“This is the
story of a time long ago – a time of myth and legend. When the ancient gods
were petty and cruel, and they plagued mankind with suffering, only one man dared
to challenge their power: Hercules.” -Hercules, the Legendary Journeys
Ok, I admit it, I totally watched Kevin Sorbo flex his well-oiled
muscles every Saturday on the TV show, Hercules – the Legendary Journeys. It
was awesomely bad, the perfect mix of Greek Mythology (well, –ish…) and
Hollywood cheese.
I actually have a point here, besides just reminding you how
very dorky I am. Or maybe not a point, but at least a question to explore, and
it goes like this: what’s the big deal about the devil?
Maybe I’m cynical, or naïve, or ignorant, but I must
confess, I just don’t get it. Why are Christians so concerned about Satan?
This question popped up again last December when our church
started reading Genesis together. The first thing that happens is God speaks
and everything spins in to motion and becomes.
The second thing that happens is God plays in the sandbox and makes some
people. And then the third thing happens where those first humans totally screw
the pooch (I may be paraphrasing) because…because…’cause why? I’m willing to
wager 95% of Christians will tell you it’s because the devil tempted Eve.
Yup, there’s that devil being all devil-y right from the
off!
Except, I kind of don’t think so. Mostly because that’s not
what it says. The Bible says snake. Sure, it’s a little weird that the snake is
talking and apparently walking around like it’s no big thang. But really, is
that any weirder than a lady made of rib bone? You can’t just make stuff up because
the story gets unusual!
No, Liz, several people insisted, the snake is the devil.
Why? Why does the story need a celestial antagonist? Why
does so much of our tradition and ritual center around fighting off Satan and
his minions?
Maybe a clear-cut bad guy help us make sense of a very
complicated and nuanced story. It’s why we like movies about WWII better than
WWI. WWI was a much more important war, historically speaking, but also much
more confusing. There are no good villains, just a bunch of countries trying to
do what’s in their own best interest. It’s not the stuff of high drama or even
good popcorn munching. Where’s the white knight rescuing Europe from Hitler?
Maybe the Bible is too much like the WWI narrative – vast and
snarled in a net of human complexities and historical realities that take time
and careful study to understand. We do it a great disservice when we boil the
biblical narrative of God’s relationship with humanity down to a Wild West
Showdown at the OK Corral.
Or maybe it’s just nice to have a scapegoat. Something goes
wrong; Satan’s fault. I do something bad; Devil made me do it. From the very
first sin, the man blames the woman, the woman blames the snake – humanity is
always looking to deflect responsibility.
When we ascribe to the devil all the power of evil in the
world, we create a false narrative in which we are helpless little humans just
trying to get by while the gods fight their petty battles. Does that narrative
maybe sound familiar? Like maybe we’ve co-opted Greek Mythology and pasted it
over the biblical story?
I like the Hercules show, I like mythology, but I don’t want
fairy tales mixed with church. Satan is not the ultimate enemy. Now, before you
burn me for a heretic, please turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15:26. “The last
enemy to be defeated is death.”
Death. Not the devil. What went wrong in the Garden? They
knew the difference between good and evil; they knew what sin was; they started
to die. Sin pays you back with death (Romans 6:23). James teaches that our own
lusts and desires tempt us and trap us, then that desire gives birth to sin, which
grows up to give us death (James 1:14-15).
We don’t have a devil problem, we have a death problem. It’s
killing everything and everyone around us. If you’re looking for a villain in
the story of humanity, it’s us. We’re selfish, greedy, judgmental, sources of
death. God came to us, walked among us, and in our fear and rage we brutally
murdered him.
But.
But.
God wins. He takes the worst we have to throw at him and
kicks death right in the teeth. And then he changes the whole story. The hero
no longer charges in and slays the dragon, our God charges in and forgives the
dragon. He heals us, redeems us, and takes away our death. He came to give us
life, all the life. His spirit is always with us, breathing life into our
comatose souls, allowing us to speak life into the creation around us.
Isn’t that a better story?
