God playing an April Fool’s joke on Satan, among other things:
Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 116:1-2,12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-7,31b-35
I think I must be a little odd, but I am absolutely loving that today is April Fool’s Day. Especially because today we celebrate the absolutely greatest April Fool’s prank ever – one that God played on Satan to perfection. Now before all y’all think Pastor has completely gone off his rocker, let me explain.
Tonight and tomorrow we’ll look at the most important event in all of human history, but when you really think about it, if everything stopped on Good Friday, it looks like Satan has won. For all of Luke’s gospel, Satan has been trying to get Jesus to fail in his mission. I’m really not entirely sure Satan knew exactly what Jesus was sent to Earth to accomplish, only that it would lead to his defeat. So when Jesus died, Satan thought that he succeeded. There was no way Jesus could win if he’s dead right? So on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, I think Satan was throwing a big party. Jesus was dead, and since there’s no coming back from dead he can’t beat Satan.
But here’s where God’s April Fools prank comes in, because we know that Jesus didn’t stay dead. The very event that Satan thought won it all for him turned out to be his undoing. Just when he thought he won, God raised Jesus from the dead – and not only that but extended the same gift of new life to the whole world.
One of the ways we remember this is through the celebration of Holy Communion. Let me put it this way. Throughout Lent, we’ve been taking a close look at our own sinfulness – all of the stuff that keeps us from loving God and each other like as much as we can. In Holy Communion we hear that God has forgiven us of that sinfulness and God brings us closer to him and to each other. When we think we’ve lost because of our sin, God tells us that we’re forgiven of that sin and that no matter our past, to God we are a new creation.
In Holy Communion, we reflect not only on Christ’s death and resurrection, but our own. We share a meal from God’s table with all those believers who have gone before us, as well as join in celebration with all believers still serving God on earth. In our second reading, Paul says, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again.” We assert through this meal that Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried – yet on the third day rose again.
And so, in preparation for sharing this meal, and to conclude the time of repentance we started on Ash Wednesday, I invite you all to stand as we join together in confessing our sin to God and hearing the wonderful words of forgiveness, continue our journey to the Table with Christ.
Question: I have heard this before, and I have tended to believe it without any scripture to back it up. But now I’m curious. I just read 1 Cor 2:8 “None of the rulers of this age understood it [God’s secret wisdom], for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” This seems to back it up for sure!
Where i get hazy is in Matthew 16 I think, When Jesus flat out says he will die AND RISE AGAIN. Peter rebukes him and Jesus calls him Satan! So Satan must have known that Jesus was saying this, but did he not believe him?
The guess the questions are: is the verse in 1 Cor speaking of Satan when it says “rulers of this age?” And/or does the verse in Matthew signify in any way that Satan knew what was going on? Or does it simply show his ignorance to the things of God…but seriously. If he knows God can’t lie…would he really think Jesus was lying?
Thoughts?
I’ve always ended up at the place where if Satan really knew that crucifying Jesus would, essentially, end Satan’s reign over the Earth, the crucifixion wouldn’t have happened. None of it is backed up with Scripture, but the idea that Satan went into the crucifixion thinking, “Well maybe he’ll just stay dead and I can say I’ve finally killed God”. Much of Satan’s downfall was pride (from some extra-Biblical sources, and the book of Job) so he may have just gotten the better of himself. It’s not exactly Biblical, but it’s one of those things that can be an effective teaching tool.