by Mark Stenberg
Gospel Reading: Luke 10:1-20
For Sunday, July 7, 2013: Year C—Ordinary 14
Pretend you know nothing about Satan. Cleanse your palette of the Milton, the Dante, the spiritual warfare types who count the number of demons who live in the Minot, North Dakota sewer system. And just look at what the gospels actually say about Satan.
Far from being magical or fantastic, the gospels use pretty simple language. Satan is called "the tempter," "the accuser," the "prince of this world," "the prince of darkness," "the murderer from the beginning." A functional reading of Satan in Luke makes it clear that Satan is the one hiding in the background, delighting in the violence of the Roman Empire and orchestrating the death of Jesus. Sounds like a Satan you can really sink your teeth into, right?
The Set Up
That "Satan falling like lightning" verse used to freak me out. But now I love it. The very recent move to read Paul and Luke and the whole Bible in political terms has ripped open all this mysterious ancient language and suddenly made it so much fun to be a preacher again.
In our text last week, Jesus "set his face toward Jerusalem." It’s a big big turn in Luke's story: Jesus accepts his call and anticipates the violence he is walking into with his eyes wide open. And I think that's the proper context for understanding Jesus' vision about Satan's fall.
The Success of the Disciples
At the beginning of this text, Jesus sends out "seventy others," two by two, with some very specific instructions. Stuff like "carry no purse," "greet no one on the road," "eat what is set before you," and "cure the sick."
And so they venture out and actually have some success! "The seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" (vs. 17). And while they were out on their mission venture, Jesus has this vision.
The Money Shot: "I saw Satan Fall Like Lightning."
Satan is the accuser, the prince of this world, the author of violence and desire and greed. Satan is in cahoots with Kings and dictators and Caesars. Personified or not, Satan was the force behind the brutality of the Roman Empire under Tiberius when Jesus was crucified.
So, before it all happens, Jesus' sees this vision. And his comment: "I saw Satan fall like lightening" is best taken as a passion prediction. A prediction about the effect that Jesus' passion, Jesus' journey into death, will have on Satan's reign. None of us can see it directly. Only Jesus has access to this direct vision. But perhaps, even though our backs our turned, we can still see the clouds light up on the horizon and hear the distant thunder of our spell of violence being broken.
The Dialectic of God's Action and Our Response
The disciples return from their two-by-two mission. The temptation here is to get a big head. To think they have superpowers. To think that they, through their actions, can usher in the Kingdom of God. But their success in battling demons is really only because of Jesus and his setting his face toward Jerusalem. Satan, the violent one who sows these seeds of destruction, has been overcome.
We can't see it directly. Our backs are mostly turned. But off on the horizon in the night time sky we can see the clouds faintly lit up. And we are called into this mess, not as superheros, but "like lambs in the midst of wolves." Yep. That'll preach.
But Why All the Magic?
Okay. That seems like a super fun and coherent and politically charged reading of this text. But mixed in throughout these verses are all of these crazy elements that can only be described as magical. "Greet no one on the road?" "If anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you?" "I have given you authority ot tread on snakes and scorpions?" "And nothing will hurt you?" This political reading of Luke and of Satan is so compelling. But the hardest question won't go away...
The Hardest Question
In the midst of this compelling and concrete vision of the fall of Satan, why does Jesus give these 70 followers such specific, magical insructions?
Mark Stenberg is a trained academic theologian who got side-tracked planting churches. He started House of Mercy House of Mercy, with co-pastors Debbie Blue and Russell Rathbun in 1996 and ten years later he left that call to launch Mercy Seat Lutheran Church along with his current colleague, Kae Evensen. Mark holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University where he studied philosophy with the likes of Jürgen Habermas. He is also an adjunct professor at Luther Seminary, teaching in homiletics and in the D.Min. program. Mark lost his spouse to cancer in March of 2007 but is profoundly grateful for every moment he gets to spend with his amazing children, Angela and Mateo.
