A Reflection
The Devil! What do you think of when you hear that – a dapper chappy with pointy beard and horns? A comic strip character dressed in red with a pitchfork and a pointy tail? It’s all a bit cartoony, a bit story-book, isn’t it? As grown-ups, surely we’ve got beyond such childish notions.
C.S. Lewis, in his wonderful book ‘The Screwtape Letters’, said this about ‘The Other Side’:
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
People usually fall into one camp or another regarding our passage today. Some say it is a figurative account, meant only symbolically, or that Jesus was hallucinating due to low blood sugar. That’s the materialist view-point. “I can’t see it, so it does not exist”.
Others take it at literal face-value with a physical person as the devil and mini-devils skulking at the root of every misfortune and tragedy. A third point of view is just to say ‘I don’t know, it’s all too weird for me.’
So which is right? In different ways, all of them.
Weird? You betcha! Anything that is beyond our concrete realm of everyday seems weird. We laugh at the cartoon character of the devil because that is what we do with unknown things that frighten us. So is it just a silly caricature?
The news is full of seemingly ordinary people doing unspeakably awful things. What possesses them to act that way? Evil. Shakespeare described it thus: “Something wicked this way comes.” (Macbeth) “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Macbeth)
So, it’s weird and there are certainly lessons to be learned from the encounter, but that does not mean it is not real. Real in the sense of an actual person? With pointy beard and horns? Well, no. Not the latter. In 1 Cor 11:14-15 Paul says that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness.” Paul was talking about actual people when he wrote this, and he seems pretty convinced about which side they were working for.
So it’s real. But let us not get hung up about this, seeing a demon behind every illness and a lurking devil causing every stubbed toe. Sometimes we just get ill. Sometimes we just have accidents. It’s called life.
However, sometimes, as a friend of mine so eloquently puts it, “There’s more than a whiff of sulphur about this.” Have you ever noticed an increase of family arguments on the way to church? Or how difficult it can be to settle down to Bible study or prayer. There is always something I need / want / ought to do that pops into my mind, or a fascinating post on facebook or a child who wants something, or the phone or … or … or …
However let us not focus on the devil here, whether you think of a literal person, spiritual beings or a symbolic personification of a truth. Instead let us focus on Jesus, and his words. “The Scripture says … the Scripture says … the Scripture says.”
Let us make sure we know what the scripture says.
Your Turn
What do you make of this account? Literal, figurative, hallucination? What influence do you think the devil has in our modern world?
An Activity
To remind us of Jesus’ famous put down, we will make some bread with a cross on the top, for ‘not’.
Ingredients
- 450g / 1lb / 3 ½ cups plain white (all-purpose) flour
- 5 ml / 1 tsp salt
- 5 ml / 1 tsp sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
- 350ml / 12fl oz / 1 ½ cups buttermilk (or milk with 15ml / 1 tbsp lemon juice)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220⁰C / 425⁰F / Gas Mark 7.
- Sift the flour, salt and bicarbonate together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
- Pour in the buttermilk, a little at a time, and mix with your hand. Do not overwork the dough. Once you have a soft, but not sticky dough, transfer to a floured baking tray.
- Shape into a round, about 5cm/2in thick.
- Score a deep cross in the top, as a reminder that we do not live by bread alone.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180⁰C / 350⁰F / Gas Mark 4 for a further 30 minutes or until the loaf is golden and sounds hollow when you tap the base.
- Enjoy straight from the oven with lashings of butter!
A Prayer
Father God,
You give us each day our daily bread, and yet we do not live by bread alone.
Thank you that you know our needs and provide everything we need to live.
Thank you that you also give us your word, so that we may live eternally.
Amen
Liturgy Resources for Lent 1
Luke 4:1-13, Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Confession and Absolution
The devil said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘We do not live by bread alone.'”
Forgive us, good Lord,
for when we have focused our hearts and eyes on living in this world
and forgotten our life with you.
Forgive us, good Lord
And the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said, “To you I will give all this if you will worship me.”
Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'”
Forgive us, good Lord,
for when we have set power or wealth, success or status
as idols in your place.
Forgive us, good Lord
Then the devil placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you. They will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'”
Jesus answered, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’
Forgive us, good Lord,
for when we have tried to use you as a pet god in support of our plans
instead of following where you lead.
Forgive us, good Lord
The God of all mercy forgive and renew us,
cleanse us from all sin and set our feet firmly upon the rock
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Blessing and Dismissal
May you live in the shelter of the Most High,
and abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
May you say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
May God satisfy you with long life
and show you his salvation.
And the blessing …
Go from this place as those borne by angels
and guarded in all your ways.
Amen. We go.
The Reflectionary 