"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."  But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me." (Luke 22:31-34)   Here again is Satan, showing up at the opportune time.  But notice something curious: Satan has to ask permission to do what he does.  It's reminiscent of the opening scene of the book of Job where Satan is a member of God's royal court who holds the role of accuser (which is what the title "Satan" means in Hebrew).  You could think of Satan as the Crown Prosecutor.  And this prosecutor wants authority from the Crown to investigate the faith of Jesus disciples.  This very much is the Old Testament view of who "the Satan" is.  Of course, in New Testament accounts of "the Satan," we realize that this particular prosecutor does not necessarily have the cause of justice in mind.  He doesn't just want to investigate, he wants to sift the disciples like wheat: perhaps engage in less-than-noble schemes of entrapment, coercion, and other forms of temptation.  In other words, he is the spiritual embodiment of evil and lies.  He doesn't merely want to discover whether or not the disciples are unfaithful, he would like to ensure that they are.  But he still has to ask permission from the crown.  And that finally confirms again that God, while not sparing us from the evil and temptations of this world, is still finally in control.  And while Satan may be granted permission to "sift you all like wheat," all the while Jesus prays.  He is interceding for us now at the Father's right hand.  Jesus tells Peter plainly that his faith will fail.  Peter will betray Jesus.  Judas is not, apparently, the only disciple who would.  After Peter remarks that he will go to prison and death for Jesus, Jesus switches from calling him Simon to calling him Peter, harkening back to when Jesus first gave him this new name.  On this rock—Peter—Jesus would build his church, yet in the very next moment Jesus says to him: "get behind me, Satan!"  Similarly here: Jesus tells Peter: "you will deny three times that you know me." But Jesus is also praying.  And Jesus has confidence.  Not only in Peter's failure, but also in the fact that Peter will turn back.  "When you turn back," Jesus says, not "if."  And that turning around that Peter will do is what we might call "repentance." Repentance at the invitation, prayer, and enabling power of Jesus is what undoes the work of sin and Satan.  Though we may stand tempted, entrapped, and accused: Jesus continues to pray for us and to invite us to turn around—to repent and to believe.  Satan's power is never stronger than the word and work of Jesus.  He remains subservient to the Crown.  And so as Paul writes in Romans: "if God is for us, who can be against us?"  Indeed, nothing can separate us from his love for us in Jesus Christ, our Lord!  

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