Devotion for February 18, 2016

Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve (Luke 22:3; NIV).

            Satan’s opportune time was Holy Week. He found Judas, disgruntled, confused, frustrated, and the ancient enemy turned him to his own purposes.

            Here’s the thing that Luke wants us to see: it’s true that Judas bears responsibility for his decision. (The Bible nowhere teaches that “the devil made me do it” is an adequate defense.) But there is something greater, more nefarious at work. The ancient struggle between the serpent and the true God is being brought to its culmination. The cross is the moment when the serpent strikes the Seed’s heel and the serpent’s head is crushed in return.

            That’s not apparent on the cross, of course. On the cross, we can imagine that Satan holds out hope that he can disrupt God’s purposes right to the very end. On the cross, we can imagine that Satan holds out hope that Jesus will renounce the ways of God, just like Adam did so long ago. But Jesus dies in faithful obedience to the Father and Satan’s plans come to nothing. The resurrection proves that the wound the serpent inflicted is not permanently fatal to Jesus.

            An ancient struggle comes to its climax in Holy Week, and our foe, who’s never quite done with us, loses. Satan is still dangerous to us, but in Christ we are ‘more than conquerors’ (Rom. 8)