Sermon for March 22nd, 2015
Contents
Mark 1:12-13, NRSV
12And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Job 1:6-12, INL
6And so it happened one day that the sons of God came to stand before YHWH, and the prosecutor also came in their midst. 7YHWH said to the prosecutor, “Where did you come from?” The prosecutor answered YHWH and said, “From roaming the earth, and walking around on it.” 8And YHWH said to the prosecutor, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth—a perfect and upright man who fears God and rejects evil.” 9Then the prosecutor answered YHWH and said, “Why wouldn't he? 10You have shielded him and his house, and everything he has on all sides! You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have spread out over the land. 11But send forth your hand, please, and touch everything he has, and he will 'bless' you to your face.” 12YHWH said to the prosecutor, “Fine! Everything he has is in your hand; only do not send your hand against him.” So the prosecutor went out from the presence of YHWH.
Job 2:1-7, INL
2And so it happened one day that the sons of God came to stand before YHWH, and the prosecutor also came in their midst to stand before YHWH. 2YHWH said to the prosecutor, “Where did you come from?” The prosecutor answered YHWH and said, “From roaming the earth, and walking around on it.” 3YHWH said to the prosecutor, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth—a perfect and upright man who fears God and rejects evil. He still holds onto his integrity, and so you persuaded me to ruin him without cause.” 4Then the prosecutor answered YHWH and said, “One skin for another! The man will give anything for his life. 5But send forth your hand, please, and touch his bones and his flesh, and he will 'bless' you to your face.” 6YHWH said to the prosecutor, “Fine! He is in your hand; just preserve his life.” 7So the prosecutor went out from the presence of YHWH, and attacked Job with horrible disease, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
Book of Job: The Monsters and the Critics - Satan
Sometimes the "monster" at the end of the story turns out to be us. Sometimes the "monster" is God, acting in ways we cannot understand, or do not agree with. Sometimes there is no monster...and so we invent one.
This comes as a surprise to most of us who grew up in the Christian church, but the "devil" as the embodiment of evil, a supernatural enemy of God, or even as a fallen angel does not appear anywhere in the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament). These things were inventions of a much later time, influenced primarily by Greek and Roman culture, which featured Hades as god of the underworld. Many 1st century Jews were eager to identify themselves (and their faith) with the more fashionable and elite Greek culture. They found ways to connect some unrelated dots in their sacred scriptures and weave together a Hades-like character they called Satan or the Devil.
- Genesis: The snake is just a snake.
- Numbers: Ha Satan - Helpful angel sent by God to prevent Balaam from being stupid.
- Isaiah 14:12 (Lucifer)
- (KJV) - "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"
- (NIV) - "How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!"
- BUT...See also Revelation 22:16 - "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."
- 2nd Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chroniclds 21:1. Evolution of Ha Satan (from God's wrath to personification of God's wrath).
- Psalm 109: An accuser appointed to stand next to someone in court. MO = "Trust but verify"
- Job
- Only two main characters in the book of job: God and Job. All the others (incuding Satan) are minor. Same is true for us. We can use "the devil" to demonize others or to explain away things we don't like/understand, or even our own shortcomings (devil made me do it) but at the end of the day we stand before God (and humanity), accountable for our own actions, thoughts, life.
- Flannery O'Connor - Good Man is Hard to Find quote:
"She would have been a good woman if it had been someone there to shoot her every minute of her life."
“We saw a pale echo of what is now possible in 1990-1991, when Saddam Hussein, the autocrat of Iraq, made a sudden transition in the American consciousness from an obscure near-ally - granted commodities, high technology, weaponry, and even satellite intelligence data - to a slavering monster menacing the world. I am not myself an admirer of Mr. Hussein, but it was striking how quickly he could be brought from someone almost no American had heard of into the incarnation of evil. These days the apparatus for generating indignation is busy elsewhere. How confident are we that the power to drive and determine public opinion will always reside in responsible hands?” ― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
From Shamash: The Jewish Online Network: The word satan means "challenger", "difficulty", or "distraction" (note that it is not a proper name). With the leading ha- to make haSatan, it refers to /the/ challenger. This describes Satan as the angel who is the embodiment of man's challenges. HaSatan works for G-d. His job is to make choosing good over evil enough of a challenge so that it can be a meaningful choice. In other words, haSatan is an angel whose mission it is to add difficulty, challenges, and growth experiences to life. Contrast this to Christianity, which sees Satan as God's opponent. In Jewish thought, the idea that there exists anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be considered overly polytheistic—you are setting up the devil to be a god or demigod.
The notion of an angel having free will is alien to Judaism. Free will requires the tension created by being a soul dwelling in a body. People can have free will, angels can't. There is a debate over whether they lack the potential for free will, or whether they simply percieve reality to clearly to have any choices to make. But in any case, without the fence-straddling of the human condition, there is no free will. HaSatan acts as a servant of God, not as an opponent or even disobediant child. Angels cannot sin, they cannot fall.
