Sunday – 1st Week of Lent – A

But first of all, what we read from the first reading from Genesis, the second chapter, and then we go into the third chapter within the same reading. But the first thing that we read is that the Lord God formed a man out of the clay of the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, “and so man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). And of course, what we celebrate throughout Lent is a reflection of the preparation that is our entire lives for the beatitude and the life of heaven. And we know, as we read in the Book of Ecclesiastes, that “the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). And so we have a reiteration of what we just heard from Genesis, that God created man from the ground and then breathed his breath into man. The body goes back into the ground, the breath, the spirit, the soul goes back to God who gave it. And then our Lord, of course, promised that he would resurrect the bodies of the deceased and they would be reunited with their soul. But it would be a spiritualized, a glorified body that would be resurrected just like his own. He is the firstfruits, as Saint Paul expresses in his writings.

But then we see that God gave men all this beauty, he placed him in a Paradise, and also gave him a companion, the woman, and both of them are running free in this Paradise. And the Lord said, you may enjoy everything in this Paradise. Of all these trees, of all this fruit you may eat. But only the fruit of this one tree in the middle of the garden. God had said, “You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die” (Genesis 3:3). Now, my brothers and sisters, God was asking Adam and Eve to not only obey him, but to trust him. And the great sin here, the great fall of Adam and Eve, of the first man and woman, is not so much that they were enticed by the serpent and gave in to his deception, but it is more that they did not trust God's Word. “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” (Genesis 3:6). My brothers and sisters, isn't this what sin actually is? Where we give in to temptation, something that is desirable to our eyes, pleasing to our eyes, desirable for gaining wisdom.

Whereas our first parents brought brokenness into humanity and a division between us and God through sin, so God in the third chapter would promise a Redeemer. And Saint Paul hints, “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” (Romans 5:15). Now why does Paul say this? Adam was a mere man. Jesus was also a man. But not only. The difference between Adam and Christ is that Christ is not only man as we know, but he is also God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. So if the sin of just one man and one woman had the power to introduce death into the world, how much does the grace and the goodness of the one man who is also God and divine have the power to bring life and grace, restoration, beauty, goodness, and wonderful grace into the world again.

And so, my brothers and sisters, the serpent of old, the ancient foe, and the Lord God of Hosts who had originally created him good, an angel, one of the highest, in fact. Many Scripture scholars and exorcists point out that he was the chief of all the angels. Lucifer, angel of light. Exorcists tell us he was a seraph, the highest form of the angelic nature. And he loses his place in heaven because of pride, and it's replaced by the New Eve, the Mother of the living, the one who would not fall for his temptation to rebel against God and disobey him, but rather to submit herself in holy humility. Instead of doubting in God's Word, instead of rebelling against his command, she submits herself, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). So the ancient foe, Lucifer, the fallen angel who dragged with him a third of the angels who chose to become demons, now faces off with the Lord God of Hosts in the desert, and we see him tempting our Lord in the desert. What's the difference between the way Jesus handled the temptation of Lucifer and the way Adam and Eve handled it? The main difference is this: in his human nature, of course, he trusted and relied on the Father. He was connected to the Father. And so our Lord teaches us the importance of prayer, how important it is that we keep ourselves plugged in to the Spirit of God through prayer. And then we will have the strength, and then we too can be instruments of God's grace in the world. May Almighty God bless you and your families throughout this land. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace to do battle in your spiritual warfare with the Lord as your breastplate and his Word as your armor. Amen.