The readings for this first Sunday of Lent summarize the story of our salvation in terms of temptation, fall, and redemption. In the first reading, taken from the Book of Genesis, we hear the story of the first man and the first woman who succumbed to the serpent’s deceitful temptation that if they eat from the tree of knowledge in the middle of the garden they will become like gods. And so, seeking to become like gods, they disobey the one commandment God gave them. Forgetting that they are God’s creation, they seek to take the place of the One who created them.

In today’s Gospel, the devil tempts Jesus three times. He tempts Jesus to prove that he is the Son of God by turning stones into bread. He tempts Jesus to test God and see if God will really save him, and he deceitfully promises Jesus all of the kingdoms of the earth if he will worship him. Unlike the first human beings, Jesus does not succumb to the devil’s temptations. Rather than challenge and disobey God, he obeys God and trusts in God’s power to save him. Jesus is the New Human Being, the pattern for what we must become

St. Paul brings these two stories together in today’s second reading taken from his great letter to the Romans in which he compares the first human being (Adam) with the new human being (Christ). Whereas the disobedience of Adam brought the powers of Sin and Death into the world, the obedience of Christ brought Grace and Life of the world. The First Man (Adam) ruptured our relationship with God; the Second Man (Christ) restored it.

The story of our salvation is a story of temptation, fall, and redemption. Like the first human being, all of us have been tempted; and all of us have fallen from God’s grace. This is why we are in profound need of God’s grace, which comes to us from Christ, the obedient Son of God, who is the pattern of our life. This is what this Lenten Season is all about.

Lent is a time to become more and more like the obedient Son of God who trusts in the power of God rather than in his own power to save himself. Lent is a time to overcome those temptations that lead us into sin by disobeying God’s will. For example, think of the many temptations that assail us every day: temptations to assert our own power and will over others, temptations to amass unneeded wealth at the cost of harming others, temptations to an indulgent life, temptations to make ourselves the center of God’s universe. All of these temptations have one thing is common with today’s liturgy. They are temptations to become what we are not; they are temptations to take the place of God.

Christ is our savior because he is the obedient and trusting Son of God, the one who said “yes” to God rather than “no,” the one who trusted in God rather than in himself. Our task during the Lenten season is to become more and more like Christ and less and less like Adam. Our goal is to pattern our lives on the pattern of Christ’s life.