2022.03.06 | What's the Devil Doing?
“What’s the Devil Doing?”
The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, California
First Sunday in Lent
March 6, 2022
Christ’s temptations in the wilderness are reminiscent of hero narratives from many different cultures, including his forebears in the faith, Moses and Elijah, and the ancient Hebrew people who fled Egypt for Palestine.
Moses was described in the Torah (Ex. 34:28 and Deut. 9:9) as going 40 days without food on Mt. Horeb while he waited to receive the Law from God.
The Hebrew people spent 40 years wandering in the Wilderness, until they entered the Promised Land.
And, the prophet Elijah (who lived 1200 years later) went on a 40-day journey from Israel to Mt. Horeb, where he hid in a cave from Queen Jezebel, who sought to execute him for condemning her worship of foreign fertility gods (I Kings 19:4-8).
Jesus’ wilderness experience was not only reminiscent of his ancestors’ wilderness experiences--it was similar to the experiences of heroes in other cultures.
Generally speaking, hero narratives describe rites of passage through which the protagonist is lured to return to the comforts of home and/or gain power and wealth for their own purposes, rather than do the more noble things that are cause for them to be seen as heros in their respective cultures.
Through his temptation's story, we learn how Jesus was strengthened for the struggles that he would face in ministry, particularly during the final days of his earthly life. But that is not all. We also learn a lot about when and where the devil shows up in the world, and how he rolls. Some key examples follow.
II
Like Jesus, we are tempted by the devil and vulnerable to his snares. Since we are mere mortals, these challenges are not easy for us to navigate; but we can get stronger. We can learn to recognize signs that the devil is in our midst, how the devil operates, and when and how to dodge him and the mayhem he creates, like a dangerous set of obstacles on the freeway.
Notice, for example, that Jesus grows increasingly vulnerable through his wilderness experience. He is vulnerable on several levels: he’s tired, hungry alone, and he is a very long way from home. To make matters worse, Jesus had been in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights--a long time.
The devil knew exactly the circumstances that Jesus was in, and he sought to exploit the situation to his advantage.
First the devil tempted Jesus to turn stones to bread. Few could argue that producing bread was wrong, but when we look closer, we see that in order to do so, Jesus had to take his cues from the devil. In short, Jesus would have had to do a bad thing in order to produce a good outcome.
A few years ago, the CEO of a major Cleveland charity did a bad thing in order to pay his wife’s catastrophic medical bills. He embezzled over $1 million from his employer. Many could empathize with the husband’s challenge, but the court ruled that the ends did not justify the means. The man was sentenced to jail time and ordered to repay the debt.
2. As the story unfolds in Luke 4, we learn that the devil continued to tempt Jesus by offering him the opportunity to rule the world, if Jesus would just bow and worship him. But Jesus didn’t bite.
Lesser people, like Vladamir Putin, are not so inclined to resist the devil’s lure. They sell their souls for worldly power and unleash hell on earth, not just for their adversaries, but for their own compatriots.
3. In the third temptation, the devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12 to Jesus, which goes like this:
For [God] will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
Here, the devil tempts Jesus to put God to the test. Rather than succumbing to the devil's trick, Jesus relies on his knowledge that God was not some “genie in a bottle” who granted wishes for the asker’s purposes. Instead, God did and does what God chooses to do in God’s own time and way.
III
Luke’s account of Christ’s temptations offers us important insights into the character of Jesus. It invites us to consider how we measure up under similar circumstances. And, it teaches us a lot about the devil and how he rolls.
We don’t spend a lot of time in UCC talking about the devil, but maybe we should. Afterall, if we don’t know who’s out to get us or what circumstances make us most vulnerable, it’s harder to protect and defend ourselves from temptation and poor decisions.
In his commentary on the gospel of Luke, erstwhile New Testament scholar Fred Craddock offers some guidance about how the personified devil and the forces of evil are described in scripture. Here Craddock explains that the Bible is multi-vocal in its illustrations of the devil and evil (Luke, Louisville: John Knox, 1990, 55.)
For example, based on a review of many and varied biblical accounts, the devil is well traveled and has a lot of “drag.” The devil shows up in a wide range of settings wearing a lot of different outfits. Through the study of biblical accounts in which the devil makes his appearance, we can get a better understanding of how the devil behaves, and when and where he shows up. These insights can provide us with warning signs that we are in danger. They can signal our need to dig deeper within ourselves for strength, to say constant and more fervent prayers, and to reach out to each other for advice and encouragement to do what is right, good, or fitting.
God knows the devil works overtime and tries every trick in the Good Book to take advantage of our vulnerabilities. The devil knows that we are vulnerable to doing the wrong thing in order to achieve an admirable goal. The devil knows we are hungry for earthly power and control. And, the devil knows that we would like God to serve at our beck and call.
But the good news is that we are not stuck with our own devices. We can learn from Christ’s temptation, and we can grow stronger in the struggle. We can name our temptations, explore their meanings, draw wisdom from Jesus’ example, and support and encourage each other to do what is right, good, and fitting. When we do so, God is glorified, and it is well with our souls, our families, and our world. Thanks be to God. Amen.