Bible Passage: Luke 22:31,32
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: March 9, 2022

2022 Lent Evening Bulletin

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

As you well know by now, in our Lenten services this year we are spending some time with our Savior during “The Crucial Hours.”  Crucial…coming from the Latin word “crux,” which means “cross.”  These are the “cross” hours of Jesus, leading up to his “crucifixion,” again from “crux.”  His “cross”-ifiction.  These were intense hours for Jesus as his work of being this world’s Sin-Bearer reached its goal.

These were crucial, intense hours for his disciples, too.  They were about to hear and see strange things that would test them to their core.  Not to be missed in these crucial hours is the fevered rage of Satan.  Satan was coming after the disciples during these crucial hours!

It is Maundy Thursday night.  Jesus is with his disciples in the upper room.  Jesus addresses Peter, Simon, Simon, pay attention:  Satan has asked to have you all. (v. 31)  The first thing to notice is how Jesus addressed Peter.  Remember how “Simon” is his given name.  “Peter” was the nickname Jesus gave him.  Peter means “the rock.”  Jesus does not address him as “the rock-man.”  Not this night.

Satan has asked to have you all.  What a strange statement!  The word for “asked” could be translated “beg.”  Satan begged to have at the disciples.  Picture Satan before God and begging, “Let me have them!  Turn them over to me for a little while!  Just a few hours tonight!  Just give me a shot!”

Here is why Satan wanted a clear shot at Jesus’ disciples.  So that he may sift you as wheat.  Jesus is referring to the final step in the wheat harvest.  After the wheat has been harvested and winnowed in the wind, the final step was putting the heads of wheat into a sieve.  Think of a box with a screen on the bottom.  The heads of wheat would be shaken vigorously in the sieve to separate out the last impurities from the wheat.  Satan was asking permission to put the disciples in his “sieve.”  He wanted to shake them violently.  During these coming crucial hours, Satan wanted them to become so rattled that they would question everything they thought they knew about Jesus.

Does this remind you of a similar story in the Bible?  It sounds an awful lot like the story of Job in the Old Testament, doesn’t it?  Recall the beginning of the story when Satan asked permission from God to “shake” Job.  God gave permission, but with limits.  Satan “shook” Job by striking the things around him.  Job lost his flocks, herds, and servants. Even his children were killed in a horrible accident.  When this didn’t “shake” Job loose from his faith, Satan begged to “shake” Job some more.  God again gave his permission.  Satan afflicted Job with a painful skin disease.  Again, we note the strategic plan of the devil!  He wants to shake the living daylights out of God’s children so they might lose their faith!

Do we always understand that about Satan’s objective?  Satan wants to so shake your faith in Jesus that you question everything you think you know about him.  And here’s the really dirty, rotten part about Satan.  He will come at crucial hours.  When you are going through times in your life that try your soul, he will come!  When you are exhausted emotionally, physically, spiritually, he does not say, “Oh, he’s having a rough day.  She’s feeling overwhelmed right now.  That wouldn’t be very nice of me to shake them now!  I’ll wait until they are feeling a little stronger.  Give them a sporting chance.”  At life’s crucial moments, he is pulling at the leash, “Let me at him!  Let me at her!  Just give me an hour…one hour is all I need!”  Never forget the words of Luther’s hymn:  The old, evil foe, Now means deadly woe! Deep guile and great might, are his dread arms in fight. (CW 200:1)

But there is one mightier!  Did you notice in our text that Satan must ask God’s permission?  Satan is a beggar before God!  He can do only what God allows.  He can go only so far as God permits.

Also, in our text we see a counterweight to Satan’s begging.  We also see Jesus begging!  Jesus says, But I prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. (v. 32)  Astounding!  Satan begs permission to concuss and batter Peter so he falls.  Jesus begs the Father to keep Peter in his faith.  Here is Jesus the great Intercessor of believers.  Time and again in Scripture, we are told that Jesus intercedes for us.  In Romans 8 we are told that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Romans 8:34).  John would write to God’s children, If anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. (1 John 2:1)  Jesus still prays for you!

There is more comfort in our text.  Jesus says to Simon, …when you have returned to me. (v. 32) Oh, it was going to be a rough night for Simon!  Out by the bonfire, Simon was shaken and rattled to his core.  He panicked.  He denied Jesus.  Three times. Oh no!  Did Satan win?  Has Simon fallen beyond recovery? Will Simon be damned?  No.  Jesus’ prayer is answered!  Satan has shaken Simon, but his faith remains.  He turns to Jesus.  He RE-turns to Jesus.  And finds forgiveness.  He finds forgiveness in Jesus because of THE “crucial” hours, those “cross” hours from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Friday when Jesus hung on the “crux” and paid for Peter’s sin, and yours, too.  Those crucial hours when Jesus suffered the “excruciating” pain of crucifixion.  “Excruciating” by the way comes from the word “crux” too.  It means “from the cross.”  Because of those excruciating, crucial hours Jesus freed you forever from Satan.  Satan may beg for your damnation; but Jesus and his blood beg for your pardon and salvation.

When this night of shaking/falling/returning was done, Jesus had an assignment for Peter.  When you have returned to me, strengthen your brothers. (v. 32)  That’s what happens.  We come through a time of shaking and God wants us to become helpers to others who are being shaken.  Peter did become a source of strengthening for his brothers and sisters.  Peter was shaken by the devil, and would later strengthen us all by writing, Be self-controlled and alert, your adversary the devil roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith. (1 Peter 5:8).  Peter knew the relief of returning to Jesus, so he later strengthened us all,  For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:25)

Amen.

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