“Why the Devil Quotes Scripture”

February 21, 2010

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Luke 4:1-13

Quick. How many days in Lent—this season between Ash Wednesday and Easter?

All of you former Roman Catholics and Episcopalians—as well as most of you dyed-in-the-wool Congregationalists—will most likely answer “Forty” without even having to think about it.

Now, get out your calendars and start counting. (OK—not right now, but check it out at home.) There are actually 46 days from Ash Wednesday until Easter. Of course, forty-six does not have that nice biblical ring to it—you know:

The forty days and forty nights of rain in the story of Noah.

The forty years that the Hebrew people wandered in the desert.

And, as we heard of again this morning, the forty days that Jesus spent alone in the wilderness, fasting and tempted.

We Christians play around with time. We say that the six Sundays of Lent are not part of the forty days of Lent. These Sundays—as all Sundays throughout the year—are “little Easters,” opportunities for us to celebrate the resurrection.

Sunday is a time for us to remember that the days between now and Easter are less about sorrow for sin and more about thanksgiving for God’s forgiving grace. They are less about giving something up in our lives than they are about taking up the cause of peace and justice in our world. In these cold days we look for the warm, springtime mercy of God.

Through the season of Lent at Congregational UCC we’re going to use the parables of Jesus to help us in that search. We’ll study some parables together on Wednesday evenings. We’ll listen to them read and proclaimed on Sunday morning. And I continue to invite you to read through the entire Gospel of Luke, if you haven’t done so already. If you have, read through it again, this time paying special attention to the parables.

This morning we heard the story of the temptation of Jesus. It’s not a parable, but reading it this year helped me imagine in a new way why Jesus so often spoke in parables.

For forty days in the wilderness Jesus fasts. And the devil tempts him.

Remember who—or what—we’re talking about here.

The Hebrew word, satan, is not a name but a word that simply means “adversary.” Throughout the Hebrew Bible the word appears several times, referring to ordinary human beings. If you had an opponent, you had a satan.

Over time, the word took on the sense of “one who pleads a case against another person.” In a court, you would be faced with a satan. You might remember that the Book of Job begins in the heavenly courts where Satan, the accuser, the adversary has been patrolling the earth, and brings Job’s case before God.

Our word “devil” comes from the Greek word diablos, which means, literally, a slanderer. For Luke, the adversary of the Hebrew Scriptures has become the one who distorts the accusation and twists the evidence. The one who was seen as opponent of human beings has become the ultimate adversary, the one opposed even to God.

Set aside those cartoon images of pitchforks, horns, and pointed tails. The devil is the “essence of everything that is against God.”[i] This is what Jesus is up against in the wilderness.

At the end of forty days the devil suggests that Jesus turn a stone into a loaf of bread. He would have something to eat. And if he kept doing this, he could feed a hungry world.

At the end of forty days the devil offers Jesus all the power in the world. What better way to help the powerless and the oppressed?

Both times, Jesus rejects the offer—as appealing as it might seem. And both times Jesus quotes scripture as a way of choosing something better.

The devil has one final offer. And this time it is the devil who quotes scripture: Throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple, for “God will command the angels concerning you, to protect you”—the words from Psalm 91 that we ourselves spoke just this morning.

What interests me is the way in which the devil uses scripture. Nothing else has worked. When all else fails, pull out your Bible. When appealing to compassion or the desire for power doesn’t work, use scripture.

The devil quotes scripture to persuade. He uses it to push for a specific course of action. He uses it to press his own agenda.

The troubling fact is that the devil quotes scripture for the same reason so many people do today: to push, to press, to force consent and action. Like so many others, the devil quotes scripture for his own purposes.

In contrast, aside from this wilderness confrontation with the devil, Jesus rarely uses scripture when he teaches or in conversations with individuals, or even when he is commending a specific course of action. Yes, he is familiar with his religious tradition. He seems well-versed in his understanding of the Hebrew Bible.

But Jesus doesn’t quote scripture very often because he’s not all that interested in trying to force people to agree with him. He’s not trying to command obedience. He’s not seeking to get his own way.

Instead, Jesus tells stories. He speaks in parables.

When we hear these deceptively simply stories our minds start to work. The strangeness of what we hear engages us as we puzzle with their meaning. As each of us is responsible for his or her own faith, so each of us is invited to interpret what we have heard. We are challenged to discover the meaning that the parables have for our own lives.

The New Testament scholar Fred Craddock said: “It’s easy to understand why parables are not used by speakers who wish to control listeners by telling them exactly what to think and to do.” If you want to control someone, it’s much easier to take the devilish approach of simply quoting scripture. Craddock adds that it’s also easy to understand why parables are not well received by persons who wish to be told directly what to think, to believe, and to do.”[ii] That, of course, suggests just why parables are so great for this congregation, as I’ve yet to discover someone here who wants to be told directly what to think, to believe, or to do.

Simply in the way that Jesus presents his message, we see something of the great freedom that is God’s love. Jesus shows us a God who does not control or coerce, a God who seeks our free and willing participation in God’s purposes for this world.

Don’t get me wrong. Scripture is important for our lives and for the life of faith. We find strength of purpose as we read, study, discuss, and even argue about scripture with each other.

But beware of those who quote scripture—on street corners, in print, or even in pulpits. There is a devilish danger that those words will be used twist God’s great mercy into demands or threats or condemnations.

Which, in part, is why for centuries in the Protestant and Congregational traditions we have placed such a strong emphasis on the reading and study of scripture—so that we can discern God’s love for us and for all people.