Jesus is more than a fancy fiddler. Luke 4:1-13

In 1979 the Charlie Daniels Band was about to release their 7th album.  The band had written, rehearsed, and record all the song for the album when they realized the album didn’t contain a “fiddle song”.  Apparently in the 70s no self-respecting country album could be released without a “fiddle song” so, before the album was released the band went searching for the perfect fiddle song.  They started messing around with a tune written by Vassar Clements called Lonesome Fiddle Blues.   With that tune in mind Daniels began writing lyrics based on an American short story he remembered reading in high school, called The Devil and Daniel Webster, which was a retelling of the 16th century German classic Faust, which was an adaptation of the 1st century legend of Saint Theophilus the Penitent.  I would understand if you were unfamiliar with the previous versions of this story, but I would be shocked if Daniel’s version of the story, wasn’t at least a little familiar. 

Daniel’s version of the story went a little something like this, “The devil went down to Georgia. He was lookin' for a soul to steal. He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind, and he was willin' to make a deal, when he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot. And the devil jumped up on a hickory stump and said, "Boy, let me tell you what. I guess you didn't know it but I'm a fiddle player, too. And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you. Now, you play pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the devil his due. I'll bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, 'cause I think I'm better than you." The boy said, "My name's Johnny, and it might be a sin. But I'll take your bet, you're gonna regret, 'cause I'm the best that's ever been."”  Recognize the story now?  I thought you might.  

For those of you who haven’t heard the Devil Went Down to Georgia, I don’t want to ruin the ending for you, but spoiler alert, Johnny appears to defeat the devil with his fancy fiddle playing, thus forcing the devil to admit he had been beat and lay a golden fiddle at Johnny’s feet.  That is how most of these types of stories are told. In the Devil in Daniel Webster, the devil is outwitted in a courtroom by a fast-talking lawyer. In Faust, the devil is powerless to the pleading prayers of a pious wife.  In the legend of saint Theophilus the Penitent, the devil is outranked by the virgin Mary. 

We like to imagine we can outplay, outwit, outmaneuver the devil, but the truth is we are no match for the devil.  We get a sense of how dangerous the devil is in our gospel lesson from Luke 4:1-13.  There Luke tells us “1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert”. Jesus was at the Jordan river where he was baptized by John and identified by the voice from heaven as the beloved Son of God and savior of the world.  From the refreshing waters of the Jordan Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert “2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” Luke records only three of these temptations, but three temptations are all it takes to give us an idea of just how dangerous the devil really is.

For starters we notice the devil likes to take advantage of people when they are weak and vulnerable.  Jesus is in a desert and has been, for 40 days.  Jesus is isolated and alone, cut off from family and friends who might support and encourage Him.  Jesus is surrounded by wild animals that want to eat him and is likely strained and stressed by prolonged vigilance.  Jesus hasn’t eaten anything for 40 days and is physically weak with hunger.  However, what was a moment of vulnerability and weakness for Jesus was an “opportune time” for the devil.  The devil knows the best time to attack is when his prey is cut off from the support and encouragement of family and friends, when the worries and concerns of the world have mentally stressed them, and ailments of the body have physically afflicted them.  Moments of vulnerability and weakness are opportune times for the devil to attack. 

The devil is cold and callous, but he is also, well, devilishly clever.  The devil is not opposed to leading people into blatant blasphemy and complete apostacy but, more often than not, the devil chooses to sow subtle seeds of doubt. “3 The devil said to him [Jesus], “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”” On the surface it sounds like the devil is questioning who Jesus is, but in reality, the devil is tempting Jesus to question much more than that.  ‘If you are a child of God, why are you hungry? why are you strained and stressed? why are you isolated and alone?’  Shouldn’t a child of God be spared such suffering?  Perhaps you are not the beloved child of God that you think you are or perhaps He is not the loving God, you think Him to be?’ The devil likes to try sow seeds of doubt in the children of God because the devil has learned from centuries of experience that faith is like an old oak tree, it almost impossible to push an old oak tree down with blunt force, but if you can introduce just a little rot in the center of the tree… eventually it will fall down on its own.

Over the centuries the devil has labored to sow seeds of doubt in the hearts of God’s children, and he has discovered the seeds of doubt tend to grow quicker when fertilized with a little deception.  Which is why in verses 5-7 we read, “5 The devil led him [Jesus] up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” There is a rather obvious deception in these verses.  The devil takes his title as prince of this world too far and claims an ability to give things that are beyond his ability to give.  The devil is like a charlatan peddling snake oil and sadly, among desperate people, business is woefully good.  However, the greater deception is not in what the devil can or cannot give.  The greater deception is convincing God’s children that the heavenly Father is needlessly withholding blessings from them.  This sort of deception first proved effective on Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and has worked wonders on the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness and countless others who somehow got it in their mind that they should be rewarded for their worship with various permissions and pleasures.

The devil’s ability to sow seeds of doubt and defecate deception are concerning but personally I believe it is the devil’s ability to distort the Word of God that makes him downright dangerous.  For example, take another look at verses 9-11.  “9 The devil led him [Jesus]  to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”   The devil is quoting scripture; Psalm 91:11-12 to be specific.  It is a cleaver use of scripture, though not an entirely accurate use, and a completely out of context use of scripture.   The devil cleverly omitted the words “in all your ways” from the original passage so that he could distort the passage from a message of comfort and assurance into a passage which seems to condone reckless behavior.  The devil’s use of scripture is masterful, disturbingly so.  The devil has spent centuries studying the Word of God so that he can distort the Word of God to say whatever he wants it to say.  Throughout the centuries the devil’s ability to distort the Word of God has allowed him to deceive more than one scholar, therefore, it stands to reason the devil is capable of deceiving those who average about an hour a week in the Word of God.

The three temptations recorded in the gospels are all it takes to give us an idea of just how dangerous the devil really is.  Which is concerning for us because, despite what Charlie Daniels says, the devil never really left Georgia.  He is still prowling around looking for souls to steal.  He is looking for an opportune time to sow seeds of doubt, spread deception, and distort the Word of God in our communities, in our families, and in our own hearts.  The devil didn’t come to Georgia to only steal the souls of fiddle players.  The devil came to Georgia to steal your soul and If you think you have what it takes to go toe to toe with the devil, you’re a fool who fails to appreciate just how dangerous the devil really is. 

We are no match for the devil, but Jesus is.  I have taken a good amount of time to point out just how dangerous the devil is so that you don’t foolishly try to face him on your own.  But I don’t want you to leave here today afraid of the devil.  Jesus went into the desert to face the devil’s temptations as your vicarious substitute; that is Jesus faced the devil in your place.  Open your bible to the end of chapter three and you will find a genealogy that connects Jesus to Adam.  Then in Luke 4:2, Luke purposefully points out that Jesus was “hungry”; that is that Jesus’ human body had the same reaction your human body would have if you had not eaten for 40 days.  Further, all throughout His time in the desert being tempted by the devil Jesus chooses not to make use of any of His divine abilities; Jesus doesn’t zap the devil with a lightning bolt.   By inserting Jesus’ genealogy between His baptism in the Jordan and His temptation in the desert, by pointing out that Jesus has the same needs as you or me, by highlighting Jesus’ humanity, Luke makes it clear that Jesus is acting as your vicarious substitute; that Jesus is facing the devil in your place.

But Jesus didn’t just go into the desert to be your vicarious substitute, Jesus went into the desert to be your victorious champion.  The devil’s temptations were devilishly clever and over the years had proven to be dangerously effective, but Jesus overcame every single temptation with the words, “It is written”.  The devil tried to sow seeds of doubt in Jesus, but Jesus confessed His absolute trust in God when He said, “4… It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”  The devil tried to deceive Jesus with empty promises, but Jesus held to the truth and confessed,  “8… It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” The devil distorted the Word of God in an attempt to trick Jesus, but Jesus used God’s Word accurately and in context when He confessed, “12… It says [it is also written[1]]: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  With the Word of God Jesus, our victorious champion, overcame the devil’s temptations. 

The Charlie Daniels Band masterfully matched up a catchy tune with a cleaver story to create what is considered one of the greatest “fiddle songs” of all time.  However, the theology of the Devil Went Down to Georgia is not exactly what you would call good.  In fact, the theology presented in the Devil Went Down to Georgia is what we in the industry call heresy.  If you listen to The Devil Went Down to Georgia with a theological ear, you realize Johnny might have walked away with a golden fiddle, but the devil walked away with Johnny’s soul.  Johnny strongly suspected gambling with his soul was a sin, but he did it anyway.  Why?  Because he was greedy for a golden fiddle and, in his arrogance, bragged about being the best there’s ever been.  Charlie Daniels, like so many others, would like to believe we can outplay, outwit, outmaneuver the devil, but it turns out, it takes more than fancy fiddle playing to beat the devil.  Thankfully, Jesus our vicarious substitute and victorious champion is more than a fancy fiddler.  Amen.

[1] Matthew 4:6