Preparing for Worship - February 22, 2026

This First Sunday in Lent is sometimes called Invocavit Sunday, as we call upon (invoke) the Lord to have mercy upon us sinners, as we begin this Lenten season. There are alternative readings for the Old Testament, the Psalm, and the Epistle readings, along with the Gospel, so I cannot do proper justice to all these important Scriptures. I will try to make some comments on all of them, though, since I do not know which readings your congregations will choose.

The Old Testament lesson is Genesis 3:1-21. Here is the reason that we need the Lenten season - the temptation of Adam and Eve and their fall into sin, which brought sin and death to everyone in this world ever since. All that God had made in His creation was perfect, “very good,” until the rebellion of Satan and other angels against the Lord. This rebellion is briefly described in Revelation 12:7-9, and it is here that we know that the serpent was the devil in disguise, coming to be “the deceiver of the whole world.” He first tried to confuse the woman by questioning and distorting God’s Word to her and to Adam. She corrects the devil, but in the process, distorts the Word herself, saying that they were not even to touch the special tree in the garden. Some think there might have been more conversation, but the devil then clearly says that Eve would not die by eating from the tree and could actually become more godlike by eating from it and gaining more knowledge. Eve sees that the fruit of the tree looks very desirable and could make her wiser, and so she eats of it and gives some to her husband, Adam, whom this passage clearly says was with her. He does not try to stop her, but eats of the tree, too. The eyes of both were now open to the evil, the rebellion they had done against God. They were naked and ashamed and tried to cover over their sin and shame with fig leaves and tried to hide from God. God confronts them, and Adam tries to blame Eve and even God for giving Eve to him. Eve blames the serpent - “the devil made me do it.” God judges them all. Serpents would be lowly creatures that many would not like. Eve and other women would desire a husband and yet have great pain in childbirth, and the husband would rule over her. Men would have their own great problems, trying to provide food and support for their families and others in what was now a fallen world, full of thorns and thistles and much trouble. Finally, everyone would die because “the wages of sin is death” (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23). Yet God still loved these fallen people and their world. Fig leaves were lousy clothing, so God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skins, a sign of forgiveness, covering over their sin. Above all, He promised that an Offspring of Eve would one day come who would defeat the power of death and the devil, though He (our Lord Jesus) would suffer in that process. (See Galatians 3:16, Romans 16:19-20, John 12:31-32, Hebrews 2:14-18, and Revelation 1:5-6, etc.) Everyone now needs Christ Jesus and His saving work.

The alternative Old Testament lesson is 1 Samuel 17:40-51, the story of young David defeating the mighty giant, Goliath. A descendant of David, our Lord Jesus, would defeat for us the greater spiritual enemy, Satan, the devil. Jesus would come, as David did, in the name of the Lord, to battle Satan, and “all the earth” would know the one true God, and that “the Lord saves not with sword and spear.” The Lord would save through the battles with Satan and suffering and death and yet victory over death of His own Son, Jesus.

We see a part of that battle of Jesus with Satan in the Gospel lesson, Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus had just been baptized, as part of His “fulfilling all righteousness” in our place. He was the “beloved Son of God, well pleasing to His heavenly Father” (Matthew 3:13-17). Immediately, Jesus was led by God’s Spirit into the wilderness. He fasted for 40 days and nights and was weak and hungry, as God’s Old Testament people often were when they were also in the wilderness, on the way to the Promised Land. Most of them sinned and rebelled and complained against God, though, and died apart from God. Satan came with similar temptations for Jesus. But Jesus fought off Satan by trusting His heavenly Father and using “the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17), quoting Scriptures from those wilderness wandering times. Though very hungry, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, “A man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” (That’s what all Scripture is!) Satan himself then quotes Scripture, Psalm 91:11-12, but in a distorted, out-of-context way, trying to get Jesus to obey him and jump off the temple, just to see if God would care for him. Jesus simply replies with Scripture: “Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test'” (Deuteronomy 6:16). Satan then offers an empty promise: to give Jesus the whole world if He would worship him. Jesus tells him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve'” (Deuteronomy 6:13). Satan finally leaves Jesus for a while, and angels come to Jesus to help and strengthen Him. (Jesus was continually facing such Satanic attacks, but he knew and used His Father’s Word and will and power. The same Word is available to us all as we learn and use it. We too often fail to do so, though, and that is why Jesus had to go to the cross to earn forgiveness for us. See one of the two possible Epistle lessons for this Sunday, Hebrews 4:14-18. Jesus, the “Son of God,” is our “Great High Priest.” He can “sympathize with our weaknesses” because He has been here in this world and in “every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” We can therefore “with confidence draw near to our Lord and receive mercy and find His grace to help us in our times of need” - every day!

The psalms for this week also remind us of our continual need for God's mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Sometimes David ignored his sins until confronted with them, as with Bathsheba, but sometimes he spoke, as he does in Psalm 32, of how miserable he was trying to hide his sins. His bones hurt, and he groaned and had little strength, for he knew that the Lord was not pleased with him. David names different kinds of sins: transgressions (stepping beyond God’s boundaries for our lives), sins (missing the mark we should aim for in our lives), iniquity (unevenness in our life with our Lord - lots of ups and downs), and deceit (pretending to be what we aren’t and hurting others in the process and trying to fool God with our “goodness”). How good it was for David when he prayed and acknowledged his sins and confessed them to his Lord and received His forgiveness. The Lord delivered Him from His sin and guilt and became a “hiding place” for him, “preserving him” from trouble. The Lord speaks through David, then, and wants to instruct and counsel us all in the right ways we should go, with understanding, so that we are not like a wild horse that must be curbed with a bit and bridle to keep us near. The wicked may seem to prosper, but their sorrows are ultimately many. Many joys and steadfast love ultimately surround those who trust in the Lord, though. The alternate psalm, Psalm 118, reminds us four times in a row that “the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever,” for the Lord has eternal promises for us, in Christ our Savior. We can take refuge in Him, better than any human being or even “princes” that we hear about. If the Lord is with us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31-38)? Even if many nations and people seem to be against us, as Christian believers, the Lord will help and protect us, in Christ, as the rest of Psalm 118 predicts even more clearly, in prophecy, referring to Palm Sunday and the days following.

The other possible Epistle reading is 2 Corinthians 6:1-10. The Lenten season teaches us so clearly that the grace of God is available for us all in Christ and is not to be ignored or “received in vain.” Paul writes that “now is the favorable time; now is the day” to receive and/or renew our own confidence in Christ and His salvation for us. Paul lists suffering and hardships he has endured, but also the patience, kindness, and genuine love he has received through Christ and His Holy Spirit. We, too, have the “truthful speech” and “power of God” in His Word in our hands. We have sorrows, but can rejoice in Christ and His promises. We are not rich, but we can share the riches of Christ with many. We may seem to have nothing, but possess everything we really need for this life and for eternal life to come, in Christ. This Lenten season is a great time for us to be renewed in our lives in our Savior and His grace for each of us and to look for opportunities to share our Savior’s love with others who don’t yet realize that they really need the Savior, as we know we do need Christ always. May the Lord strengthen us all in that trust in Jesus, day by day.