Satan is Alive and Well

There is a story about a man who asked, “What is the devil?” Before anyone could reply, the man answered his own question. “The devil,” he said, “is not a huge monster with horns and a tail and a wicked look in his eye. No, the devil is inertia — doing nothing, following the lines of least resistance.” The definition might not satisfy many theologians, but it makes the point: When Jesus asks us to turn our lives upside-down by following His example of radical love — and we respond by doing nothing — we are following the path of least resistance. An old farmer who was an outspoken unbeliever died, leaving an unusual Last Will and Testament in which he bequeathed his farm to the devil. The deceased’s next of kin contested the Will because she could not carry out the wish. After much legal research and judicial pondering, the Court decision read as follows: We believe that every effort should be made to carry out the wishes set forth in the Will. In the opinion of the Court, the most practical way to carry out the directive is to allow the farm to erode, the well to run dry, and the barns and fences to rot and eventually fall to the ground. Therefore, it is the ruling of the Court that the best way to leave the departed’s farm to the devil is to do nothing.

And it is so ordered! In the third chapter of Luke, Jesus has an encounter with the devil. He moves from the banks of the Jordan River (scene of his baptism) into the dry, barren, lonely wilderness. He had heard his Father’s voice from the heavens: “You are My Son, the beloved; My favor rests on you” (Luke 3:22), and in these words, his ordination was complete. Now his public ministry of proclaiming the coming Kingdom is about to begin. His spirit is consumed with the desire to know the Father’s Will and carry it out faithfully. And, as Jesus reflects on these things in the wilderness, his spirit is caught up in the very human process of discovery. With all humanity, he experiences the terrible inner conflict — the spiritual turmoil that accompanies any serious reflection on life and its meaning. As God’s Son, how was he to act? How was he to proceed? As the leader of the New Israel, how was he to fulfill his role? And it is amid this period of reflection that Satan tempts Jesus three times. Lent is a time to think about temptation. It is a time for the Community of Christ to test its fidelity to God. Do not let the pleasures that this world offers tempt you into not being right with God when Jesus returns.