Beware of the Devil

First Sunday of Lent

February 17, 2013

Luke 4:1-13

“Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-2).”

The first week of Lent surprisingly commences with a ‘ghost story’: Jesus is disturbed by the Devil. Yet, far from frightening us, today’s Gospel tells us that though the evil spirits are for real, Jesus remains extremely more powerful.

Evil spirits or demons are not products of human imagination and creative literature. Our faith says that they do exist! Nicene Creed categorically states that God is the creator of the visible and the invisible. The “invisible” here refers to the rank of angels. St. Thomas Aquinas, dubbed as the Angelic Doctor because of his massive writings on the nature of angel, posits that angels are much simpler and superior from us human beings. They extraordinarily surpass our intellect, will and power.

Unfortunately, not all angels are good. St. John of Patmos vividly narrates to us the Great War in heaven. The dragon and his angels rebel against God, but St. Michael, the archangel, and the good angels drive them away from heaven and cast them into the world (Rev 12). The Dragon, also called as Satan or the Devil, and his cohort decide to defect from heaven and choose the eternal pathway of enmity with God. But, why do they go against God if they were created in almost impeccable fashion and could enjoy a perfect happiness in heaven?

Some of the Fathers of The Church propose that a number of angels finally ‘falls’ because of their towering pride and envy. The angels foresee that someday, God the Son would become an ordinary man and they are required to be the servants this Jesus of Nazareth. Moreover, out of his gratuitous love, God would suffer and die for the sake of human and not of the angels! This is truly unbearable truth for some angels, “What are in men that they could merit God’s favor and we need to serve them?” Lack of humility, they refuse to honor God and declare hostility against humanity.

Being condemned in eternal damnation, they vow to drag human race together with them to hell. The first work the devil ever recorded is in the Book of Genesis (Gen 3). They tempted our first parents to disobey God’s command and it was basically successful! Adam and Eve were expelled from the Paradise and we, their descendants, suffer the consequences. Since then, Satan and his cohorts never stop harassing and luring men and women of all ages to turn away from God. They know that never reenter their homeland, but it is more than enough to bring all human into their ruin.

Though they are fallen, in nature they are still an angel. Thus, they exceedingly outsmart and outplay us. Left by ourselves, we do not stand a chance against the demons. But, today’s Gospel tells us that we should not worry because Jesus convincingly outshines Satan, even in his human nature! In the first week of Lent, we are reminded that how fragile we are and how strong our enemies are, but we must not fret because the battle is not ours, but primarily and ultimately God’s. We are invited to renounce the Devil and his works and lovingly move closer toward God who is our strength and salvation. As St. Paul would strengthen us in the hour of temptation, “Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil (Eph 6:10-11).”

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP