A Dialogue between Jesus and Satan.

Could this become a reality in a world filled with temptations, human weakness, and the inability to resist any of them? We need to explore the possibilities of any or all of these attributes towards an evil confrontation with life’s attacks.

First, we have learned that the Incarnation was brought about through the Holy Trinity’s decision to fight the inclusion of sin that will always become a common occurrence with man. Since there was no other way to bring mankind to where they were meant to be with God in eternity, the birth of Christ sits in the shadow of the Cross. Herein is the complete plan of God to eradicate sin forever. However, while we still await the Parousia, the second coming of Christ at the end of time, we shall be in the clutches of evil that will cause the above mentioned attributes of man’s connection to sin and the battle of a spiritual encounter of good and evil.

When we sin, no matter of its severity, as soon as we realize to seek God’s forgiveness there will be, with a certainty, the voice of Satan telling you that God cannot forgive you since you already knew that sin is deadly. As much as you attempt to bring the mercy of God into your presence, the accuser will be there with a counter attack on every level you may try to speak. A good example of this are the three temptations that Satan used against Jesus in the wilderness. As soon as Jesus threw a Scripture verse back at Satan’s temptation, Satan used another promise that was meant to have Jesus succumb to rejecting his mission and his Father’s mercy.

Try this scenario each time you fail and find the attraction to sin, a conviction from Satan, that you have fallen away from God’s mercy and no matter how much you tell God your sorrow, Satan will continue to implant the guilt of your fault and seeks to draw you away from his countenance. Just as with his constant temptation of Jesus without any let-up, so he will do the same with any of us, hoping to draw attention to our human failure of finding God’s mercy.

The dialogue begins when the Lord will assure us our prayer is heard and the Holy Spirit will begin a tug of war with Satan for our immortal soul. Do not stop asking God for his mercy. “Lord, hear my prayer; listen to my cry for help. In this time of trouble I call, for you will answer me. (Ps 86: 6 - 7).

No matter how often we fail because of human weakness, the Lord will never turn his back on us when we admit to our failing and will indeed lift us up to heights of greatness in his Spirit. As we approach the celebration of the Nativity we must remember that the birth of Christ is a precursor to his Passion and the destruction of sin as Jesus becomes the very sin of mankind and his death is the death of sin for all eternity.

There is one item that should be noted as we view the Manger scene that has one symbol missing: behind the crib we should see the cross that Christ willingly chose to accept the words of, “It is finished.” (jn 19: 30). This is the message of Christmas, real and true of sinners.

Ralph B. Hathaway