First Sunday of Lent

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Before there was shame… before there was hiding… before there was fear… there was a garden.

In the beginning, God forms man from the dust of the earth and breathes life into him. He plants a garden. He walks with His people. There is intimacy. There is trust. There is communion. Scripture even tells us they were naked and yet unashamed.

Temptation, sin, shame — none of that was part of God’s original plan for us.

Then the serpent speaks.

The lie is introduced into the garden.

Please notice something important: the human heart was not created corrupt. God did not make us broken. The lie comes from outside. The serpent — the devil — questions God’s goodness. “Did God really tell you not to eat from any trees in the garden?” He denies the consequence. “You will not die.” And he promises something seductive. “You will be like gods.”

The lie is subtle. It makes God look restrictive instead of generous. It suggests that obedience is suffocating. It whispers that God is holding something back.

And Eve believes it. Adam follows. And suddenly their eyes are opened — but not to glory… to shame.

The promise was freedom.

 And the result was hiding.

They sew fig leaves together. They cover themselves. They hide from each other. They hide from God.

And sadly, we are still doing the same thing?

We hide behind busyness.
We hide behind distractions.
We hide behind pride.
We hide behind excuses.

The lie enters in.
We believe the lie.
We act on the lie.
And then we feel shame.

That’s the pattern.

The whisper of the serpent in the garden is the same whisper we hear in our ears today.

Now in our Gospel, we see Jesus in the desert — the new Adam. Notice the difference. Adam was tempted in a garden full of food. Jesus is tempted in a desert after forty days of fasting. 

The devil says, “Turn these stones into bread.”
Jesus says, “Man does not live on bread alone.”

The devil says, “Throw yourself down.”
Jesus refuses to test the Heavenly Father.

The devil offers all the kingdoms of the world, if He will bow down.
Jesus says, “The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.”

Where Adam distrusted, Jesus trusts.
Where Adam disobeyed, Jesus obeys.
Where Adam hid, Jesus stands firm.

Christ does not grasp. He receives. He trusts. He obeys.

And because He obeys, we do not have to hide anymore.

Now I want to give you an image.

At the beginning, humanity is created good. Not suspicious. Not corrupted. Not hiding. Good.

This is human nature before the fall. Clear. Transparent. Nothing distorted. Nothing hidden. Communion with God. Communion with one another.

And then the serpent speaks.

This represents sin entering into the garden. The poison of distrust. The distortion of God’s goodness. The lie that says, “He is holding something back from you.”

Notice — the poison is not the whole story at the beginning. It is introduced. It is invited. It is believed.

Now here’s the part that matters for us.

Most of us would never drink a full glass of this. If I handed this to you and said, “Go ahead,” you would refuse immediately.

But what if I said, “It’s just one drop.”

Just one.

Watch what happens.

It spreads. It changes the clarity. It affects the whole.

That is what sin does. Even a small wound affects the relationship. Even a small lie affects trust. Even a small compromise clouds something that was meant to be clear.

This is why the saints went to confession so often. Not because they were constantly committing dramatic sins. But because they loved clarity. They loved purity. They did not want even a drop of distortion between themselves and God.

And here is the most important part.

I cannot reach into that glass and remove that drop. I cannot purify it by own willpower.

I need fresh water.

I need someone greater to wash it clean.

That is why Christ goes into the desert. That is why He refuses the lie. That is why He obeys where Adam disobeyed. And that obedience will lead Him all the way to the Cross.

Lent is not about proving how bad we are.

It is about recognizing those drops.

And then bringing them to the only One who can make the water clear.

So this Lent, do not hide.

Do not minimize the small things.

Do not believe the lie that “it’s just a drop.”

Instead, bring it to Christ.

Step out from behind the fig leaves.

And let the One who triumphed in the desert restore what was lost in the garden.