"Tempted in our Place"
Matthew 4:1-11
As a child, I was a principal son. My father was in elementary school principal in the same district as the school I attended. They were benefits to being a principal son. My principal knew me, since he and my father were colleagues, and this led to some benefits. I also had access to my father's office. I got to sit at his desk, and to play with the intercom system. Of course, my greater visibility to my own principal meant that if I ever did anything wrong, I stood out little more.
In our world, having a connection to power gives us access and privileges that others don't have. It's who you know that matters. Our connections make a difference. Jesus, being the Son of God, should have unprecedented access and privileges since his father is God. And yet, right after being baptized, he is sent out into the wilderness to be tempted by none other than the devil himself. That's not the way it's supposed to work. Yet just as he came for us, and would die for us, so also he was tempted for us...
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