Welcome to the first installment of Rideau Park United Church's Lenten Study 2010. This week it is our Minister of Worship and Community, Elizabeth Bryce, who will lead the session.
We asked our members to submit questions about passages of scripture that puzzled, stumped or mystified them. Ash Wednesday's question is: Who is Satan? with reference to the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, from Mark 1:12-13. Another question was asked about Matthew 6:13 - "lead us not into temptation."
I found a great story by Lori Brandt Hale, a professor at a Lutheran theological college, in Feasting on the Word, vol 2, Year C.
It is a story about her three year old son, going off to a children’s program and learning about the temptation. On their way home, her son suddenly asked: “Mom, what do you know about the devil?” Remember, this mother is a professional theologian – it’s fair to say that she knew A LOT about the devil. But she was talking to a 3 year old, so instead she answered his question with a question: “What do YOU know about the devil?” “I know that the devil talked to Jesus.” He said “The devil was mean. Like, if we were shopping at a store, and you and Dad were in the next aisle, and I was in the aisle with all the candy, the devil would say to me “You should take some of that candy!”
She writes: I thought about telling him that the story is about the responses Jesus made more than about the temptations themselves. Obedience to God will bring persecution, misunderstanding, and the cross – not an attractive prospect to a young child. Many of his followers wanted Jesus to restore an earthly kingdom with much honour and glory. To say yes to the world’s temptations would have meant saying no to God. I didn’t know whether my son had absorbed that part of the message: “So, what would you say back to the devil?” I asked.
A genuinely sweet grin lit up his face, and without hesitation, he replied: “Oh, Mom, I know my manners. I would say thank-you!”
We have the impression that temptation is being invited to do something clearly immoral, like commit adultery or steal or murder. But the real test is when the end is something good, and it is the means that are the problem.
Temptation: the encouragement to commit wrong, through the hope of achieving or getting something “good” a definition by Roy Davison, who continues: temptation itself is not sin. It is an enticement to do wrong by a promise of pleasure or gain. Being tempted is not a sin. The sin only occurs when we give in to temptation.
But think of the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet….” Exodus 20:17
Matthew 5:27-28 – goes even further: “You have heard that it was said: “you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Is even being tempted a sin?
Is it wrong to want something that tastes or feels good? Or is it what we are prepared to do to get it that is the temptation? – ie. disregard a marriage covenant, disrespect a neighbor, steal, lie, cheat…
Question for Reflection: Is it human nature to want more? Jesus was tempted with bread, power, security – what are we tempted with today?
Where do you believe temptation comes from? God? Satan? Advertisers?
Who is Satan?
What are your images of Satan or the devil?
Mark uses the legal term the satan, tou satana, which in secular terms means the adversary or prosecutor – not a personal first-name, but a descriptive noun.
Matthew and Luke use diabolos – which literally means “to tear apart” – ie. the force that makes our choices absolutely clear – you cannot have both, you have to give something up.
A similar name is found in the Hebrew book of Job, where “Ha-satan”(in Hebrew – meaning the accuser) is a heavenly being, one whose role is to point out to God all the contradictions and weaknesses of human nature. Ha-satan has no power, unless the human being chooses to DO evil or be unfaithful to God. In Job, ha-satan sets the stage for Job to be tempted to do a particular evil, which is condemn God, but Job will not.
Another tradition that gets mixed in is the apocryphal tradition (Book of Enoch) of the “the fallen angels” who mingle with humanity and lead them astray in the story of Noah. So, in our minds, the adversary who works alongside God to trip up humanity blends with the fallen angels who lead humanity into evil and “Satan” becomes personified as a supernatural being who is God’s adversary or opponent.
Lucifer, comes from Latin, meaning Light Bearer, or Morning Star – the first sign of dawn’s light in the darkness of night. In Isaiah 14:3, 12, the prophet describes the king of Babylon in this way – one who sets himself up as a light that will fall to the depths. In 2 Peter, in the Latin traslation, the noun lucifer is actually applied to Jesus Christ. John Milton used this imagery and made it popular among Western Christians as the proper name of the devil.
Tradition also blended the notion of devil/satan with eternal punishment in hell,
Tartarus – where demons (never humans) were imprisoned (2 Peter 2);
Sheol – where ALL human souls go after death (Hades in greek);
Gehenna – the garbage dump outside Jerusalem where fires burned continually and sometimes bodies were cremated if considered beyond God’s care.
What are some other names “the devil” gets labeled with?
- The serpent in Adam and Eve (Gen 3)
- Beelzebub – after the Philistine god Baal
- The dragon (in Revelations)
- Mephistophiles – from Faust
- Old Nick – from the Dutch demon Nikken
- Old Scratch – from a Norse myth about “scrat”
Whatever we may call him, however, it is clear that the gospels' perspective on satan and temptation always start with the Spirit – that it is the Spirit that drove Jesus out into the wilderness and his encounter with “Satan” – it is a battle of wills, between good and evil, somehow ordained by God. We always have the Spirit with us, and had better choose the Spirit over satan or give in to the temptation to choose against God’s will.
3 Temptation stories: Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4
We cannot survive temptation without the Spirit – like an antidote or immunization against temptation, the strength to resist evil or choose faithfully must come from spiritual depth. In Luke, Jesus is “full of the spirit”(4:1, 14.) The Spirit is not beyond but within him.
Question for Reflection: In what way does your spirituality provide you with strength to resist temptation or choose faithfully?
A Prayer to close:
Gracious God, it is so easy to fall into patterns of behavior that separate us from you and others. We want to do the right thing, the good thing, the loving thing, but temptation stalks the rim of our lives like a prowling animal. Before we know it, we’ve fallen into the grasp of wanting more and more, for less and less effort and thus we begin the downward spiral into what is less than full life. Help us, O god, to see when temptation is near, and our choices are being tested. Give us the strength and fortitude to make choices for health and spiritual wholeness, for a stronger relationship with you. Keep us faithful in our love for you and faithful to the wonder of being given the gift of life. We ask this for the sake of your love, for the assurance of forgiveness when our choices are unfaithful, for the name of Jesus, in life and in new life, Amen
We asked our members to submit questions about passages of scripture that puzzled, stumped or mystified them. Ash Wednesday's question is: Who is Satan? with reference to the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, from Mark 1:12-13. Another question was asked about Matthew 6:13 - "lead us not into temptation."
I found a great story by Lori Brandt Hale, a professor at a Lutheran theological college, in Feasting on the Word, vol 2, Year C.
It is a story about her three year old son, going off to a children’s program and learning about the temptation. On their way home, her son suddenly asked: “Mom, what do you know about the devil?” Remember, this mother is a professional theologian – it’s fair to say that she knew A LOT about the devil. But she was talking to a 3 year old, so instead she answered his question with a question: “What do YOU know about the devil?” “I know that the devil talked to Jesus.” He said “The devil was mean. Like, if we were shopping at a store, and you and Dad were in the next aisle, and I was in the aisle with all the candy, the devil would say to me “You should take some of that candy!”
She writes: I thought about telling him that the story is about the responses Jesus made more than about the temptations themselves. Obedience to God will bring persecution, misunderstanding, and the cross – not an attractive prospect to a young child. Many of his followers wanted Jesus to restore an earthly kingdom with much honour and glory. To say yes to the world’s temptations would have meant saying no to God. I didn’t know whether my son had absorbed that part of the message: “So, what would you say back to the devil?” I asked.
A genuinely sweet grin lit up his face, and without hesitation, he replied: “Oh, Mom, I know my manners. I would say thank-you!”
We have the impression that temptation is being invited to do something clearly immoral, like commit adultery or steal or murder. But the real test is when the end is something good, and it is the means that are the problem.
Temptation: the encouragement to commit wrong, through the hope of achieving or getting something “good” a definition by Roy Davison, who continues: temptation itself is not sin. It is an enticement to do wrong by a promise of pleasure or gain. Being tempted is not a sin. The sin only occurs when we give in to temptation.
But think of the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet….” Exodus 20:17
Matthew 5:27-28 – goes even further: “You have heard that it was said: “you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Is even being tempted a sin?
Is it wrong to want something that tastes or feels good? Or is it what we are prepared to do to get it that is the temptation? – ie. disregard a marriage covenant, disrespect a neighbor, steal, lie, cheat…
Question for Reflection: Is it human nature to want more? Jesus was tempted with bread, power, security – what are we tempted with today?
Where do you believe temptation comes from? God? Satan? Advertisers?
Who is Satan?
What are your images of Satan or the devil?
Mark uses the legal term the satan, tou satana, which in secular terms means the adversary or prosecutor – not a personal first-name, but a descriptive noun.
Matthew and Luke use diabolos – which literally means “to tear apart” – ie. the force that makes our choices absolutely clear – you cannot have both, you have to give something up.
A similar name is found in the Hebrew book of Job, where “Ha-satan”(in Hebrew – meaning the accuser) is a heavenly being, one whose role is to point out to God all the contradictions and weaknesses of human nature. Ha-satan has no power, unless the human being chooses to DO evil or be unfaithful to God. In Job, ha-satan sets the stage for Job to be tempted to do a particular evil, which is condemn God, but Job will not.
Another tradition that gets mixed in is the apocryphal tradition (Book of Enoch) of the “the fallen angels” who mingle with humanity and lead them astray in the story of Noah. So, in our minds, the adversary who works alongside God to trip up humanity blends with the fallen angels who lead humanity into evil and “Satan” becomes personified as a supernatural being who is God’s adversary or opponent.
Lucifer, comes from Latin, meaning Light Bearer, or Morning Star – the first sign of dawn’s light in the darkness of night. In Isaiah 14:3, 12, the prophet describes the king of Babylon in this way – one who sets himself up as a light that will fall to the depths. In 2 Peter, in the Latin traslation, the noun lucifer is actually applied to Jesus Christ. John Milton used this imagery and made it popular among Western Christians as the proper name of the devil.
Tradition also blended the notion of devil/satan with eternal punishment in hell,
Tartarus – where demons (never humans) were imprisoned (2 Peter 2);
Sheol – where ALL human souls go after death (Hades in greek);
Gehenna – the garbage dump outside Jerusalem where fires burned continually and sometimes bodies were cremated if considered beyond God’s care.
What are some other names “the devil” gets labeled with?
- The serpent in Adam and Eve (Gen 3)
- Beelzebub – after the Philistine god Baal
- The dragon (in Revelations)
- Mephistophiles – from Faust
- Old Nick – from the Dutch demon Nikken
- Old Scratch – from a Norse myth about “scrat”
Whatever we may call him, however, it is clear that the gospels' perspective on satan and temptation always start with the Spirit – that it is the Spirit that drove Jesus out into the wilderness and his encounter with “Satan” – it is a battle of wills, between good and evil, somehow ordained by God. We always have the Spirit with us, and had better choose the Spirit over satan or give in to the temptation to choose against God’s will.
3 Temptation stories: Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4
We cannot survive temptation without the Spirit – like an antidote or immunization against temptation, the strength to resist evil or choose faithfully must come from spiritual depth. In Luke, Jesus is “full of the spirit”(4:1, 14.) The Spirit is not beyond but within him.
Question for Reflection: In what way does your spirituality provide you with strength to resist temptation or choose faithfully?
A Prayer to close:
Gracious God, it is so easy to fall into patterns of behavior that separate us from you and others. We want to do the right thing, the good thing, the loving thing, but temptation stalks the rim of our lives like a prowling animal. Before we know it, we’ve fallen into the grasp of wanting more and more, for less and less effort and thus we begin the downward spiral into what is less than full life. Help us, O god, to see when temptation is near, and our choices are being tested. Give us the strength and fortitude to make choices for health and spiritual wholeness, for a stronger relationship with you. Keep us faithful in our love for you and faithful to the wonder of being given the gift of life. We ask this for the sake of your love, for the assurance of forgiveness when our choices are unfaithful, for the name of Jesus, in life and in new life, Amen
Re: Matthew 5:27-28: ... “You have heard that it was said: “you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Is even being tempted a sin?
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, one of our Youth Bible Study members proposed what we thought was a useful distinction when considering our thought life: there are first thoughts and second thoughts. We are not responsible for the distracting and tempting thoughts that come unbidden into our minds. But we are responsible for what we do with those thoughts. Do we reject them and put them out of our minds, or do we dwell on them and entertain them?