In his letter to the Ephesians Saint Paul writes “Put on the armor of God, so that you ay be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.” These armaments Paul speaks of include; truth, righteousness, readiness for the Gospel, and salvation. Finally, he directs us to “take the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.” Isn’t this exactly what Jesus does when he is tempted by the devil. Three times he is tempted and three times he uses the sword of the Spirit, His knowledge of scripture, to overcome the evil that approached him.
Did we notice how clever the devil was in this exchange? Twice he was blown out of the water when Jesus successfully defends himself by quoting scripture. Note what he does next. He fights fire with fire. After two unsuccessful attempts the devil himself uses God’s word against Jesus, quoting Psalm 91, and therein lays the rub. The devil can turn even scripture against us. I’m sure we can all recall some episode in the news or in life where God’s word has been used foolishly or for evil purpose. One example I recall from the news a few years ago concerned a non-denominational preacher from Florida (I think). He took a scripture about handling poisonous snakes out of context was bitten and later died, not because he didn’t have enough faith but because he took scripture out of context.
We see all manner of evil being wrought upon the world by misuse of God’s word. Our world has seen discrimination, hatred, intolerance and violence which have all been justified by both corrupt and well meaning people who use the Word of God not for building up the Kingdom but for their own agendas. The devil is not usually so overt in his temptations. More often than not we will see something good, like the Word of God, and are deceived into misusing it. There are a lot of good things in the world that we can be tempted with. Food for example nourishes our bodies but when misused and abused can lead to many health problems. Sexuality is a good thing. It brings married couples closer together and perpetuates not only the human race but the community of Christians as well. It can be misused and can even become a compulsion or an addiction causing great heartache within families and individuals. Studies indicate that a glass of wine at dinner might have beneficial health effects in moderation but we can see clearly how alcohol is abused and causes great suffering in our society. The list is endless.
Let us not be deceived. If we are to rid our world of suffering and evil we must bring it Christ. This Christ who took on human form 2000 years ago continues to take human form today in us, the Church. We are the body of Christ, the incarnation present to the world today. This presence is more visible to the world the more we allow Jesus to posses us. We do this by daily prayer, our unity with the community of believers, reception of the Sacraments and by our knowledge of scripture. This is also the way we can fend off the temptations of the devil in our lives.
Jesus had a tremendous knowledge of scripture. This knowledge was not supernatural, as a good Jew he was immersed in the Torah. It was as much a part of his life as breathing. Without this knowledge of scripture Jesus would not have had the ability to fend off these temptations. So it is with us. We need a real knowledge of scripture to win our own spiritual battles. Without this knowledge we go into the fight not with the sword of the Spirit, but with a butter knife.
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