From Ashes to Alleluia: With Jesus in the Wilderness

The First Sunday in Lent
February 22, 2026
Matthew 4:1-11

“From Ashes to Alleluia: With Jesus in the Wilderness”

In the mid-nineteenth century, a great debate was happening in our nation. The debate was whether, in fact, the vast treeless prairie in the midsection of the continental United States was inhabitable or not. Of course, Native Americans had lived on the prairie for thousands of years before white settlers pushed farther and farther westward, displacing them from tribal lands. As they moved westward, these settlers saw nothing but prairie as far as the eye could see. They encountered weather extremes with terrible blizzards in the winter and searing heat in the summer; drought, tornados and wildfires. There were plagues of locusts that consumed precious crops along with every plant under the sun for years in a row. Neighbors were few and far between. People built homes out of prairie sod because there were few, if any, trees available for building material. Many found the challenge too great, and said the “western wilderness” was never meant for human habitation. But for those who endured, the wilderness eventually became home, and over time that vast praise land was transformed into a rich and productive farmland. Today, we see a different wilderness; one that is even more inhospitable and foreboding. On this First Sunday in Lent, we are with Jesus in the wilderness as he is tempted by the devil. The message for this day, rising up out of the appointed Gospel lesson, is entitled “With Jesus in the Wilderness.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Our Lenten theme for preaching is “From Ashes to Alleluia.” Ashes and Alleluia are the bookends of this Lenten season that began with a cross of ashes being imposed on our foreheads last week on Ash Wednesday. This outward sign represents inward repentance as we do the very thing that we sing of in our Lenten verse: “Return to the Lord your God, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13). That’s the first bookend that begins with ashes. The other bookend is Easter Sunday, when “Alleluia” is restored to worship. Voluntarily, we lay aside this one-word song of joy now, in this season of repentance. And so what begins with ashes ends with alleluia. From now through Easter, week by week, we will be with Jesus in all the places and with all the people that he encounters on his way to the cross. It is on the cross that Jesus’ earthly life and mission come to a finale. Everything, including his temptation in the wilderness, leads up to the giving of his life and the shedding of his blood on the cross, all for us and for our salvation.

The Lenten devotional book I am reading this year begins with these words: “To observe Lent is to strike at the root of… complacency. Lent (literally “springtime”) is a time of preparation, a time to return to the desert where Jesus spent forty days in preparation for his ministry. He allowed himself to be tested, and if we are serious about following him, we will do the same… whatever else it may be, Lent should never be morose – an annual ordeal during which we begrudgingly forgo a handful of pleasures. Instead, we ought to approach Lent as an opportunity, not a requirement. After all, it is meant to be the church’s springtime, a time when, out of the darkness of sin’s winter, a repentant, empowered people emerges” (Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. Walden, New York: Plough Publishing House; 2003, 2025; pp. xv-xvi). And so we are with Jesus in the wilderness.

The Gospel lesson for the First Sunday in Lent is the same from year to year: the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. In our 3-year lectionary cycle of Scripture readings, we are in Year A, which follows Matthew’s account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. As Matthew records it, Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness was forty days (Matthew 4:2), which is the origin of our own 40-day Lenten season. Matthew records how Jesus was tempted when hungry to transform stones into bread; tempted to put his heavenly Father to the test and rescue him by throwing himself off the temple; tempted by power to worship and serve something other than the Lord God. The wilderness where Jesus is likely to have gone for these forty days after he was baptized (Matthew 3:13-17) is the Judean wilderness, which is really more like a desert with searing heat in the daytime and freezing cold at night. This is what Jesus endured for you and for me. In this physical place, with the terrible temptations he was facing, Jesus grappled with the reality of sin for us and for our salvation.

In today’s Old Testament lesson (Genesis 3:1-21), we hear of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. They had everything they needed there in the Garden of Eden, but it wasn’t enough. They wanted more – much more. In listening to the same voice of the tempter who came to Jesus, it all came crashing down and so sin and death came into the world. We live with the reality of that to this very day. Those haunting words that we heard on Ash Wednesday, “You are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19), remain real for our own lives. Banished from Eden, Adam and Eve now had to make their way in the world, as do we; a world broken and shattered by their sin and ours. But it is still a world that God dearly loves, and for which he sent his only begotten Son, promised already in the aftermath of that first sin: “I 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” (Genesis 3:15). Jesus is that promised offspring of woman who came to crush the head of the tempter. He came on a rescue mission to save the world from a downward, deathward spiral to certain destruction. That rescue mission would involve reversing the curse brought about through Adam and Eve. As Paul the apostle describes this in today’s Epistle lesson (Romans 5:12-19): “For if, because of one man's trespass [Adam], 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. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For 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” (Romans 5:17-19). The ashes of Adam and Eve’s sin have been transformed into an eternal alleluia through Jesus.

We each have our own wilderness where temptation seems intense and unyielding. Do not be fooled: our own resources and strength are no match for the enemy. Beginning with his own temptation in the wilderness, Jesus, who is true God and true Man, rejected the way that we so often choose. In the weakness of our human nature, we often listen to the voice of the tempter. Despite our best intentions, we give in to the temptations that are around us and within us. The enemy knows our weaknesses and exploits them in order to lead us to destruction. We need help, and that help comes from the One – the only One – who has defeated the power of the tempter. That is Jesus. The Word of God reminds: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Thanks be to God that not only are we with Jesus in the wilderness, but more importantly, that he is with us in our own wilderness. Amen.