'Jesus began to teach his disciples that
the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the
chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke
him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get
behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on
human things.”'
--Mark 8: 31-33
In
one of my favorite movies, O Brother
Where Art Thou?, the philosopher and loudmouth Ulysses Everett McGill
attempts to enlighten his friends on exactly what the devil looks like. “There are all
manner of lesser imps and demons,” Everett says, “but
the great Satan hisself is red and scaly with a bifurkated tail, and he carries a hay fork.” Of course the response from Tommy Johnson is, “Oh
no! He’s white! As white as you folks!” Here's the scene:
Who
and what Satan is might be the most intriguing question for people of faith
because it gets to the heart of a bigger question: what is the nature of evil? The scene in O Brother reminds us that there is no single, clear image for evil. In the Hebrew and Christian Testaments a
variety of words are used to describe one who is an incarnation of evil. According to Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance, in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible—the
one we read in the Episcopal Church—the word Satan
appears 47 times, devil appears 34 times, Beelzebul appears 7 times, and
Lucifer does not appear at all. These
numbers vary depending on what translation you’re using, but the
point is clear: there is no one word or proper
name for evil.
So
when Jesus uses the word Satan in addressing Peter, what does he mean? Does he literally mean that Peter is
Satan? Well, yes (in a manner of
speaking). In Hebrew the word Satan means
“adversary”
or “accuser,” it is more title than
name. It was used regularly by folks in biblical times to describe anything that stands in the way of God,
that diverts humanity’ attention from heavenly things to
earthly things, as Jesus puts it.. The
serpent from the Garden of Eden was called Satan because he stood as an
adversary to God’s wishes. Nebuchenezar, the King of Babylon, was called
Satan because he had taken God’s people from their
homes and into exile. The dragon from the Revelation to John, itself an allegory for the Roman Empire, is called Satan because it fights against the forces of God and God's people. Anyone clearly not in-line with God was given that title In Peter’s
case, he had just confessed Jesus as the Messiah four verses
earlier. This is such a significant moment that it gets its own feast day in the Church, which we call the Confession of Peter. In one breath he appears to get it, but when Jesus lays out the
plan—that he must suffer and die—Peter
shows that no, he doesn’t get it, and tries to rebuke
Jesus and convince him that this is not
God’s will. To see that happen must have broken Jesus’
heart, and so yes, in that moment Peter was Satan, he was the adversary, the
one standing between Jesus’ mission and God’s
divine will.
An icon depicting Jesus' rebuke of Peter (a.k.a. Get behind me, Satan!)
If
we understand that word—Satan—as more of an
adjective than a proper noun, then it can help us somewhat better understand what folks back then understood of evil, as well as the nature of evil in our own time. While the people of Jesus’
day did not believe that there was one single entity who embodied evil and made the whole world bad ("The Devil made me do it!" wasn't a thing back then!), they did believe that evil was real, that it lurked all
around them, taking many forms. Make no
mistake, brothers and sisters, evil is still very much real! There are some dark, scary forces in the
world, all different manners of Satans, the last two weeks alone have proven
that. We sometimes think they have to
look like the cartoon character Everett describes in O Brother, or a person like the Florida gunman who was so obviously sick and twisted, but more often
than not they look like Peter. They
look like someone who thinks he’s right, that he’s
got it all figured out, who thinks he understands better than even God
does. These Satans look tame, even
well-meaning, but they can cause the greatest destruction.
This season of Lent is the perfect time for us to examine our physical and spiritual lives, so that we may
renounce all sorts and conditions of evil and be prepared to be reborn
ourselves through those baptismal waters on Easter. Today we are given the opportunity to look
deep within ourselves and ask the question:
what is my Satan?
What or who is keeping me from truly embracing God’s
love? What or who is keeping me from
respecting the dignity of all God’s people and living
into those other baptismal vows? What adversaries are standing between me and God, cutting me off from God's goodness and keeping me from seeing that goodness in myself and others? I will confess to you that my Satan is
pride. So very often I think that everything
is about me, that I have to have all the answers, that if something goes wrong
it will be all my fault, that people will call me a failure, and that the whole
wide world will collapse. It would be a
lot easier if my Satan was a cartoon character.
Still, this Lent I am trying to fast from the temptation of giving in to
my Satan, so that my pride won’t cause me to be a
Satan to someone else, particularly you folks.
