First Reading: Genesis 3:1-21
1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6So 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 who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Psalm 32:1-7
1Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away! 2Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile! 3While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long. 4For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer. 5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. 6I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin. 7Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19
12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned — 13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15But 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 by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17For 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. 18Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11
1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6and 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 ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” 11Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
A Shade of Truth
Back in the 1920s, residents of Cades Cove, Tennessee, lived in fear of the legendary Wampus Cat, a creature known to be vicious, supernaturally strong, and sly. The Wampus Cat was so sly that no one had actually seen one, but there were those who swore that it existed. One shotgun blast echoing through the Cove would warn the men of the town of a possible Wampus Cat sighting, and they’d all grab their guns and go out hunting it. Only after the legend of the Wampus Cat was passed down through many generations did the old-timers finally confess: the legend had been started as a hoax. It was a way for the menfolk of Cades Cove to circumvent Prohibition.
When someone came across an especially good batch of moonshine, he would shoot one time in the air. This was a signal to the other men of the town to come share in the liquor. Every man who heard the shot would grab his gun and claim it was his duty to go hunt the Wampus Cat. The men of Cades Cove knew how to deal with temptation, they organized it.
Our Gospel Lesson from Matthew has often been called the temptation of Jesus. Dr. William Barclay believes it should be called “the testing of Jesus.” We’ve heard the story many times. Jesus came from Nazareth to be baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan. As He came out of the water, the Spirit of God descended upon Him and a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” However, before there could be a reception and party to celebrate Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit led Him to the desert–to do battle with satan, the tempter, or diablo as St. Matthew refers to him. But there’s something interesting going on here. We not only see it here in the testing of Jesus, we also see it in the Garden of Eden as well.
Unlike Jesus, the first man God created, Adam, failed a similar test. He ate the forbidden fruit. In our First Reading from Genesis, satan, using a snake, comes to Eve and asks her a seemingly innocent question. Now we need to understand two things. First, in every attempt to justify sin, there is some truth. Second, satan is a master of spin. Satan knows how to take a straightforward statement and twist it in such a way that God’s commands and instruction become suspect. We see this very clearly in this Garden story.
Backing up one chapter, we read God’s initial command to Adam: “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (vss.16-17). Notice here God never gave an indication of the immediacy of the result of eating. God didn’t say, if you eat the fruit, your throat will instantly swell up and you will suffocate, or that the fruit is poisonous and after eating it you will die from some form of super toxin. God simply said, eat it and you will die. Satan focused and twisted this part of God’s warning. We need to remember, the consequences of sin are not always immediately realized. Sometimes it takes years to reap what we sow.
In our Genesis reading for today, satan comes to the woman and responds, “You will not certainly die,” “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” We know the rest of the story; with that assurance, Eve takes, eats, and shares the fruit with Adam, who was with her. It’s important to note here that Adam was no innocent victim here. The two were in on the whole thing. Playing the victim is such a prevalent tactic here in America today, I won’t even go into it. We’ve seen it over and over. Justify my sinful behavior by claiming to be the victim. Back to the Garden. And when [Adam and Eve] had eaten, their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked. This morning, I want to focus on the many ways we spin the truth, or the facts, to justify sin.
During my military career, each year every enlisted member would be evaluated. For the majority of my time in the Air Force, these evaluations were done using what we called bullet statements, statements meant to be concise statements of a person’s achievements. This brought with it a challenge, how do we take someone’s job, that is routine, and make it sound important or even sensationalize it.
Let me give you an example of how we would spin a routine task. Implemented national safety standards and local practices to ensure the welfare of members traversing uncontrolled traffic locations. Translation, they were a great crossing guard. Or this, researched and utilized the latest technology and the most environmentally friendly chemical products to ensure that all facilities were sanitized and presented the highest standard of appearance. Translation, they were a great janitor. We’re all aware of the fact that we can use carefully crafted phrases to our benefit. This is a key factor in our ability to justify sinful behavior.
As we were discussing our Genesis reading on Monday, the movie, Thank You for Smoking, was recommended, it speaks to this ability to spin the facts. A quick disclaimer here, something I was not warned of when the movie was recommended. Thank You for Smoking is rated R for good reason, I do not recommend it for anyone under 18. I had to fast forward through 3 different sex scenes and the language is harsh. So please, if you do view this movie, do so with that understanding in mind. That warning given, in this movie, the main character Nick Naylor, works for the tobacco industry.
Technically, Nick is a tobacco lobbyist, who works for the Academy of Tobacco Studies. His job is to spin the facts in such a way that what people see as facts are now questionable. The main focus of the Academy is to debunk the claims that there is a link between tobacco and lung disease. Throughout the movie, Nick demonstrates how a person can, simply by the way something is presented, even something we know to be true, can be called into question.
The tools employed by Nick were the same one’s humankind employes in order to justify its sinful behavior. Let me give you some examples from the movie. First, and probably the foremost way to justify sinful behaviors and views, is to have flexible morals. I don’t think I need to expand on this much since most of us understand the concept. However, to go from thou shalt not, to well it’s okay if…depending on the subject, isn’t a difficult leap. All you have to do is compromise a few understandings and something goes from being a sin, to simply a slip or an indiscretion.
Another area that allows us to condone sinful behavior is a refusal to call sin, sin. In one of the scenes of the movie, Nick is being asked about kids and smoking. To paraphrase his response, he said, all they need to know is out there, we need to let each person make their own decision as to what is right for them. At another juncture of the movie, Nick talks again about situational morality. He responds to his accuser, we cannot be morally presumptuous. Meaning, right and wrong depends on the person and the situation, we should not presume that what’s morally right for one person is the same for another. It’s easy to justify sinful behavior when morality becomes situational.
Another tactic of those who would deflect sin, is to “repackage the product” as it were. Back in the 60’s when sex outside of marriage as a sin was challenged, the one thing people did was turn a negative into a positive. Fornication and adultery were repackaged as “free love.” No longer was sex outside of marriage seen as sin, it was now forwarded as “making love,” and sharing love with others will help the world be a better place. Some even went so far as to say, “the Bible commands us to love one another, that’s all I’m doing, loving my neighbor.” By repackaging the action from a negative into a positive, sex outside of marriage was no longer seen as sinful, it was now viewed as a positive, possibly even a requirement. The next tactic is to wave the American flag.
One of the things we enjoy in this country is freedom. The problem is, that right is abused to include allowing almost anything to go unrestrained. When something goes against Biblical teaching, the rebuke is painted as an afront to our liberty and freedom, and we want to wave the American flag in the face of anyone who would cite Biblical teaching against certain sins. And because the use of socially stigmatizing names is an effective tactic to silence your opponent, those wishing to engage in sinful behavior will accuse the other of being a bigot of some sort. Language is powerful, and no matter how many times I repeat, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but your words will never hurt me,” names do hurt and socially alienating language can and does have an effect. The next strategy is to normalize certain behaviors.
One of the things Hollywood is good at is normalizing sin. The constant infidelity of certain daytime shows aside, how often has the entertainment industry been used to normalize sinful behavior. Billions of dollars are spent each year on advertising. Producers of movies and TV shows get paid a lot of money for “product placement.” Additionally, they pay actors and sports stars to use products or mention products as part of those advertisement dollars. The public sees an influential person using a product, it’s portrayed as cool or normal, and then those products and behaviors are practiced and used by the people. Seeing things practiced, by those with influence, legitimizes the behavior and then suddenly that makes it okay. The final behavior I want to mention has to do with the legalization of Cannabis.
Folks, the legalization of illicit drugs has been the biggest lie perpetuated in our society today. For years now, the medical community has been warning us of the effect drugs have on people, but the money to be made is so attractive, those in the industry are doing everything they can to drown out the warnings of modern medicine. In an article published on Wednesday, (Feb. 18, 2026) Alex Bernson, author of the book Tell Your Children, says personal stories about psychiatric harms are finally breaking through media groupthink. In this article Alex said he warned about the dangers of cannabis 7 years ago and nobody wanted to listen.
Alex further cited that, “at the beginning of February, researchers reported severe mental illness has spiked in young people in Canada alongside access to high-potency cannabis. The next day came the release of “A Killing in Cannabis,” a book about a 2019 murder in California — and the violence that plagues the marijuana business and that legalization has not resolved. Furthermore, he said, “in 2019, I wrote Tell Your Children, meticulously documenting the decades of research linking cannabis and THC to mental illness, especially psychosis and schizophrenia.
In his book Alex said, “The runaway legalization of cannabis risked the mental health of teens and young adults. And cannabis advocates and companies [have] spent a generation pretending the drug was a medicine, not a recreational intoxicant. That marketing trick encouraged its use in the most dangerous way, for conditions like anxiety and depression by people already at high risk of mental illness.
Later in the article Alex wrote, “But it has been clear to me for years that the fight over cannabis is fundamentally cultural and medical, not legal and political. A majority of Americans now support full legalization. Most of them do not use cannabis and do not realize how dangerous it can be, particularly for young people who use heavily. Only when they see for themselves — or hear from people that they trust — that the industry has lied will support for legalization decrease.” I encourage you to read this and similar articles and to do your own research. I also encourage you to ask your trusted medical professionals. The Cannabis industry has utilized every trick they can to legitimize drug use as normal, acceptable, and not harmful. It’s all a lie.
I could give you several more examples from TV, the movies, and the advertising industry, but I think you’re getting my point. Human beings, because of sin, have taken to heart the lesson satan used in the Garden of how to spin the facts to turn sinful acts into acceptable behavior. You see, satan is all about temptation. Misery loves company, and the devil knows his days are numbered. He is doing his best to “take as many people with him” as possible. However, we, as disciples of Jesus, need to know how to deal with the forces of evil when temptation comes.
Each of us knows all about temptation. Temptation comes in all shapes and sizes and affects each of us in different ways. So maybe we need to rethink what we know about temptation and think of it instead as a test. Instead of saying, “I am being tempted,” we could take a page from satan’s playbook and re-frame the situation and say, “I’m being tested.” You see temptation can be repackaged into a less innocuous way by saying well I gave into temptation, everyone does, so why not. However, try to say the same about failing a test. No one wants to fail a test. Additionally, being tested has benefits that being tempted doesn’t have.
As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. In order to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, “Are you trying to see if we can break this bridge?” “No,” the builder replied, “I’m trying to prove that the bridge won’t break.” Testing is given to strengthen our faith. St. Paul wrote, “let us also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). And the writer of Hebrews reminds us, “Because [Jesus] himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (2:18) and that Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin (4:15).
None of us, not even Jesus, are able to escape temptation. However, here’s one final thing to think about, we resist temptation best when we’re committed to something more important than ourselves. Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world, but Jesus was already committed to the Kingdom of God. Jesus was committed to such a high calling, He could not be brought down to satan’s level.
In this season of Lent, maybe we need to develop a new habit, a new approach, and rethink temptation by saying, when I’m being tested, I’m not simply being tested to do wrong, I’m being tested as to the seriousness of my commitment to Jesus Christ, and if I pass this test, I will pass the next test that much easier. During times of trial, we need to remind ourselves, I am a child of God, and with God’s help, I can be true.
Resisting temptation and facing the tests of this life may mean that we remove ourselves from the presence of an external temptation. It may mean we spend more time in prayer, in communion with God. It definitely means we need to quit listening to the lies of the devil and stop using excuses to justify our sinful desires. Christ has shown us that we can overcome temptation. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, we too can pass any test.
Amen