a crafty sob

The devil is one crafty son-of-a-gun. The story of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness gets my attention every time. It begins with the Spirit sending him to the wilderness (which if one is listening for the Spirit will happen more than once in one's life). Then, the devil shows up to have some fun. A hungry Jesus, having spent 40 days without food, is tempted first by the a call to his most basic needs. "You are hungry, make yourself something to eat." Maslow and his hierarchy of needs must have a field day with this passage. Not only is Jesus tempted to fulfill his physical desire for food, but he is also called on to self-actualize his authority, "If you are the Son of God..." Jesus however is cool, "It is written, one does not live by bread alone."

The devil tries again. This time trying to stroke Jesus' materialistic side. "I have all this," the devil says, "if you bow down and worship me, it will be yours." I'm not sure if it has always been this way, but if one looks around the world today, it is easy to say that materialism is by far the most rampant -ism afflicting humanity. Jesus, the Son of God, who will one day rule all of Creation, probably had some inclination that first he would have to suffer death upon the cross. It would have been a heck of a lot easier to skip the next 3 years of telling the same stories over and over to hard headed apostles and take the devil's offer, but he refuses. His will, both human will and divine will, are so one with the Father that he chooses the harder road, for with the harder road comes the restoration of humanity, that is the purpose for which he came to earth.

Finally, the devil gets crafty. If he won't take food and he won't take stuff, surely he'll take heed of that which is so close to his heart, the scripture. The devil turns the Word around on the Word made flesh in the hopes of catching him napping. Jesus, however, is undeterred. Having been around since, well, before time, Jesus knows full well what it means to have angels protecting him, and it certainly isn't testing God by jumping from the top of God's own dwelling place, the temple.

The devil is a crafty SOB. He's always using that which we know best to fool, trick, and confuse us. Often, we see it coming, and still are unable to defend ourselves against falling into temptation. Fortunately, we have an out. Jesus, who was like us, yet without sin, knows temptation, he knows the chicanery, and he has redeemed us from all those times when we can't get away from the tempter. Thanks be to God for that.