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(Gn.2:7-9,3:1-7;\xa0\xa0 Ps.51:3-6,12-14,17;\xa0\xa0 Rm.5:12-19;\xa0\xa0 Mt.4:1-11) \xa0 \u201cJust as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.\u201d \xa0 And what obedience Jesus shows in His temptations.\xa0 For He was weakened, \u201cHe was hungry\u201d after His forty-day fast in the desert, and the devil came at Him with all his power.\xa0 But He does not falter as did the first man; He remembers the Word of God and His command.\xa0 And by His faithfulness the sin of Adam is washed clean. See how the Lord atones for our sins; see how directly His temptations parallel those presented to Eve.\xa0 As she is shown the goodness of the food before her, that it is \u201cpleasing to the eyes,\u201d so the devil tempts Jesus with bread that will sustain His life.\xa0 As Eve ventures to take the food despite the command of God, listening to the serpent\u2019s words: \u201cYou certainly will not die!\u201d so Satan would lead Jesus to cast His weakened body down from the parapet of the temple, with the encouragement that the angels will protect Him.\xa0 And as Eve is seduced by the devil\u2019s promise, \u201cYou will be like gods,\u201d so he tries the same promise of power over \u201call the kingdoms of the world\u201d with Jesus.\xa0 In the first two temptations Jesus struggles as He will later under the weight of the cross, sweating and bleeding under the devil\u2019s test; but in the third, perhaps with understanding that the end of the temptations is at hand, He now exclaims, \u201cGet away, Satan!\u201d apparently revived \u2013 and His words are a most cutting blow to the prince of darkness: \u201cThe Lord, your God, shall you worship and Him alone shall you serve\u201d; for it is the great sin of Satan to presume to be as the Almighty God. And so the prayer of David, found so poignantly in our psalm: \u201cHave mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense,\u201d is answered\xa0 And so the sin that has been \u201cbefore [us] always,\u201d since Adam fell in the garden, is now to be cleansed from our souls.\xa0 For now the angels do come to minister to Him; and now He begins the ministry that leads directly to the cross and the redemption of mankind in His sacrifice.\xa0 Now the die is cast for the salvation of our race.\xa0 Soon the devil will hold no dominion. \xa0 Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. \xa0 Music: "The Chicken or the Egg: The Devil's Riddle" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. \xa0 ******* O LORD, lead us out of the desert of sin; save us from temptation.\xa0 YHWH, we have sinned and would drown in our sin except that you come to help us; your Son stands in our stead for redemption as once Adam stood in our place for rebellion, and so by His suffering the temptations we could not endure, cleanses us of all transgression.\xa0 And so, life comes now to our souls. O LORD, by your compassion wipe out our offense.\xa0 Death has reigned among us because of the sin of our ancestor, but more powerful and wonderful is your grace, for it brings acquittal of our sin, removing our condemnation and so making it as if we had never sinned, as if death had never been.\xa0 Such is the gift your Son imparts. Sustain your Holy Spirit within us, dear God, that we might remain in your grace and never again turn away from your Word.\xa0 Cast Satan far from us that we might stand with you, fed always by your Breath of life.