This week’s Readings and Sermon for the Firt Sunday in Lent
The Collect for This Week
Heavenly Father, your Son battled with the powers of darkness, and grew closer to you in the desert: help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
Lord God, you have renewed us with the living bread from heaven; by it you nourish our faith, increase our hope, and strengthen our love: teach us always to hunger for him who is the true and living bread, and enable us to live by every word that proceeds from out of your mouth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Psalm 32
1 Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. 11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament Reading for this Sunday is taken from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 2, verses 15 to 17 and Chapter 3, verses 1 to 7
15The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 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.”
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans, Chapter 5, verses 12 to 19
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned — 13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 4, verses 1 to 11
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to John Glory to You, o Lord
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ
Note :All readings are shared from the Church of England Lectionary App and are subject to copyright . © The Archbishop’s Council
This week’s sermon is delivered by Rev. Samuel Hameem
“May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you O Lord my refuge and my redeemer amen.”
Today is the first Sunday of this year Lent season, which means we are now in the one of the most solemn and holy seasons of the church calendar, in which we most ponder on the word of God, and try to explore it more through our discussions and through the Lent courses.
On this Sunday the Gospel reading we just heard was taken from the Gospel according to Matthew. Today’s Gospel reading which we just heard is taken from the Gospel according to Mattehew, wrote by the same person who sometimes also called Levi, who was tax collector who was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. According to some biblical scholars and some study Bibles, that he wrote this Gospel account possibly at the 70 AD, though some believe he may have written this Gospel account in the 50 or 60 AD predominantly to his Jewish readers to offer undisputable proof that the long-anticipated Messiah had come to initiate the kingdom of God on earth.
So, if we look at the immediate context of today’s Gospel reading, we could come to know that right after his baptism on the river Jorden, Jesus was led to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit where he was tested or tempted by the devil, because if we see the start of today’s Gospel reading, it started with the word “Then”, which means the author is referring to the previous text or event, and here in the Gospel reading, is the baptism of Jesus.
So, when straight after he baptism, the Holy Spirit let Jesus to the wilderness where he was tempted there three times by Satan. A natural question that arises in the minds here that why the spirit would lead Jesus into temptation. To answer this question, NIV Quest Study Bible states that,
“For Jesus to accomplish God’s will, he had to face Satan and prevail... The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan showing that temptation doesn’t need to end in failure. That’s an encouragement to all believers who find themselves the objects of Satan’s scheme.”
So, when Jesus was in the wilderness, right at the end of the period, he was tempted by Satan three times. When Satan came to Jesus for the first time, he asked him to turn the stones into the bread, but Jesus rebuked the devil and in reply to his temptation he said that the Word of the Lord is more impotent that the bread, because through it the man will live spiritually. If we look bit more closely to this temptation, this one is subtle, and it does not begin with denial or rebellion, rather it begins with need, human need, where Satan is tempting Jeus to use his power and change stones into bread.
Humanly speaking, there was nothing wrong with turning stones into bread, but God is God, his thinking is way better than us humans, he thinks things that we humans don't even think about. That's why God's way of working is completely different from ours, and that's what happened here too, because the issue was not the temptation itself, rather the motive behind it. If Jesus had turned the stones into bread, he would not have been depending on his father in heaven.
Because in this temptation Jesus does not rush to prove his power or who he is. He does not turn stones into bread, even though he can, rather he chooses to remain rooted in the Father, even when his body cries out for relief.
In the second test, Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and again asked him to throw himself from the top. He was thinking that Jesus was in the wilderness, and now he can live without food for a little while, but this time devil try to test his and Father’s love, and in return Jesus overcome that temptation again by rebuking Satan, and again in this temptation, the Word used the Word of God to stay contacted with the Father.
If we look closely, in the second temptation, devil also used the word and try to trap Jesus, but if we look closely to Satan’s words in the second temptation, he said, ‘If you are the Son of God’, which means he tried to confuse Jesus with scripture that he used totally out of context, to justify his words and as well as the to trap Jesus in his temptation. Here in this temptation, Satan used Psalm 91:11-12, but he forgot to use the next verse, which goes like this,
“You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.”
That is why in reply Jesus said that don’t try to be over smart with me, I know better than you what I am doing.
And in third temptation, the Satan went too far because this time he showed Jesus the kingdoms, the riches, and the splendour of the earth, and asked him to bow down and worship him. I was reading it somewhere that,
“The audacity of Satan is seen in its true colours in the third temptation. Unable to entice Jesus to satisfy Himself, or to tempt God, he tries promising Him comfort and riches which are really does not belong to him.”
In reply to this temptation, Jesus again used the Word of God, which he also used in hir previous two temptations. This time Jesus quoted from the book of Deuteronomy 6:13-15, which speaks of serving God only, and not to follow anyone else, because Bibles tells us that our God is a jealous God, who does not like disloyalty.
In these temptations, which we just heard from the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus shows us that our identity is not proven by any shortcuts, rather it is revealed by trusting God and on his Word.
Now that we have entered the days of fasting, let us reflect on our own lives and see who we first turned to for help when we faced any difficulty or trial. Or if we are still struggling with any kind of problem, who are we turning to for help to deal with that difficulty? The example of Jesus is before us, his relationship with God the Father and his Word is before us. The question is, is our relationship with God the Father and his Word as strong as the Lord Jesus' was?
If not, let us ask God for help today, the first Sunday of Lent, to help us strengthen our relationship with God and His Word so that we too can prosper in God's sight through God and His Word in every trial. And even if we feel that our relationship with God is strong, let us ask God to help us remain in it.
May God bless you all. Amen