“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
John 12:27, NIV
It’s Monday of Holy Week. The grass is greening in the warm sunshine. The church custodian has just finished vacuuming the last traces of the palm fronds waved in worship yesterday. The hymnals have been returned to their places in the pew racks. The sanctuary is vacant; the people are living through their daily routines elsewhere. Jesus is quiet.
It’s Tuesday of Holy Week. Any memory of worship this past Sunday is long-since gone. What was the third hymn? What scripture passage did the pastor read? What did I have for lunch? Jesus is beginning to make a stir, healing and teaching and preaching. The people have mostly forgotten the grand parade that took place when he entered the city just two days prior. Life moves on.
It’s Wednesday of Holy Week. Jesus enters the temple to find that the people have turned it into a marketplace. A new vendor just visited the church office with a sales pitch. The high school athletics fundraiser is in full swing, and the church staff are reliable buyers. The Son of Man is whipping and flipping and trying to clean up the mess we’ve made of this world. Outside, life continues as usual.
It’s Thursday of Holy Week. The fellowship meal turns into a sermon about servant leaders, humility, sin, and forgiveness. One of the guests will sell out, one of the guests will lie, the host of the meal will be dead in mere days. The people, feet washed and fed, grow tired of the sermon and drift into daydreams.
It’s Friday of Holy Week. The crowds gather. The excitement swells. The charges are levied. The sentence proclaimed. Then death. Then the excitement is over. Some will say it was a good day. Others won’t remember the details all that clearly. The people return to their homes and go about their chores.
It’s Saturday of Holy Week. The clouds gather. The Son of Man has gone straight to Hell on the account of all those who were too busy to pay any attention to the world around them. The sacrificial lamb has been slain without appreciation, an offering for the very souls of those who lied and cheated and murdered him. The people ‘observe’ the sabbath, playing golf in the warming springtime air, washing their car in the driveway, cooking hot dogs on the grill. Try as they might, the fires of Hell cannot consume The Christ.
***
For weeks we’ve observed the things that seem particularly attractive to the Devil. We’ve assigned all manner of blame to the Evil One for the woes of this world. We’ve struggled with our own anxieties and fears, depression in times of loneliness. We’ve fought any sense of change God might be calling us to in our lives. We’ve bent the rules toward our humanity rather than bending our humanity toward God’s law. We’ve struggled with temptation just as Adam and Eve struggled. We’ve broken every promise we’ve ever made. And still, we blame the Devil for our downfall. The talking snake in the Garden of Eden. The beautiful stranger who seduced you against your will. The voice of apathy, lethargy, laziness, ambivalence - it couldn’t have been your own inner voice. The Devil made you do it.
Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
John 12: 31-32
Don’t be fooled - the Devil is real. I believe the Devil is as sinister - if not more - as anyone has ever described. I believe he is ruthless and cunning in his quest to destroy the relationship between God and humankind. I do not, however, believe the Devil uses his own hands to do the dirty work of bringing Hell to earth very often. I believe he enjoys relaxing on the sidelines watching each one of us humans run the play of sin and misery and breaking relationships for him. I play that part, and you play that part, and we do it so well. You get your hands dirty with the details of sin and misery and brokenness. And for that, the Devil loves you.
The Devil loves you when you sin, suffer, and sever your relationships, especially your relationship with God. The Devil loves you like a parasite growing within you that feeds on your lifeblood. The Devil has no real power on earth - his power is limited to only how he might use humans to do his bidding. The Devil loves you because he is powerless without you, and just like a narcissistic ‘ex,’ he only loves you in so much as he can use you. The truth is, the Devil loves you because he needs you. He can do so little without your hands and your heart turned toward darkness. On the other hand, you don’t need the Devil. The creature needs only the providence and sustenance of her Creator. We need only God. You could easily live, and live abundantly, without the Devil. The Devil would be revealed for the scam he is without your admiration, your addictive infatuation, your turning away from God to serve a counterfeit ruler of this world.
“You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.”
John 12: 35-36
By the end of the day Saturday, it’s been a hell of a Holy Week. Why, then do we call it holy? Because, for Sunday’s sunrise to show God’s glory, we must have the weary week of darkness behind us. Christ’s resurrection happened once, but happened for all and for always. While the darkness of the ruler of this world is mostly the projections of the shadows our own actions cast upon each other, the deepest darkness of death has lost its sting. Conquering the grave and rising from the dead, Jesus makes all things possible.
But for now… it’s getting darker day by day, and you can’t see where you are going. And though Jesus has already died for you, the Devil still has you convinced that he loves you.
Come, Holy Jesus.
J.M.D.