On the Corruption of my Childhood Babysitter

Read Luke 4:1-13.

"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil." (Luke 4:1-2).

I had a babysitter once who got into an argument with me on the existence of the devil. At one point she thrust her open Bible in front of my face and with her blood-red nails, traced some words my five year old eyes could not yet read. There were drawings too of the chief demon embedded in the text. So with a fierce urgency, I left her to wake up my younger sister to tell her we had to get Dad to church. Otherwise he was going to burn. She hid under her covers and cried. I whole-heartedly agree with Martin Luther when he wrote that the devil likes nothing better than for us to actually pay him attention. As long as we pay attention to the devil, we are not paying attention to God. So for many years, and with the memory of that babysitter seared on my soul, I held this story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness at a distance.

And then I discovered the mysteries of biblical wilderness places. (I also discovered John Milton but I won't go there.) Much is revealed in these harsh landscapes. We see in a different way when confronted by the scarcity and fragility of life. So I studied this story with a renewed interest and a little less skepticism. What I discovered is that Jesus also ignores the devil in a way. He just never really enters the argument the devil wants to have.

At one point in my chaplaincy program, my supervisor commented that Lucifer means light-bearer in Latin. Now I know this name is never used in the New Testament. But given how our culture associates the titles Devil and Satan and Lucifer, it meant something to me when he said that. What if that's the devil's job: to bear light by which we may see with clarity the darkest of human capacity? Because what kinds of other temptations are there that could be worse than believing that life has no meaning, or that we can serve power and wealth over God, or that ultimately, we are alone? I mean really, those are pretty bad.

So now I love this story. I love it because of its bright truth. I love it because the devil is just the devil. I love it because unlike us, Jesus never falters.

Reflection

• Have you ever journeyed into a physical or spiritual wilderness?
• Who was waiting for you there?
• What tempted you?

Prayer

Jesus, Son of God, our wisdom and strength, guide us in our most vulnerable moments to a vision of your love for us. Help us keep the integrity of our faith. In your name we pray, Amen