s coffin.   This Jesus continues to be among us every hour inspiring faith and hope and leading us even to stand up this Lent and defend the rights of everyone in this country.   These inspirations will one day yield to a full return of his presence.   Praise be Jesus Christ.