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\u201cSimon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. \xa0But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.\u201d\xa0 But he replied, \u201cLord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.\u201d Jesus answered, \u201cI tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.\u201d (Luke 22:31-34) \xa0 Here again is Satan, showing up at the opportune time.\xa0 But notice something curious: Satan has to ask permission to do what he does.\xa0

It\u2019s reminiscent of the opening scene of the book of Job where Satan is a member of God\u2019s royal court who holds the role of accuser (which is what the title \u201cSatan\u201d means in Hebrew).\xa0 You could think of Satan as the Crown Prosecutor.\xa0 And this prosecutor wants authority from the Crown to investigate the faith of Jesus disciples.\xa0 This very much is the Old Testament view of who \u201cthe Satan\u201d is.\xa0

Of course, in New Testament accounts of \u201cthe Satan,\u201d we realize that this particular prosecutor does not necessarily have the cause of justice in mind.\xa0 He doesn\u2019t just want to investigate, he wants to sift the disciples like wheat: perhaps engage in less-than-noble schemes of entrapment, coercion, and other forms of temptation.\xa0 In other words, he is the spiritual embodiment of evil and lies.\xa0 He doesn\u2019t merely want to discover whether or not the disciples are unfaithful, he would like to ensure that they are.\xa0 But he still has to ask permission from the crown.\xa0

And that finally confirms again that God, while not sparing us from the evil and temptations of this world, is still finally in control.\xa0 And while Satan may be granted permission to \u201csift you all like wheat,\u201d all the while Jesus prays.\xa0 He is interceding for us now at the Father\u2019s right hand.\xa0

Jesus tells Peter plainly that his faith will fail.\xa0 Peter will betray Jesus.\xa0 Judas is not, apparently, the only disciple who would.\xa0 After Peter remarks that he will go to prison and death for Jesus, Jesus switches from calling him Simon to calling him Peter, harkening back to when Jesus first gave him this new name.\xa0 On this rock\u2014Peter\u2014Jesus would build his church, yet in the very next moment Jesus says to him: \u201cget behind me, Satan!\u201d\xa0 Similarly here: Jesus tells Peter: \u201cyou will deny three times that you know me.\u201d

But Jesus is also praying. \xa0And Jesus has confidence. \xa0Not only in Peter\u2019s failure, but also in the fact that Peter will turn back.\xa0 \u201cWhen you turn back,\u201d Jesus says, not \u201cif.\u201d\xa0 And that turning around that Peter will do is what we might call \u201crepentance.\u201d

Repentance at the invitation, prayer, and enabling power of Jesus is what undoes the work of sin and Satan.\xa0 Though we may stand tempted, entrapped, and accused: Jesus continues to pray for us and to invite us to turn around\u2014to repent and to believe.\xa0 Satan\u2019s power is never stronger than the word and work of Jesus.\xa0 He remains subservient to the Crown.\xa0

And so as Paul writes in Romans: \u201cif God is for us, who can be against us?\u201d\xa0 Indeed, nothing can separate us from his love for us in Jesus Christ, our Lord!

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