Patrick Comerford
We have reached the half-way point in Lent, which began three weeks ago on Ash Wednesday (5 March 2025). This week began with the Third Sunday in Lent (Lent III).
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Luke 11: 14-23 (NRSVA):
14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.’ 16 Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? – for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. 22 But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.’
Today’s Reflection:
The Gospel reading at the Eucharist this morning (Luke 11: 14-23) is laden with images of demons, Beelzebul, Satan, more demons, exorcists and still more demons. And we read of a kingdom divided against itself that becomes a desert, houses falling on houses, castles being plundered, and strong men abusing their strength.
What is your image of the Devil?
For many people today, he is old hat and the stuff of superstition. For others he is a figure of fun: the gargoyles gushing out rainwater from gutters on cathedrals and churches; the logo for Manchester United; or the impish black-and-red costumes of children at Hallowe’en or some adults at Carnival in Continental European cities in the days before Lent.
Many of our cultural images of the Devil come not from the Bible but from Dante’s Inferno, which influenced John Milton’s Paradise Lost, other poets, including TS Eliot’s The Waste Land, as well as frescoes, paintings, and stained-glass windows throughout the world.
But the Devil appears in many forms throughout the Bible.
The word satan in its original original Hebrew term sâtan (שָּׂטָן) means an ‘accuser’ or ‘adversary,’ and refers to both human adversaries and a supernatural entity. The word is derived from a verb meaning primarily to obstruct or to oppose. When it is used without the definite article (satan), the word can refer to any accuser; when it is used with the definite article (ha-satan), it refers specifically to the heavenly accuser: the Satan.
Ha-Satan with the definite article occurs 13 times in two books of the Hebrew Bible: Job 1 and 2 (10 times) and Zechariah 3: 1-2 (three times); satan without the definite article is used in 10 instances.
These occurrences without a definite article include the Angel of the Lord who confronts Balaam on his donkey (Numbers 22: 22); and the Angel of the Lord who brings a plague against Israel for three days after David takes a census (II Samuel 24).
The satan who appears in the Book of Job is one of the ‘sons of God’ (Job 1: 6-8) who has been roaming around the earth and who tortures Job physically, mentally and spiritually, to see whether Job will abandon his faith. But Job remains faithful and righteous, and satan is shamed in his defeat.
The English word devil, used as a synonym for Satan, can be traced through Middle English, Old English and Latin to the Greek διάβολος (diabolos), ‘slanderer,’ from a verb (diaballein) meaning to slander, but originally meaning ‘to hurl across’ or ‘to back bite.’ In the New Testament, the words Satan and diabolos are used interchangeably.
Another name in today’s Gospel reading, Beelzebub, means ‘Lord of Flies,’ and is also a contemptuous name for a Philistine god and a pun on his name meaning ‘Baal the Prince.’ Some critics in today’s reading accuse Jesus of exorcising demons through the power of Beelzebub.
Satan plays a role in some of the Gospel parables, including the Parables of the Sower, the Weeds, the Sheep and the Goats, and the Strong Man.
In Saint Luke’s Gospel, Judas betrays Christ because ‘Satan entered into’ him (see Luke 22: 3-6; cf John 12: 13: 2) and Christ implies Satan has authority to test Peter and the other apostles (see Luke 22: 31).
In Saint John’s Gospel, Satan is identified as ‘the Archon of the Cosmos’ (ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου), who is to be overthrown through Christ’s death and resurrection (John 12: 31-32).
The Letter to the Hebrews describes the devil as ‘the one who has the power of death’ (Hebrews 2: 14).
In the Book of Revelation, Satan is first the supernatural ruler of the Empire. In that book, we also come across Abaddon, whose name in Greek is Apollyon, meaning ‘the destroyer,’ an angel who rules the Abyss (Revelation 9: 11).
The vision of a Great Red Dragon with seven heads, 10 horns, seven crowns, and a sweeping tail (Revelation 12: 3-4) is an image inspired by the apocalyptic visions in the Book of Daniel. A war then breaks out in heaven, and Michael and his angels defeat the Dragon who is thrown down. This dragon is identified with ‘that ancient serpent, who is called Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12: 9) and the accuser.
This identifies him with all the images of satan in the Hebrew Bible, from the serpent in Eden, to Job’s tempters. Later, the chained and imprisoned Satan breaks loose from his chains in the abyss and wages war against the righteous. But he is defeated and cast into a lake of fire (see Revelation 20: 1-10).
The three synoptic Gospels describe the temptation of Christ by Satan in the wilderness (see Matthew 4: 1-11, Mark 1: 12-13, and Luke 4: 1-13), and, each time, Christ rebukes Satan.
Too often we reduce temptation to small things in life. The one real temptation facing Jeff Difford, the slick pastor in the television series Young Sheldon, is greed in the form of wanting a new combined toaster and microwave oven. He resists that temptation for a day or so, and when he gives in, he asks for forgiveness.
But this is a fatuous and fraudulent presentation of temptation. True temptation can come in small ways, but it can also come in dramatic ways, leading to the abuse of privilege, position and power, in the church, in business, in politics.
There is real evil in the world. This year marks the 80h anniversary of the end of the Holocaust and World War II. Yet racism is rampant, open Islamophobia and antisemitism are on the rise, Europe is close to war yet again, peace seems impossible in the Middle East, and the rule of law is being undermined in the US, moment by the moment.
As I watch the daily rantings of the kleptocracy that is taking a grip of the institutions of democracy and justice in the US, I cannot but help find parallels in the parable contained within today’s Gospel reading: ‘When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters’ (verses 21-23).
Yet there is hope too: demons are cast out, those who were once silent finally find the power to speak out, the strong and the mighty are exposed as plunderers and despoilers, kingdoms find they are divided against themselves and become desert, and houses fall on house.
And when these things happen, as they shall happen, we must hope for signs that the kingdom of God is to come among us.
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 27 March 2025):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Towards Reconciliation and Renewal’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by the Revd Canon Dr Carlton J Turner, Anglican Tutor in Contextual Theology and Mission Studies and Deputy Director of Research at the Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 27 March 2025) invites us to pray:
God, we pray for good governance and stronger relationships in contexts of conflict. May your peace guide leaders as they seek repair and reconciliation.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
Merciful Lord,
grant your people grace to withstand the temptations
of the world, the flesh and the devil,
and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Eternal God,
give us insight
to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us,
and to seek the perfection we are promised
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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