2017/03/05 — 1st Sunday of Lent — Year A

The gospel of the First Sunday of Lent gives us an account of Jesus' experience of being tempted by Satan. This year — Year A — we hear Matthew's account. In Year B it will be from Mark, and Year C brings Luke's telling. The first and second readings give a theological context in which to understand the events of the gospel.


The first reading — Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 — tells briefly of the creation of man and woman and of the Garden of Eden. Then we hear the familiar story of the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve.


The responsorial psalm — verses from Psalm 51, with verse 3a supplying the refrain — can be taken as an expression of Adam and Eve's mind after the fall, as well as our personal acknowledgment of our sinfulness and plea for forgiveness.


In the second reading — Romans 5:12-19 — St. Paul contrasts Adam and Jesus. Adam's sin brought condemnation and death to himself and all his descendants. Jesus' righteous act brings acquittal — forgiveness of sin — to all. Each one's act affects the whole human race.


The gospel —Matthew 4:1-11 — tells of Jesus' temptations by Satan. Unlike Adam, Jesus overcomes temptation. He thus becomes the new Adam, who reestablishes humanity in its proper relationship with God, definitively overcoming sin and death through his death on the cross in obedience to the Father and his resurrection.

Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and sinned, disobeying God, falling to temptation. Jesus was in the desert, hungry, and did not sin but obeyed the Father and resisted temptation. This encourages us to follow through on our lenten disciplines as a way of strengthening ourselves to overcome the temptations the devil will present to us to prefer worldly goods to those of heaven.