21 From
that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord!
This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to
Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are
setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” 24 Then
Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those
who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my
sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain
the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for
their life? ~ Matthew 16:21-26
On May 11,
1960, Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi fugitive, was discovered by Israeli operatives
living in Argentina under a false identity. Eichmann was called “the Architect
of the Holocaust” because during World War II he was the SS officer charged
with handling the logistics of the mass deportation of the Jewish population to
the Nazi extermination camps. His trial became an international sensation and
the first televised courtroom trial in history. Hannah Arendt, a Jewish
political philosopher who had fled Germany during Hitler’s rise to power
convinced the New Yorker magazine to
send her to Jerusalem to cover the trial, giving Arendt what she wanted most:
her own personal, face-to-face encounter with the Devil himself. Arendt claimed
she wanted to see a Nazi war criminal up close and went to Jerusalem looking
for a monster. But what she found was quite different. In her account of the
trial, Arendt describes her surprise to find not a devious fiend but a bland,
polite, and intellectually shallow man – more fool than devil. She wrote,
“Everybody could see that this man was not a ‘monster’ but it was difficult
indeed not to suspect that he was a clown.” Arendt had wanted to know why
Eichmann participated in genocide and the answer surprised her. He did what he
did because he loved his country, because he trusted his superiors, because he
never questioned their orders, because he went to work each day and did his
job. In response to this discovery, Arendt coined the term “the banality of
evil” to describe Eichmann’s self-defense, a defense rooted in an unthinking
patriotism and deference to those in authority. We often assume that evil, the
work of Satan, functions like the demon possession in The Exorcist. But like Eichmann, evil and the satanic, are more
often than not, quite ordinary, subtle, even boring – as boring as forwarding
emails, buying stuff, and simply ignoring our neighbor. And that’s what’s truly
scary about our passage today.
But first things first. Who is (or is
a) Satan?: a quick biblical tour
In the Old
Testament satan is both a noun and a
verb. The verb occurs six times and can mean “accuse,” “slander,” or “be an
adversary” or “oppose.” Five of the six occurrences are in the Psalms and are
actions committed by human beings, e.g. Ps. 109:4. As a noun the word means
“slanderer, “accuser,” or “adversary” and the Old Testament has two categories
of satans: 1. Terrestrial satans – humans who are referred to as
satans, e.g. in 1 Samuel 29:4, David is referred to as a “satan [adversary]” of
the Philistines; 2. Celestial satans
– there are four passages (the word appears 19 times) which refer to a
celestial satan; Num. 22:22, 32; Job
1 & 2; Zech. 3:1-2; and 1 Chron. 21:1. Some of these speak of “a satan” and
some of the “the satan.” In the New Testament, Satan falls much more into the
celestial category (except for maybe our text today) and is mentioned
thirty-five times with the designation of “devil” thirty-two times. He holds a
number of titles like “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) but also is
described as an “enemy” (Matt. 13:39); the evil one (Matt. 13:38) a tempter
(Matt. 4:3); an adversary (1 Peter 5:8); the father of lies (John 8:44); a
murderer (John 8:44); a liar (John 8:44); a deceiver (Rev. 10:9); an accuser
(Rev. 10:10); and one disguised as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14).
So far we
have been engaged in constructing a complex vision of spiritual warfare –
complex because the Bible is - that allows us to see and act in ways which
promote God’s kingdom in the face of powers and principalities that seek to
thwart it. And we’ve seen that this complex vision entails both heavenly and
very earthly and mundane elements. The author Richard Beck points out that in
Ephesians 2:2 Satan’s ways are described as the “ways of this world” and he is identified
as the one who is “the ruler of the kingdom of the air.” And air, we know, is
everywhere but invisible – an unseen force that is normal, hidden, and so
obvious no one notices. That’s what makes evil so banal. That’s why the devil
is boring and that’s what makes him dangerous. We’re going to discover that if
we are unaware – we do his work for him even speak on his behalf. So we need to
talk about Satan and spiritual warfare because we need to name what we breathe
in everyday but often rarely see or discern.
So I have
been trying to offer an apocalyptic theology
of spiritual warfare that gives an honest account of the world and how it is
regularly described in the Bible as the domain of Satan. “Apocalyptic” is a
Christian term which means “unmasking”; it’s an unveiling of the real character
of what presents itself as benign. If following Jesus is an act of
nonconformity to the world, we need to have a clear sense about what conformity
to the world looks like. If the kingdom of God is an act of rebellion, you need
to know what you are rebelling against. If Jesus is calling out Satan, if we
are told to “resist him,” then we’d better learn who he is and what he does.
To do that
we need to reflect on what Peter was saying and why Jesus felt the need to call
Peter Satan. Jesus was explaining that he was heading toward the cross. Peter,
confused and appalled, pulls Jesus to the side and tries to convince Jesus to
take a different path. Jesus then wheels on Peter and describes what Peter is
saying as coming from Satan himself. We should recall that that “satan” literally means opponent,
adversary or accuser. Being a satan,
in other words, means being against something. So when Jesus invokes Satan what
was Peter opposing? Peter was opposing the cross, tempting Jesus away from
self-giving love. And this cross isn’t just for Jesus, as we’ve just read, but
for every follower of Jesus (Matthew 16:24-26). This means that spiritual
warfare, the choice between Satan and Jesus is fundamentally about the cross.
The satanic then is everything which tempts us away from taking up our cross
and following Jesus. And satanic means everything that is opposed or
adversarial to self-giving, sacrificial love. So on one level it’s totally in
keeping with the biblical vision of satan
to say:
Hate
is the satan of love.
Exclusion
is the satan of inclusion.
War
is the satan of peace.
Oppression
is the satan of justice.
Tearing
down is the satan of building up.
Competition
is the satan of cooperation.
Revenge
is the satan of mercy.
Harm
is the satan of care.
Hostility
is the satan of reconciliation.
Now, I would
like to offer two implications about Satan from our passage so that we can
resist him:
1. Satan is not troubled by God-talk, particularly the dogmatic kind. Just
make sure that it costs you nothing.
One of the
things that our texts suggests is that Satan and the satanic are quite amenable
to religious language and hubris – a certitude about who God is, what God
wants, and what God will do. We should find it incredibly ironic that Peter,
who has just aced the messiah test (Matthew 16:13-20) by rightly calling Jesus
“the Christ [hear “King”], the son of the living God” (vs. 16), finds himself a
pawn of Satan by theologically telling Jesus what God doesn’t want – that is,
for him to suffer. Peter will even invoke God in his rebuke, “God forbid it,”
and use the double negative. The Greek literally means “this will not in no way
happen to you.” Ironically, on behalf of God and with double-negative
certitude, Peter is playing the satan.
In response
Jesus remarks that Peter “the rock” has become a skandalon. In secular Greek, the word normally meant “trap” but
among Greek-speaking Jews whose primary literature was the Scriptures the word
meant “stumbling block” (see Lev. 19:14: “You shall not . . . put a skandalon before the blind.” Used
figuratively, it referred to causes or occasions of sin (e.g. Matt. 13:41;
18:7) or hindrances to faith (1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 5:11). So Simon the Rock has
placed himself in front of Jesus and become a rock to stumble over because he
cannot imagine that anything or anyone of God would suffer. So one of Satan’s
strategies is to suggest that God would never want us to suffer and that we
should avoid it all cost. Let me be clear: Jesus is NOT saying that “suffering”
by itself is inherently good. He is speaking about the cross which is a
particular act and posture of suffering-love on someone’s behalf. It’s a
suffering that fundamentally is defined by the gospel message of redemption and
not any or all suffering.
Jesus’
response to Peter is interesting and signals that he is speaking to Peter. He
calls Peter to resume his rightful place “behind me.” When Jesus encounters the
devil in Matthew 4 he ends by saying “Go, Satan!” (Matt. 4:10) However, when
Jesus encounters Peter acting like Satan – he doesn’t send him packing but
says, “Resume your proper role as a disciple; learn from me, don’t try to teach
me. And don’t stand in my way, but follow it. And following me will always cost
you something.”
If there has
to be a cross, Satan wants you to leave it only for Jesus. I imagine Satan
whispering, “Don’t incorporate it into your life. Don’t lovingly suffer for
others in any way. Maintain good boundaries, vote in ways that always protect
your interests, and always carry a weapon.” However, if we remove suffering-love
from the divine economy, when we seek to avoid it all cost, I believe we fall
prey to one of two Satanic outcomes: 1. Make others suffer. If suffering love
is not part of God’s will for discipleship then preserving my life at all cost
is the highest good. 2. Determine to do nothing. If suffering love is not a
part of God’s will for discipleship, then the very presence of suffering should
cause me to run the other way, avoid it all cost.
2. Satan doesn’t want you struggle. In fact, he’s willing for you to gain the
whole world.
Jesus defines the struggle with Satan as a struggle over
“things” (vs. 23). And friends the struggle is not between the physical and the
spiritual but between the “human” and the “divine.” And all of these things
have a spirituality that animates them, which seek to shape our vision, aim our
worship, and give us everything that we think we need. (As you walk through
your day try and pay attention to the many ways that advertisers seek your
attention, your loyalty and your love –
it truly is the air we breathe)This means that rather than Ouija boards, the
satanic plan may have much more to do with commercials during the Super Bowl
and techno-devices like our smart phones, which allow us to buy with a god-like
whim. In fact, I urge you to spend 5 minutes this week pondering the spirituality
of your cell phone. What is it shaping you to do/be?
Friends, I want to humbly suggests that if we are to “resist
the devil” we must begin with the values of a global marketplace that tell us
never to suffer, urge us to acquire more, no matter what the costs to others or
the planet. A world where advertisements are the air we breathe quite adept at
coaxing us with religious language to shed our crosses and self-denial in order
to buy, possess, and to accumulate more – but even worse they convince us that
in buying, possessing, and accumulating more, we ourselves are more, are become
something bigger. Not too long ago I heard an announcer on the radio say,
“Sometimes you’ve just got to believe. Believe in a miracle. Believe in a leap
of faith. Believe that there’s something bigger than yourself. Believe in a
second chance. . .”
I was expecting it to end as an ad for a new church and felt
the need to repent until I heard, “California Lottery Powerball. You just gotta
believe.” I am suggesting that the Satanic plan says that you don’t find
yourself by self-denial or the wisdom of the cross but by an infinite
commercial “yes” where global corporations exists as “powers and
principalities” which aim to shape and redefine not only what we love but even what
love is. Do you want to know what a satanic message sounds like? Well, this
quote from the t.v. show Mad Men’s Don Draper captures it perfectly:
Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know
what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear.
It's a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that
whatever you're doing is OK. You are OK.
So what
should we do? What can we do? How do we challenge this air of dogmatic God-talk
which costs us nothing and a gospel of consumption that foments violence,
exploitation, against people and the earth? How can we resist the devil?
I want to
suggest that we are about to do reflect two ways in which communion helps us resist
the devil. So pay attention, listen and experience God’s illustration of the
cross that beckons you. By taking communion, we “get behind, Jesus.”
1.
First, we are rehearsing a story that connects God to
suffering and suffering-love to winning. This allows us to inhabit our world of
suffering with the confident hope of its demise. It allows us to take our
present time of suffering and not ignore it and believe it can hold redemption.
2.
Second, we are participating in a shared meal where no
one has any more than anyone else. There is no hoarding, there is no scarcity,
there is simply “enough.” Let the enough-ness of this meal remind you of our
future and judge our current vision of capitalism – a competition for things.
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