Lent 1. Sunday A

The Temptations of the Messiah

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2026 | LENT

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

YEAR A | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Genesis 2:7–9, 3:1–7

Response Psalm 51:3a

Psalm Psalm 51:3–6, 12–13, 17

Second Reading Romans 5:12–19 or Romans 5:12, 17–19

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 4:4b

Gospel Matthew 4:1–11

FIRST READING

Genesis 2:7–9, 3:1–7

7 then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

The account of original sin.

The Serpent: Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

CCC 391 Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy (Wisdom of Solomon 2:24 “but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it.” ) Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called “Satan” or the “devil.” The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: “The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.” Lateran Council IV (1215): DS 800.

CCC 394 Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls “a murderer from the beginning,” who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father. Jn 8:44; cf. Mt 4:1–11. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” 1 Jn 3:8. In its consequences the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God.

CCC 396 God created man in his image and established him in his friendship. A spiritual creature, man can live this friendship only in free submission to God. The prohibition against eating “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” spells this out: “for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die.”Gen 2:17. The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” Gen 2:17. symbolically evokes the insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator and subject to the laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom.

397 Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s command. This is what man’s first sin consisted of.Romans 5:19 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” . All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness

398 In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully “divinized” by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to “be like God,” but “without God, before God, and not in accordance with God.

400 The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject “to its bondage to decay.” Rom 8:21. Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will “return to the ground,”285 for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.

402 All men are implicated in Adam’s sin, as St. Paul affirms: “By one man’s disobedience many [that is, all men] were made sinners”: “sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.…”289 The Apostle contrasts the universality of sin and death with the universality of salvation in Christ. “Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.”290 (430, 605)

403 Following St. Paul, the Church has always taught that the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination toward evil and death cannot be understood apart from their connection with Adam’s sin and the fact that he has transmitted to us a sin with which we are all born afflicted, a sin which is the “death of the soul.”291 Because of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin.292 (2606; 1250)

404 How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam “as one body of one man.”293 By this “unity of the human race” all men are implicated in Adam’s sin, as all are implicated in Christ’s justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state.294 It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called “sin” only in an analogical sense: it is a sin “contracted” and not “committed”—a state and not an act. (360; 50)

405 Although it is proper to each individual,295 original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam’s descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it; subject to ignorance, suffering, and the dominion of death; and inclined to sin—an inclination to evil that is called “concupiscence.” Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin and turns a man back toward God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.

407 The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man’s situation and activity in the world. By our first parents’ sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails “captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Hebrews 2:14 . Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action,299 and morals.

410 After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall.304 This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium (“first gospel”): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. (55, 705; 1609, 2568; 675)

411 The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the “New Adam” who, because he “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,” makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam. Rom 5:19–20.Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the “new Eve.” Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.306 (359, 615; 491)

412 But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, “Christ’s inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon’s envy had taken away.”307 And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “There is nothing to prevent human nature’s being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, ‘Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’; and the Exultet sings, ‘O happy fault, … which gained for us so great a Redeemer.

Romans 5:12–19

12 Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned— 13 sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18 Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

GOSPEL

Matthew 4:1–11

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus, has just been baptised. He has been anointed by the Holy Spirit for his messianic mission. The OT gives us a good definition of the Messiah’s first commission: 1 Samuel 9:16 ““you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save (וְהֹושִׁ֥יעַ ) my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the affliction of my people, because their cry has come to me. (Exodus 3:7 “Then the Lord said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings.”) The salvation that God once brought about through Moses by delivering his people from Egyptian captivity is now to be renewed by the annointed King, the Mashiach, whose comission is to be the living image of the invisible God, that is––in the words of Christ––to do only what he sees his father in heaving doing: that is, to deliver.

Having thus been anointed, Jesus does exactly the same as we see David do after his anointing through Samuel: He is lead in the power of the Holy Spirit into the wilderness - the mythological abode of the Devil –to be tempted by the Devil. God himself never tempts, but he allows for us to be tempted to test us whether we obey - ob-audire - to listen to = to obey - whether we listen to His word, or rather the word of another. We belong to the one to whom we listen.

In being led by the Spirit into the wilderness Jesus takes up the fight with the Goliath who is keeping all of humanity captive, for fear of Death (Hebrews 2:14-15 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.”)

1. Temptation

2 And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

He fasted like Moses who was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, neither eating nor drinking. The 40 days are also reminiscent of Israel’s 40 years in the desert, during which it was tempted to sin.

Pope Benedict: The Temptations of the Messiah: Given them bread and they will love you. This is the temptation of a worldly Messiah: make people happy in their bodily cravings. The irony is : the result is the opposite of what Christ came to do. He came to return man’s heart to union with God. If we look at the world today: Where people are swimming in wealth, all their bodily desires and passions more than met, they forget God.

This is not to say that God wants man hungry. Quite the opposite. But God has supplied more than enough food sufficient for all of humanity. It is up to man to distribute this evenly and put an end to hunger. The redeemer has come for something else. He has food for the soul, which no government can supply by itself. Only God can, and it is more important than bread for the world

Amos 8:11 ““Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

Acts 6:2 “And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.”

2. Temptation

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will give his angels charge of you,’ and

‘On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

Scientific prove! There is a double temptation: 1) To prove to the world through this miraculous rescue operation that he is the Son of God. That is what magicians do. People would have believed in Christ for his supernatural gifts, in fear and trembling. No difference to our captivity to satan. Jesus wants faith in Him, revealed through word and deed, ultimately his death on the cross. 2) To not trust God, but put God to the test to prove that he loves his son. That is the temptation Israel constantly fell into int he desert: “Is God in our midst?” It is the essence of God’s being to be present to us and to love us. When we doubt God’s love we doubt Who he is, and we commit the original sin all over again.

3. Temptation

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! for it is written,

‘You shall worship the Lord your God

and him only shall you serve.’ ”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

Just kneel - and all these kingdoms will be yours. That would have been such an easy way out, Jesus would have spared himself the horribly humiliating suffering of the Cross. Jesus has a double motive in not falling into this temptation: 1) he teaches us, that all the kingdoms of the world, are NOTHING compared to the kingdom he is offering us. Owning the kingdoms of this world means captivity to the prince of this world - captivity to Satan or Mammon as Jesus calls him elsewhere. 2) in kneeling to Satan he would have earned nothing, instead he would have handed both himself and us over to an eternal satanic capitivity. God would have ceased to exist.

It is the ultimate resistance of Adam’s sin: To be like God. Instead he shows us how to conquer Satan.

Jesus knows that the only way to redeem us is to undo our sin in complete obedience to the Father. In order to free the world from Satan’s slavery, the Lord has to take upon himself the death that man’s sin had earned for him. Contrary to Adam he chose obedience even unto death on the cross.

Conclusion

This is the path that Christ traces for us, and that we are invited to follow during lent.