Little Devils Everywhere
Luke 4:1-13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.” ’Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you”,
and
“On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’
Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
As the folks who were at Bible Study on Monday can attest to, I had some tunnel vision when it came to verse 6 of this week’s passage: “And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.”
Now, there are a lot of modern, more orthodox Christian beliefs and assumptions that I really struggle with—the concept of some kind of eternal hell for all bad people being one of them. But what I don’t have a hard time believing is the idea that there’s a devil at work in this world. And I don’t mean some kind of cloven-hooved red demon—I mean lots of little devils; I mean lots of temptations, lots of things that can sway us, make our lives so much more difficult; lots of things that make this world so much more difficult for people who are already struggling. This is why I’m a little hung up on verse 6—it’s implied that this devil is in control of things, and that he can do whatever he wants. What arrogance, and how terrifying. But, unfortunately, it kind of seems to make sense—especially considering the actual word “devil” in this the gospel of Luke. See, Luke’s version of the temptation isn’t too different from Matthew’s. But Matthew uses the word “Satan” which can be translated as “adversary.” Devil, on the other hand, can be translated as “slanderer.”
And how perfect is this—in a world where misinformation is rampant, in world where this war in the Ukraine is backed up by a propaganda machine spouting falsehoods and lies, it seems that slanderers are everywhere we turn trying to convince us that up is down, that left is right.
And that’s what’s so interesting about these offers that this devil comes up with—the first is that he tries to convince Jesus to turn all those rocks in the desert into bread so he can feed that masses. I mean… this sounds fine, right? This doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Then this devil tries to tell Jesus that if he follows him instead of God, he can have control of all the kingdoms in the world. Again, this doesn’t seem bad—I mean, this is what Jesus is trying to do, right? topple unjust and oppressive kingdoms.
I just finished this new novel, and there’s a line in it that I found to fit this whole theme and this passage quite well. “Very few people believed that they were bad, and this was the scariest part. Human nature could be so hideous, but it persisted in this ugliness by insisting it was good.”[i]
So here is this devil, manipulating scripture, trying to manipulate Jesus during this time of isolation and physical weakness, insisting that these offers he was giving Jesus would be good—and persisting. Because aside from verse six, another verse I couldn’t get out of my head was verse two, where it’s written “for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” If you read this verse quickly, it can read like Jesus was out there doing his thing, and then after a few weeks, the devil appeared and proposed these three questions to Jesus; but no, apparently, for forty days, this devil was buzzing around Jesus, for forty days, this devil was tempting him, trying to manipulate him, trying to bring him to the dark side. Honestly, that just sounds so incredibly exhausting.
But I’d be willing to bet that most of us can relate to this feeling of exhaustion—this feeling of being hit just constantly with another crisis, with another unjust law, with more violence, whether on this soil worldwide threats on foreign soil. This anxious feeling we get when yet another breaking news alert pings on our phone. It’s exhausting. And it’s scary. And when we’re scared and exhausted, our feelings can be more easily manipulated. We can more easily fall prey to misinformation and scare tactics. And I think that was sort of the devil’s playbook in this case. Because the way it’s written, it seems as if Jesus was being bothered and poked and annoyed the entire time he was alone in the wilderness, and then it’s written, “…when they were over, he was famished.” And it’s at this point that it’s written that the devil gives him these three propositions. So the devil, I think, was trying to wear him down. The devil was hoping that after 40 days of needling and manipulating that Jesus would give in to these spectacular offers.
Don’t you ever feel just so exhausted with the state of the world that you might give in if some shady salesperson presented an offer to you that seems too good to be true? That’s how it seems to go in all those fabled stories about the devil—the classic The Devil and Daniel Webster begins with the devil offering a desperate farmer years of fortune after being plagued with years of bad luck. Numerous Twilight Zone episodes are like this—the devil offers a paranoid and desperate hypochondriac eternal life (spoiler alert, the man receives life imprisonment, when he becomes a little too brazen with his new-found immortality). In another episode, the devil convinces a newspaper editor, on the brink of suicide, whose paper is failing to sign his soul over in order for continued journalistic and material success (that episode has a slightly happier ending). It’s a theme—the devil finds someone exhausted, fearful, desperate, or paranoid; someone who has hit rock bottom, or someone in a heightened emotional state.
Well, it seems like it’s impossible to not be in a heightened emotional state these days. It seems like now, more than ever, we’re constantly at risk of being taken advantage of, constantly at risk of falling for scare tactics, for signing dangerous deals with various devils. The media, both social media and the news media, take advantage of this for more views and engagement; politicians certainly take advantage of this for more votes or to push unjust and dangerous agendas.
Like many, I’ve been appalled by Texas’ anti-trans order that’s putting both transgender kids in danger and their families by encouraging fellow citizens to inform on one another. Those who are pushing bills like this—they do so by trying to take advantage of our exhaustion with a constantly changing world, as well as our most primal fears; they manipulate language in order to gain misguided support, supposedly in the name of child safety, when in reality, it puts the most vulnerable in even more danger. By using phrases like “child abuse” and “forced sterilization,” they try to tug on our heartstrings, they try to promote misguided fear and outrage. The reality of the situation was already dire— in a recent survey of 35,000 youth from the Trevor Project, more than half of the trans and nonbinary youth surveyed have considered attempting suicide. 94% of all LBGTQ youth said that recent politics have negatively impacted their mental health.[ii] This is the reality.
But this is what devils do—they manipulate laws and language for their own power and gain. Let’s look at this last proposal from the devil in today’s scripture: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you’, and ‘On their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” The devil is quoting scripture at Jesus; he’s quoting Psalm 91, insinuating that this passage is saying that God will protect the righteous not matter what—so Jesus can throw himself off this rock and he’ll be just fine. And, honestly, we can read this passage this way. Out of context, yeah, it sounds like we’ll always be physically protected by God regardless of any foolhardy acts; but Jesus, despite being famished and exhausted isn’t fooled. “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test,’” he retorts.
There’s so much cruelty and ugliness in this world that insists that it’s actually good. Whether it’s this anti-trans bill that claims to promote child safety, or whether it’s yet another anti-choice bill, this time in Florida, claiming to protect women and babies; when in reality it criminalizes medically necessary, sometimes even life-saving procedures; procedures that sadly, I know all too well are sometimes necessary.
This world is exhausting. It’s hard to think critically all the time, it’s hard to feel like we always have to be on our toes. It’s easy to fall victim to fear tactics and the outrage economy. They know what they’re doing. They’re “persisting in [their] ugliness by insisting they’re good.” They’re finding us at our most scared, our most exhausted and most vulnerable and they’re trying to take advantage.
But remember, Jesus came the desert after his baptism. He came to the desert “full of the Holy Spirit.” This was his protection and his guidance. Even in his isolation, even at his physically weakest, he was able to see the devil for what he was—a slanderer. A liar. And he was able to stay strong and not give in to what were surely real temptations—feeding the masses! Toppling oppressive kingdoms! In theory, all things that Jesus is trying to do!
And in our world, of course we want to protect children. Of course we want to protect the most vulnerable. But in order to make sure we do this, we can’t fall prey to the many manipulative devils that plague this world, that sometimes seem to be in control of this world. We can’t let our fatigue take over, and we can’t give in.
Poor Jesus went into the wilderness and was plagued by a devil. But I have a feeling that won’t happen to us here in Vermont. I wonder if we can take advantage of our surroundings this Lent, I wonder if we can unplug a bit and, not become completely ignorant of what’s going on in the world, but draw some boundaries, be aware of when we’re being filled with reactionary outrage instead of radical compassion.
This past Ash Wednesday, I touched on the fact that this Lent, as with every Lent, we can treat it as a reset of sorts. It’s such a joy being back together here, even on such a gloomy, wet day. It feels like yet another new beginning, (though my time here has been pretty much new beginning after new beginning)—so let’s take a step back from all the outrage politics, and the manipulation of words and laws and scripture. Let’s unplug a bit and find the courage that comes from being full of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit that guides us to lead with radical, unconditional capital-L Love; the Spirit that guides us to work together to create a world in which the most vulnerable are cared for and lifted up.
Even though we may not be faced with the draconian laws, bills, and orders that are plaguing much of this broken country, we are not immune to falling prey to the outrage economy. With the internet at our disposal, it’s easy to get ourselves worked up into a frenzy, easy to allow ourselves to be constantly needled and provoked, whether it be by fear-mongering political ads or the constant pings on our phone.
There are little devils everywhere. But we have the courage of the Holy Spirit to lead with Love and not be worn down by this world. We have the courage of the Holy Spirit to look beyond the empty satisfaction that comes with power, or with feeling holier-than-thou. We have the courage of the Holy Spirit to know what is truly good in this world, to not be manipulated by those who seek to harm the most vulnerable. We have the courage of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[i] Kukafka, Danya, Notes on an Execution (New York, New York: William Morrow, 2022), loc. 3,765.
[ii] https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2021/
