“Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat”
Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. (Luke 22:31–32 BSB)
What it sounds like today
An ominous but vague threat.
The cultural key
Sifting is violent: grain shaken hard in a sieve so the kernels pass through and the debris is caught and discarded. Satan appears in his oldest role, the accuser demanding permission to test (as with Job). Greek grammar carries a detail English drops: the first 'you' is plural (Satan demanded all of you, the whole group) while 'I have prayed for you' is singular, aimed at Simon alone, with a job on the far side of failure: 'when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.'
Recovered meaning
The night's coming collapse is named in advance as a sieve, not a scrapheap: shaking designed to reveal what is grain. Peter's denial is predicted inside a prayer that has already outflanked it; his failure is real, and it is not final, and it comes with a commission attached.