• "Pursuit"
• Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity
• June 12, 2005
• The Reverend Stephen C. Scarlett

One way to study the Trinity season epistles and gospels is to search for common themes. Today's lessons provide a common theme of pursuit. In the gospel (Luke 15:1f.) Jesus tells about the man who leaves the ninety-nine to pursue the one lost sheep and the woman who searches diligently for the lost coin. The epistle (1 Peter 5:5f.) speaks of a different kind of pursuit. St. Peter says, "Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (NKJV).

The image of the devil roaming about as a lion to devour is rooted in the Old Testament. One suspects that St. Peter was thinking about the description of the devil in Job. God asks Satan where he has been. Satan tells God that he has been going to and fro on the earth" and "walking up and down on it" (Job 1:7, 2:2).

Satan attempts to devour Job with various afflictions. Though Job suffers greatly, Satan is not successful in his primary goal of getting Job to curse God and surrender his faith. Job argues with God, but the very nature of his argument shows that he is still looking to God for his vindication. In the end, God passes sentence in favor of Job and Job's fortunes are restored twofold.

The story of Job reflects a larger biblical theme of the pursuit of the righteous by the wicked and the subsequent vindication of the righteous by God.

This is a central theme of the Psalms. Psalm 17 says of the wicked, "They have now surrounded us in our steps...As a lion is eager to tear his prey" (11-12). Psalm 10 says, "His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. He lies in wait secretly like a lion in his den" (9-10). The righteous sufferer of Psalm 22 says, Many bulls have surrounded Me: Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape upon Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion" (12-13).

In the Psalms, the afflicted righteous man asks God to deliver him. In Psalm 7, he prays, "O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all those who persecute me, and deliver me: Lest they tear me like a lion" (7:1-2). In Psalm 10 he prays, "Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the humble...Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man" (10:12-15). In Psalm 22 he prays, "Save me from the lion's mouth" (22:21). In Psalm 35 he prays, "Rescue my soul from their destructions, my life from the lions" (35:17).

Job and the Psalms point forward to the cross and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus, the righteous One, is afflicted by the devil in the wilderness temptation and in his passion. We are told of Judas, the betrayer, that "Satan entered him" (John 13:37). But Jesus put his trust in the Father. The prayers of the Psalms are, prophetically, his prayers. The Father heard him and vindicated him by raising him from the dead.

The theme of Job, the Psalms and the life of Jesus is also the theme of our lives. Being "in Christ" means sharing in both his struggle and his victory. The devil roams about as a roaring lion seeking to devour us, but we take our refuge in Christ. By diligence in the life of prayer, by the grace and armor of God, we hold on to our faith and emerge from our trials victorious-ultimately in our triumph over death in the Resurrection on the last day.

It is clear from the biblical story that life necessarily involves trial and suffering. In the epistle, St. Peter says that the God will make us perfect and establish and strengthen us only "after [we] have suffered a while." Romans says that we are heirs with Christ, "provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him" (8:17).

The ordinary course of life involves suffering in various ways, whether one believes in Christ or not. The unique aspect of demonic attack is that it is aimed at our faith. The devil uses temporal circumstances-sickness, disappointment, resentment-to undermine our faith in God and our obedience to his commandments.

When Jesus was tested in the wilderness, the danger was not that he might go hungry; the danger was that hunger might lead him to disobedience. The danger on the cross was not the Jesus might die; the danger was that he might turn from the Father in his suffering.

The devil roams about looking for vulnerable circumstances to use in his attack on our faith.. The devil does not triumph over us merely because we get sick or experience some sort of pain or misfortune or even because we die, for all human beings suffer these visible trials. The devil triumphs over us when he is able to use the visible struggle to lead to be unfaithful.

St. Peter says to be sober and vigilant. Vigilant means watchful. To be watchful is to keep watch in prayer for attacks on our soul as watchman looks out for attacks on a city. We are to be on the lookout for the test of faith that lies behind the visible trial. As we pray about the trials of life God gives us the wisdom to see what is really going on, to see how the evil one is trying to use our circumstances to undermine our faith and obedience. Then God gives us grace to faithfully persevere through the trial.

Sometimes the question is asked, "Why is God doing this to me?" In the biblical model, it is more accurate to say, "Why is God allowing the devil to do this to me?" The answer is that this is the story of mankind. We are to be tested like Adam and Eve, like Abraham, like Israel, like Job and like Jesus. As St. Peter says, "Resist [the devil] steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."

There are times when the attack of the roaring lion succeeds to some degree and leaves us wounded by the road. It is then that the other pursuer comes after us, leaving the ninety and nine to recover the one who is lost. For just as there is a malicious evil one who would lead us astray and devour us, so there is also a more powerful and loving Righteous One who would bring us back and give himself to us for food.