Last semester as I was sitting in my Second Theology course I anticipated a great challenge. I hoped that I would learn proofs for the beliefs that I held very dear to my heart. However, as time went on truths were revealed that were earth shattering. Some of the things that I held dear to my heart where in fact false. As we sat for an hour and a half discussing atonement and what it meant the question came up, "Did Satan really know what was going on here?" Later that afternoon I started on my homework and found this very same question embedded in the assignment this time however I found it within a biblical text. "But He turned and said to Peter 'Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me for you not setting your mind on God's interests but man's." (Matt 16:23) I found this quite hard to stomach it appeared very clear to me in the text that Jesus was confronting an entity. I dismissed it almost immediately presuming that maybe he was simply talking to Peter in a descriptive tone. Peter had become a "satan" in a sense to Jesus. He was opposing Jesus and the will of God. The following class day this very question was brought up. "Could it be that Peter here is being called "Satan" as an adjective instead of a pronoun. The simply answer given by the professor "No." This made me have to go back to the drawing board and really think. How could this not be so. It was then that I remember Christ's temptation in the wilderness found in Matthew and Luke 4. Often times the temptations are broken up into individual temptations. As if they are unrelated however as they are written they are one literary unit. What is the motivation of the temptation. The first temptation is to alleviate suffering. In a sense the devil is saying you are God you don't really have to suffer your worth more than that come on let's end the suffering. When Jesus refuses to succumb he is taken to the pinnacle of the temple and instructed to throw himself down, to commit suicide. This too, Jesus refuses. For him the only means of death is the cross. and since these other tactics did not work then the devil tries something even more cunning. He offers to give Jesus something that Jesus is already going to obtain but prematurely if he will just worship him. It is after Jesus refusal this last time that the devil finally sees that he is going to get nowhere, and it is significant to see the words, "he left till a more opportune time." I find it coincidental that Jesus identifies satan tempting him only 14 chapters later which is about half way through his ministry. Again I had to ask the question did Satan really want the cross. I had my doubts so I continued researching. I found that the devils in several cases knew exactly who Jesus was the most glaring of all is the incident with the swine found in Matthew 8:28-34, Jesus and the diciples take the boat over to Gadarenes when they disembark they find a man who was severly demon possessed hiding out in the tombs the demons clearly identify him as the son of God and say something that intrigues me, "have you come to torment us before the time." At this I became fully convinced that there was previous knowledge of who Jesus was and what he was called to do. The devil knew what God was up to and would do anything to stop him. The devil entered Judas not to betray Jesus to the cross but rather to get Jesus to abandon the cross because of such a betrayal, as we later learned in class. So as pastors in training we had to ask the question why is this even important. The answer is this. Since Satan did not want the cross for Jesus why would he want the cross for us. He wouldn't therefore the "Bait of Satan" is not to take all of our money or health or any of the things that the Faith/Prosperity Gospel preachers pronounce is the measure of success in a christians life, rather it is the objective of the devil to rob from us, the Cross. This is the most important thing in all of history and all of christiandom because this is what will reconcile us to the father. The devil has always and will always despise that act, that sacrifice given to us by our wonderful God who wanted to bring humanity back to a place of wholeness. This is truly the devils whisper, stay away from the cross, it is not necessary, stay away from the cross your good enough on your own, stay away from that cross thing, it's the ultimate example of child abuse, stay away from the cross it hurts way to much. While God beckons us to remain true to the cross to embrace it in suffering and in Joy, in sickness and in health, in all that is our lot we must learn to look to the cross.
