The name Satan conjures up monstrous images; such as a maleficent horned creature robed in red. If rendered human, still the images are monstrous, conjuring up evil people. The word evil, however, was originally defined as an adversary. It could mean one was in league with the devil but that name too lacks the monstrous image. Devil essentially means one who slanders, meaning an adversary to truth, reality. Devil is simply the Greek translation of the Hebrew Satan, adversary. Satan originally signified, as in the story of Job, a type of prosecutor. Satan is thus a name given to someone or something that opposes us or trips us up.
What is to be made then of Jesus’ name calling with Peter, saying to him, “Get behind me, Satan.”? It’s especially noteworthy given Peter just finished naming Jesus ‘Christ’ and Jesus in turn renamed the former Simon, as Peter, meaning Rock. One lesson perhaps to be made of the Jesus Peter naming exchange is to be more deeply aware of a human being’s essence. By calling Peter an adversary Jesus is letting him know Peter has forgotten his essence. We are all of us children of God/Mystery, all that is beautiful and true. It is vital we live by this truth especially in conflict. When we are in conflict we are tempted to dehumanize another person, to forget they are a child of God. We are tempted to treat them more as an enemy to be destroyed than as an adversary to be befriended. We need to resist the temptation. We need to re-humanize the person we have made into an enemy Could we do this with other human beings whom we have judged evil? Could we re-humanize them? Doing so might re-humanize us too. We can all of us be more full and engaging human beings with each other. We can more intentionally engaging with those we think are not. We can help them and us become less evil or adversarial and become more fully human. It is naïve to believe that judging people as enemies, hating them, and being violent towards them could be helpful.
That old childhood saying never was true: Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. Names can make all the difference in the world. Let’s name each other children of God; brothers and sisters in one human family.
Prayer: Creator of all, help me to remember every person is created in the same beautiful image and likeness.
Question: Who are the people I need to re-humanize?
August 31, 2014 Gospel Matthew 16:21-27 Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time