Reading 1: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7
The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being.
Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,
and placed there the man whom he had formed.
Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow
that were delightful to look at and good for food,
with the tree of life in the middle of the garden
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
“Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?”
The woman answered the serpent:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman:
“You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.
Reading 2 Romans 5:12-19
Brothers and sisters:
Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death,
and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—
for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,
though sin is not accounted when there is no law.
But death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over those who did not sin
after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,
who is the type of the one who was to come.
But the gift is not like the transgression.
For if by the transgression of the one, the many died,
how much more did the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many.
And the gift is not like the result of the one who sinned.
For after one sin there was the judgment that brought condemnation;
but the gift, after many transgressions, brought acquittal.
For if, by the transgression of the one,
death came to reign through that one,
how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
and of the gift of justification
come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, just as through one transgression
condemnation came upon all,
so, through one righteous act,
acquittal and life came to all.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man
the many were made sinners,
so, through the obedience of the one,
the many will be made righteous.
The Gospel Matthew 4:1-11
At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”
Then the devil took him to the holy city,
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus answered him,
“Again it is written,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
and he said to him, “”All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
At this, Jesus said to him,
“Get away, Satan!
It is written:
The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.”
Then the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him.
After the Gospel:
Brothers and sisters,
Do you believe in angels?
Do you believe in the devil?
I believe in angels. I can name several times when they’ve pulled me back, saved me… in body and in soul.
I believe in the devil. I’m ashamed of the times he’s laid a snare in my path and caught me good.
I’ve come to love our last chant at the end of the day – picture the monks chanting against the devil, that he not catch us while we’re weary and sleeping. We’re in the dark by candlelight, tired and a little hoarse, and the reader cries out: “Be sober… be watchful … your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour…. resist him, firm in your faith.” (1 Peter 5:8)
Yes, we believe.
We believe in angels who minister to us and help us,
and devils who are out to pull us down.
The largest icon in the house … 46 by 38 inches …is up in our Novitiate hallway…
White-cowled Monks climbing the ladder, working their way up to Christ, in Heaven,
while spikey little black demons grab at their robes with nasty fingers, trying to pull them off.
For three years, the novices pass by it every day… it’s a lesson to be learned early.
I believe in Angels… I believe in devils…
But I also believe what that comic-strip possum said in the 1970’s newspapers:
“We have met the enemy and he is us”.
Pogo, the possum who lived in the Okefenokee Swamp, saying to Porky-pine: “We have met the enemy and he is us”.
As discouraging as it sounds, the enemy is us.
The devil doesn’t have to be a good salesman …
sins is an easy sell, and we go for it …fall for it like kids goin’ for cotton candy.
All the devil has to do is choose the right bait,
put it in the right trap,
at the right place and the right time,
and we’re easy pickin’s.
Think back – see how easy it is.
We’re born to love,
we need to love and be loved,
but we end up “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places” as the song says.
We like to feel sorry for ourselves,
we have so many reasons to throw a pity party for ourselves,
We have a body that wants comfort …
Forget laws and commandments … it’s whatever makes me feel better,
we’ll always go for comfort… whatever makes us feel good.
We like to be in control,
we want to be the one calling the shots,
it’s such a good feeling to have a little power and dominate … to have them doing it my way.
We like to have enough for ourselves, so we grab, we hoard, as long as I’m taken care of …
we can never have enough,
it’s a lot better than sharing.
That’s the way the world is acting,
the way countries are acting,
the way people are acting,
and Lent comes along to make us ask: Is that the way we are acting?
Or, are we resisting … firm in our faith?
When we look around our world, it seems we have to change everything.
Everyone says they want to see change in the world,
but who wants to begin?
Because we have to be the change we want to see in the world.
The problem is, we don’t like to change!
We want others to change… but not us!
The truth is: We’re all capable of good and evil.
We are not born bad; everyone has some good inside;
some hide it, wallpaper over it,
some neglect it, but it is there.
Kids are not born to hate,
they’re born to love,
you’ve got to be taught to hate,
and we get lots of lessons on how to hate.
We are not born with the unhealthy habits we carry around …
we learn them
so we can unlearn them.
And Lent is here to help us unlearn them.
Brothers and sisters,
The choices we make determine the lives we lead.
We are responsible… Not someone else, not the devil …
Which is something we try to deny.
We’ve inherited that denial gene all the down in our family tree,
Adam pointed to Eve to carry his sins for him,
Eve pointed to the serpent to carry her sins for her,
and we all look around as well… Trying to point…
Anything but admit that We are responsible…
But one thing we can’t deny: Our life is our story, each deed is being written down,
We’ve been writing our own story with our own hand … one page after another…
The story that will be read back to us on Judgement Day.
Some pages are good news, some pages are bad news.
And if we need to turn the page, start a new chapter… Lent is here to help us…
To bring us back to Christ…
Who can forgive our sins, erase our mistakes, blot out our iniquities.
He came to change our story.
You heard what St Paul wrote to the Romans …
After the trespass of Adam,
sin entered the world,
and through sin, death reigned.
But then came the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ.
And thru that one man
came acquittal, abundance of grace and justification.
Therein lies our hope.
The Good News of our Lenten message is that no matter how messy the world,
however messy our lives …
Jesus Christ is now a player in the game …
And the game isn’t over ‘til the last inning..
And GRACE is always last up to bat ..