Led by the Spirit? Homily for Sunday, February 22, 2026

Right after the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, he is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Why? Why is it we start each season of Lent with the story of the temptation of Jesus?Perhaps it is because he provides us the grace to imitate his example in our own temptations. Readings for Today.

Led by the Spirit?

Why is it that Jesus, right after his baptism in the Jordan, was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted? This seems like an important question for us to ponder.

“Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus was led by the Spirit. This moment comes immediately after Jesus comes out of the water from his baptism and sees the Spirit of God and hears the voice of the Father. A Trinitarian moment.

But why is it that the Spirit, after this amazing and magnificent moment, would then lead Jesus into the desert. But not just to be led into the desert, but to be led into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Saint John Chrysostom has this to say about the purpose of this action of the Spirit. “For since with a view to our instruction He both did and underwent all things; He endures also to be led up there, and to wrestle against the devil: in order that each of those who are baptized, if after his baptism he have to endure greater temptations may not be troubled as if the result were unexpected, but may continue to endure all nobly, as though it were happening in the natural course of things. Yea, for therefore you took up arms, not to be idle, but to fight.”

So it is that Jesus is led into the desert to be tempted for our instruction. But what is it we need to learn? For every Lent we start with the temptation of Jesus. Why? Why is this?

Is it not to remind us that the season of Lent is to begin with a confrontation? Not a violent confrontation, but a confrontation between us and ourselves. For it is that Lent challenges us, and invites us, to take a good hard look at ourselves.

But our inward look is not so that we can beat ourselves up. No, it is so that we can see just where it is that we need Jesus in our lives. Every thing we do for Lent, it is all about how it is we will find ourselves closer to Jesus.

We pray. We fast. We give alms. We do all these things because too often we trust in ourselves. Too often we seek the easy life. Too often we are selfish. But when we enter the desert, in imitation of Jesus, it becomes possible for us to see ourselves for what we can be.

Once again from Saint John Chrysostym. “For this cause neither does God hinder the temptations as they come on, first to teach you that you have become much stronger; next, that you may continue modest neither be exalted even by the greatness of your gifts, the temptations having power to repress you; moreover, in order that that wicked demon, who is for a while doubtful about your desertion of him, by the touchstone of temptations may be well assured that you have utterly forsaken and fallen from him; fourthly, that you may in this way be made stronger, and better tempered than any steel; fifthly, that you may obtain a clear demonstration of the treasures entrusted to you.”

The actions we take during Lent are designed to strengthen us. For we must get closer to Jesus. And for this reason we are to pray. In the desert. In silence. Because the world around us has no shortage of ways to distract us. 

Ads that seek to convince us to have what it is we do not need. The phone we carry around with us. And not just a phone. A computer. With apps that seek to keep us using them. To keep us from searching for Jesus deep within our soul. 

As persons who live in the United States, we have so much abundance. So much. But we are tempted. Tempted not to share. Tempted to want more. We must sacrifice so that we know we are only filled by Jesus. 

For it is when we are hungry, just as Jesus was after fasting for forty days, that we are vulnerable. We know, however, that we are hungry for many things. Not just food. We can hunger for companionship. For belonging. For meaning.

But we know that we can be tempted to seek to fill these hungers without God. As Saint Augustine says, “Our hearts are restless, O God, until they rest in you.” When we remember that only Jesus can fill our hunger, it is then that we become stronger in our faith.

The devil appeals to the ability to turn stones into bread. We are tempted to think we too can fill our own hunger. Saint Hilary of Poitiers says this: “And therefore in the temptation he makes a proposal of such a double kind by which His divinity would be made known by the miracle of the transformation, the weakness of the man deceived by the delight of food.”

The temptations of Jesus are those he knew we would have too. We seek to fill our own needs by turning stones into bread. We expect God to keep us from all pain and harm. We seek to have all we can, when Jesus is all we need.

Jesus will, later, show forth just what it means to be the Son of God. He will not turn stones into bread, he will multiply the loaves for the people, and ultimately will give himself to us in the form of bread.

Jesus will ask the Father to take the cup of suffering from him. But unlike the false understanding in the Scriptures given by the devil, Jesus does the Father’s will. Jesus does not test God; he seeks in all things to do the Father’s will. I cannot remember where I read this, but there is a beautiful quote. “More than Jesus feared the cup of suffering, he loved the one who held it.”

Jesus does not seek the many things that will perish, Jesus ultimately seeks us. He wants us to realize that we can only be fulfilled in him. He wants us to know how much it is that he loves us. And by showing us how to face temptations, he knows we can, with his grace, withstand the temptations in our own life.

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