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Monday, February 26, 2007
Satan Strikes Out
Psalm 91:1-2,9-16; Luke 4:1-13
Right on the heels of his greatest public moment, Jesus went away for a kind of spiritual boot camp that put his body and soul to the ultimate test. His baptism by John the Baptist featured God's own voice singing his praises. Then, out in the desert for 40 long days of fasting, all he heard was the Devil's voice tempting him every which way to do anything but the will of God.
If you're facing some big temptations, or maybe just some little teasing ones, today's story says you're in the best of company. Watch and listen to how Jesus wins three big contests with Satan, staying true to God when it would be so easy to do the wrong thing.
Listen to the GODcast!
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C. S. Lewis' little book The Screwtape Letters is a collection of messages from a Senior Devil (Screwtape) to his neophite nephew (Wormwood) about how best to screw up the life of a young man who has recently become a Christian.
Lewis, a devout Oxford don writing during World War II, predictably includes numerous satirical takes on modern English culture and the church's role in it, for better or worse. But his best satire shows up in his treatment of the invisible world of spiritual things.
His key conceit is to have the demons turn everything spiritually upside-down. So, they do their devilry in service to "Our Father Below." And their greatest joy comes when their "patients" learn to give in to temptation, nurse hostile feelings, double-cross each other, and much worse besides. And lurking above it all is "The Enemy," whose reputed intention for all created beings is nothing less than eternal blessing. Starting here and now in everyday real-time life.
I've known Christian readers to put down this Christian book in confused exasperation. Their minds can't quite compute the absolute reversal required to think like the Devil.
Maybe I should be thankful. After all, that kind of innocence probably protects these good souls, and us who rub shoulders with them, from a multitude of sins.
And yet Lewis compels us to imagine how the Devil thinks. Which in turn prepares us to out-think the Devil, at least every now and then.
What better way to resist temptation than to recognize its many tricky disguises?
This week's Gospel tells of Jesus being tempted by the Devil himself out in the wilds of the Dead Sea desert. Fasting and praying for 40 lonely days, Jesus is tempted all along the way. Then on Day 40, the Devil hits him with three big ones at once.
But Jesus knows each one is a dirty trick, and he turns each one down with a memory verse from the book of Deuteronomy. (There you have one important reason to read your Bible. The word of God trumps the Devil's lies every time.)
And they really are lies. In one telling letter, Lewis's Screwtape goes on at gleeful length about one of Wormwood's blunders. Not only does he rub his hands in smug rage; he actually salivates in anticipation of eating his dear nephew once he's been slow-roasted in punishment! Screwtape then realizes he's been much too honest, and quickly resumes his usual tone of avuncular counsel in demonic endeavors.
Dudley Moore and Peter Cook once made a movie called "Bedazzled," in which a romantic fool made a deal with the Devil in order to win the love of a lovely woman. The story unfolds in one tragically funny scene after another, ultimately including encounters with all seven of the deadly sins. But there's a serious theme threaded through all those scenes: You can never trust the Devil! One way or another, when he grants the guy's wishes, he always cheats him out of any satisfaction. And the poor shlump keeps coming back for more.
Jesus knew what the old adage says: If it sounds too good to be true, then it is. And he knew how to say No in the first place, cutting his losses absolutely by incurring none at all.
If that sounds too good to be true, then consider this corollary truth: Because he was tempted the same way we are, but never gave in, then he knows by experience what we go through every time we're tempted. As a result, he not only cares about our temptations, but he shares them. And, even more encouraging, he's able to support and strengthen us to say our own No -- every single time, if we really want to.
You see, you and I are never tempted all by ourselves out in some deserted spot. Christ himself is present with us, able and willing to disarm the Devil if we'll give him half the chance.
Screwtape would never understand. All the more to our advantage!
posted by Jack Buckley at
12:13 PM
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