HUMAN ADVERSARY (11 OF 49)
Scripture: Mark 8:31-38
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Human Adversary (11 of 49)
Series: Lectionary Year B, Lent 02
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 8:31-38
The character of Satan figures much more prominently in our popular social conscience than it ever does in the Bible. Sure, we find terms like devil, Satan, and Beelzebub in Biblical passages, but don't often reflect back our expectations. Job's Satan is not the figure we know from our cartoon depictions. The Hebrew there uses the definite article, which it never uses with proper names. Job's context does not refer to an entity in opposition to Yahweh's authority. This is a member of the heavenly court presenting a regular report before the throne. In Mark's text, the ''Satan'' in question is no celestial figure at all. It is Simon Peter, one of Jesus' own disciples. How then are we to understand and weigh our lives and opposition to God's purposes?
We know better than to blame the Devil for our own misdeeds. We know better than to cast responsibility for our own actions on any third party. Too much of our discourse and popular imagination, however, try to do just that. We conjure some evil third party as though they were the origin of all our failures. Cartoon depictions of Tom and Jerry's personal angels and devils floating above their shoulders come to mind. We know better, yet we find ourselves all too often wielding those false notions from the language of our social theological discourse. It is ingrained in the popular theological imagination within which we live and move.
We'd like to pretend our depictions of Satan come from the Bible, but they actually come from Greco-Roman mythologies filtered through the works of Virgil, Dante, John Milton, and various artists throughout history, right down to Walt Disney's Fantasia. The Bible never addresses the origin of this character we call Satan. He simply appears on the scene in our New Testament texts with little if any explanation regarding who he is, what he does, and where he comes from. Without recog ...
Series: Lectionary Year B, Lent 02
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 8:31-38
The character of Satan figures much more prominently in our popular social conscience than it ever does in the Bible. Sure, we find terms like devil, Satan, and Beelzebub in Biblical passages, but don't often reflect back our expectations. Job's Satan is not the figure we know from our cartoon depictions. The Hebrew there uses the definite article, which it never uses with proper names. Job's context does not refer to an entity in opposition to Yahweh's authority. This is a member of the heavenly court presenting a regular report before the throne. In Mark's text, the ''Satan'' in question is no celestial figure at all. It is Simon Peter, one of Jesus' own disciples. How then are we to understand and weigh our lives and opposition to God's purposes?
We know better than to blame the Devil for our own misdeeds. We know better than to cast responsibility for our own actions on any third party. Too much of our discourse and popular imagination, however, try to do just that. We conjure some evil third party as though they were the origin of all our failures. Cartoon depictions of Tom and Jerry's personal angels and devils floating above their shoulders come to mind. We know better, yet we find ourselves all too often wielding those false notions from the language of our social theological discourse. It is ingrained in the popular theological imagination within which we live and move.
We'd like to pretend our depictions of Satan come from the Bible, but they actually come from Greco-Roman mythologies filtered through the works of Virgil, Dante, John Milton, and various artists throughout history, right down to Walt Disney's Fantasia. The Bible never addresses the origin of this character we call Satan. He simply appears on the scene in our New Testament texts with little if any explanation regarding who he is, what he does, and where he comes from. Without recog ...
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