Let me tell you a little about myself. I have the neatest job in the whole world. I’m the devil’s recorder – I keep track of everything the devil does. He doesn’t have time to keep a diary, so that’s what I do for him, except I write it about him, instead of in first person.

Now I know everyone thinks the devil is a bad guy, and that’s true. He causes a lot of problems for everyone. He creates really bad circumstances and gets a lot of people into trouble. He IS a bad guy. But as someone to work for, he’s not so bad. I get some really nice benefits in my job.

For one thing, I get to travel a lot. I don’t spend much time in that hot place, which is good, because it really is hot. And because we travel so much, I get to eat out – sometimes at very fancy places.

But, of course, I do have to be careful what I write, because if I make the devil mad . . . did I tell you it’s VERY hot back there?

Probably my hardest assignment was a very long time ago, nearly 2,000 years the way you measure time.

A fellow named Jesus had just had one of those mountain-top experiences. Not that he had literally been on a mountaintop, but the kind where you’ve been affirmed about as much as possible. Jesus had gone to that John fellow, the one who had been baptizing lots of people.

John had been bad for our business, telling people to repent, to turn their lives around. Tax collectors were only to collect what was required, not any extra. Now that was hard for us, because the people would not lose so much of their incomes, and they’d be able to feed their families. That would make life easier for them, so they would be less likely to do the devil’s work.

Soldiers were to treat people with respect, and you can just imagine how much hatred and animosity that would eliminate. Like I said, John was bad for business.

So this Jesus goes to John and gets baptized. Now Jesus was certainly not one of the devil’s best customers. We’d had a hard time with him all along. The devil figured this connection with John was not going to help.

But then . . . things started to look up. After the baptism – did I mention it was a chilly, overcast day? After the baptism, the clouds broke and the sun came out – like in an instant. And a voice spoke. The devil and I know that voice well, and we both ducked behind cover when the sun appeared. “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” And that pesky dove came down and landed on Jesus’ shoulder.

Now that may sound like bad news for the devil, but actually, human beings have a tendency to fall apart after an experience like that. You may remember Elijah – after God rained fire down on his offering to defeat the priests of Baal, after God broke the drought and let loose with really wet rain, after Elijah beat Ahab’s chariot back to Jerusalem, actually, that was when he was weakest and most vulnerable. That’s when my employer was able to get into his head and convince him that he, Elijah, was the only God-worshiper left.

And it worked for a while. Elijah took off running again, but this time to the wilderness. Ah, the wilderness. That’s the best place for the devil to do his work, because people feel alone and abandoned there. They’re much more vulnerable.

Unfortunately for us, Elijah went up that mountain and met God there. The devil tried to blast him off the mountain with a fierce wind, with an earthquake, even a fire. But God covered him safe in the cave and then reminded the man that the divine was not to be found in destruction.

Anyway, back to Jesus. He’d just had this wonderful experience, like Elijah, and then he headed out to the wilderness, all alone, with that dove leading him.

We thought we had it made for sure. Jesus would be all giddy and puffed up, and he was heading for the devil’s territory. Wait a little while, after he fasted for a while, so his body would be weaker, his mind would be weaker, and we would have him.

My employer has a fancy bag of tricks. He’s worked with human beings for a very long time, since shortly after creation, and he reads people pretty well. He’s had lots of practice, and he usually gets what he wants.

So when he thought the time was right, he announced himself to Jesus. I grabbed my pen and notebook and started recording. They exchanged pleasantries, discussing the scenery and the weather. Then my employer made his first attempt – food. Jesus had gone without eating for a long time, so the idea of changing stones into bread was really a two-sided offer. First, it implied that Jesus had the power to actually turn stones into bread! Basically, two kinds of people fell for this one – the proud and arrogant, who think they can do anything, and those with special God-given abilities. Jesus was clearly not in the first category, although those were the easier to tempt this way.

This temptation had another side, a very practical side. We know that food, bread, is necessary for survival, and people die for a lack of it. But if someone could change rocks, which are everywhere, into bread, there would be plenty for everyone and nobody would go hungry.

Good temptation, I thought, and gave it a five-star rating.

Unfortunately, Jesus had a six-star response. “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’“
Now I have to admit that I thought the devil’s next try was out of order, but he’s the expert. I didn’t put my thoughts down on paper, just what they each said and did. After all, that was my job, not editorializing, which might get me sent back to that hot place.

He showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and then said, “Worship me, and I’ll give you everything. All of this. All of these.”

I really did think he tipped his hand a little too soon. Jesus wasn’t hungry enough yet. He’d already turned down physical food, so going for “everything” didn’t seem appropriate yet. And apparently it wasn’t, because Jesus quoted him that “Worship only God” thing.

Ah, so much easier said than done. Lots of people quote that, but they don’t live it. They go for the good life, good food, a big house – in your time, the big TV and the SUV and the 10,000 square foot mansion. They worship things, not God, and we, the devil and I, we win every time! But Jesus meant it, as you will soon see . . . uh, hear.

Now the devil made one more try. He took Jesus to the top of the Temple. That really surprised me, because the Temple is enemy territory, but my employer wanted the tallest place he could find that was also the most public place. The Temple filled the bill perfectly.

Now imagine someone standing on top of the tallest building in Jerusalem. In this case, there were three of us, but the devil and I were wearing our invisible cloaks.

And people down below were wandering around, not expecting anything. They wouldn’t be looking up, because nobody would think there was any reason to look up.

But picture this, if you will. You’re standing on the ground, waiting for your turn to take your animal in to the priest for the sacrifice. Suddenly you hear someone yell. Strange, because the yell comes from above, not from someone around you.

So you look up, and you see a person hurtling to the ground. You gasp, because he’s going to hit right in front of you. Your bull, frightened by the missile coming straight for him, jerks away, bellowing, and gallops off – such as bulls gallop.

But suddenly you realize that this man is not alone, and he is not hurtling to the ground any more. Two beings, dressed in white, gently flapping their wings, have caught him and are carefully lowering him into the Temple compound.

“Wow!” You hear gasps from several hundred throats. “That’s really something!” You think, “This must be someone very special if God sends two angels to rescue him.”

You rush over to where he is standing, straightening his robe. You fall on your knees, kissing the hem of his gown. “You must be the Son of God!” you exclaim.

Well, anyway, that’s the way the devil and I imagined it would go. And the crowds would flock around Jesus and everyone would follow him. And only Jesus, the devil and I – well, God, too – would know that Jesus owed it all to the devil.

But, you know that’s not the way it happened. Even offering Jesus the easy way to fame and glory didn’t work. I have to admit, I think I would have taken the devil’s offer rather than the way Jesus took. But the trouble with Jesus was that he stood for something special. Remember that “Worship only God” thing? Jesus did that! He wasn’t looking for fame and glory. He wasn’t out for the “things” we seek. Jesus was concerned about people, particularly the outcasts and the outsiders.

To my surprise, the devil quit there. He’d never encountered someone like Jesus before. He just left Jesus there, standing on top of the Temple. Only, of course, he wasn’t really standing on the Temple in Jerusalem. We had only made that journey mentally, not physically. We were all still in the wilderness.
The devil saw them coming before I did, that pesky dove followed by two winged angels, bringing a basket of fruit, some meat, some bread, and some water. We knew that, with such reinforcements coming for Jesus, we didn’t stand a chance.

“Did you get it all down?” my employer asked.

“Yes,” I replied hesitantly.

“Well, rip it all up and run it through the shredder,” he snapped. “I don’t want any record of this. I don’t want people remembering how badly I failed. Destroy it completely,” he ordered.

Which I did, but the story must have leaked out somehow. I sure didn’t tell, and I know the devil didn’t. Must have been that Jesus fellow or some of his followers.

I kept an eye on Jesus for the next few years. He certainly was his Father’s Son. Even when we finally managed to stir up the authorities enough to kill him, to hang him on the cross, you know what he did? He forgave them! “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Only for a fleeting moment, just for a second, I wished I were on his side. In the end, I think he will win, because forgiveness . . . that trumps everything else. (But don’t tell the devil I said that!)

For consideration:
General Questions
1) How does this story follow its Scripture?
2) How does this story expand its Scripture for you?
3) What is the message of this story?
4) How does the message apply to us today?

Specific Questions
5) Why would the devil consider someone the weakest after being affirmed?
6) Jesus refused the devil’s challenge to turn rocks into bread, but later he fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish. How was that different?
7) Would people today worship someone who jumped off a tall building and was carried down by angels?
8) Why do we have such a hard time worshipping only God?