In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     Today, the First Sunday in the Season of Lent, our lessons focus our attention on what has been called, "The Fall". The Fall, is the name Jews and Christians have given to the first act of disobedience, when Adam and Eve willfully chose to do, not what God had commanded, but what they desired. But, have you ever wondered why we call Adam and Eve's sin, "the fall"? We tend to think of a fall, as something that happens when you trip on the sidewalk and take a tumble. You slip on the stairs and fall. Referring to what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden, as "A Fall" is the understatement of all understatements! Unless, of course, you think of their fall, as something akin to falling out of an airplane without a parachute. Unless you consider their fall as tantamount to falling off a cliff, into the Grand Canyon--into a deep, dangerous chasm, from which there may be no return! That's the kind of "Fall" we read about in our First Reading from Genesis, when Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation, and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, blatantly disobeying God's direct command. Adam and Eve, together, committed the first sin--the original sin, and great was their fall from grace! And yet, is our sin, and subsequent fall, any less tragic or monumental?

     Certainly, we are all about minimizing our sin and disobedience. We would prefer to think of our sins, as "just a little trip--a stubbing of our toe". "I was trying to resist the temptation, but I took a little fall." "I'm trying to remain sober and drug and alcohol-free," we say, "but I fell off the wagon". That's how we like to talk about our sin and disobedience--it was a little fall. No big thing. Adam and Eve never talked about their sin as "just a little fall"--but then, the first sin, the first disobedience of the Creator, the "original sin" that set all the other sin, in motion--how could that ever be considered a "little fall"? But then, by the same token, how could we refer to our sin and disobedience as "just a little stumble"? Is stealing five dollars, just a little fall? Is cheating on your Income Tax, merely a mistake in judgement? Is cheating on your wife and then lying to her about it--no big thing? Just bring up the Big Ten, and lots of Christians will downplay their sinfulness, saying, "I try to be a good person; I try to live by the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule". But following the Ten Commandments isn't just about not killing, not stealing--big things, not committing adultery. Martin Luther, in the Small Catechism makes it clear that being obedient to God is more than just not committing big sinful actions--it's also about thoughts, the desires of the heart. Sinning is also about being angry at others, and being spiteful, and wanting to have what others have, and looking lustfully at other people. Luther says that loving my neighbor also includes helping my neighbor keep what is his, and putting the best construction on everything my neighbor does. Luther says obeying God with regard to the Sixth Commandment, isn't just about not committing adultery--it's about leading a chaste and pure life in word and deed. Oh, we might all like to speak lightly of our sin, implying we are just the slightest of sinners, that our sins are simple little trip-ups, nothing more. But that isn't the Biblical view, nor is it reality. For Scripture teaches that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Scripture teaches that though sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin--the fact is death spread to all because all have sinned. In other words, no one can look back to Adam and Eve and say to our first parents, "Shame, shame, shame on you for sinning!" No one can look back to Adam and Eve and blame them for original sin, and so, for judgement and death. For all have sinned. And all our sin, is just as much a fall from grace, as Adam's and Eve's. And it is a BIG fall--not a little trip. When we sin and disobey God, whether it's a little white lie, or what we think of as a harmless little thought--the result is the same--we are falling into a great, deep chasm that will end in death. The wages of sin, for all of us, is death. That's what we have earned, that's what we deserve, as the judgement upon our sin. That's what it means to talk about sin as a "fall". It is a headlong fall that sometimes begins with just a little trip, but that will end, ultimately, in death. All of sin will end in death--all of sin would end in eternal death, were it not for the fact that a new, second Adam has come--and this one, did not fall.

     Our gospel lesson proclaims that this new Adam, Jesus Christ, did not fall, because He did not sin--even when tempted by Satan himself--even when tempted by human need, divine position and worldly power. We who are children of Adam and Eve, know how hard it is not to sin, how difficult it is to follow God's will, rather than our own, in every situation in life. But it is just that knowledge, that makes Jesus' obedience so amazing and meaningful. Knowing that we sin, and that we sin greatly every day, impresses upon us how magnificent it is that Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, resisted temptation, resisted his own wants and needs and desires, remaining faithful to God, not just for himself, for the sake of the world! Because finally, that's what this is all about. Jesus resisting temptation and remaining sinless--not as a personal victory, not to be an unattainable example that humans should aspire to--what this is all about, finally, is Jesus remaining sinless, to be the spotless Lamb of God, who would die on the cross, to take away the sins of the world. Because the truth of our situation is, no matter how hard we try, no matter how inspiring the example, no matter how we might convince ourselves that we are little sinners who commit only small, insignificant sins--we have all sinned, we all continue to sin, and FALL short of the glory of God. And our only hope, our eternal salvation then, depends, not on ourselves, but only, on Jesus, and His blood and righteousness. Our only hope, our eternal salvation depends on the fact that Jesus, himself, was unstained by sin, and so was an acceptable sacrifice, securing for us, forgiveness for our sin, and then giving us this forgiveness, as St. Paul writes, as a "free gift of grace--the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, which abounds for the many".

     And that, is the overarching theme that is sounded each and every First Sunday in Lent-the theme that is proclaimed as Lent begins, and is intended to keep reverberating throughout the season, Sunday after Sunday and week after week...that Lent is not about being good enough to save ourselves. That Lent is not about us perfecting ourselves, as if we could ever be sin-less. That Lent is really about God's gift of His only begotten Son, to die as a sacrifice for our sin, so that we might be forgiven, restored, renewed, by the free gift of grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, which abounds for the many. And it is that good news, that drives us to our knees, drives us to humble repentance and amendment of life, that drives us to the cross, and to our Savior, where we receive this gift, that we have neither earned nor deserved. But we receive it because...it is a free gift of grace...the gift of Jesus Christ, the sinless one, who is now, our salvation! May that good news go with you, through Lent-and keep you going through Lent, and keep you and me, from falling, this Lent!

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.