Matthew 4:1-4
4Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”4But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
I weighed myself this morning. I was one pound heavier than yesterday. How did that happen? Ugh! It's a constant battle in my life. Do I eat that extra piece of pizza? Do I grab a handful of dark chocolate peanut M&Ms from the jar by my desk? Do I super-size it, or accept the smallish regular size? And yes, I like my cake a la mode.
I struggle daily with the temptation of food. The percentage of Americans who are overweight tells me that I'm not alone.
Immediately after hearing the voice of the Father saying he was God's beloved son, Jesus left John and the Jordan behind and made his way to the wilderness to fast and pray for forty days. The wilderness of Judea is breathtakingly beautiful. It is a desert made up of mountains and hills and hundreds of ravines cut by rivers that flow when the rains come. Caves line the walls of the ravines and the sides of the mountains. Once, thousands of monks lived in those caves; a few monks who still live there can be found in one of the handful of monasteries built into those mountainsides.
Jesus came to the desert to fast for forty days, just as Moses and Elijah had done centuries before him. Fasting is difficult because food is our most basic of needs. Our brains are wired to be looking constantly for the next meal. Fasting is a way of reminding ourselves that we "do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
The devil came to Jesus near the end of his fast. I doubt that the devil appeared in physical form; instead, he probably came as he does when tempting or testing us, through a whisper or a thought planted in our brain that will not let us go. The temptation was for Jesus to break his fast and eat. It was food the tempter tested him with, just as he had tested Adam and Eve in the Garden long before.
Interpreters have seen much more in this temptation. The devil twice remarked, "If you ar the Son of God..." as if Jesus' struggle was whether he really believed what God had said at the Jordan River. This is precisely how the devil tempted Adam and Eve: "Did God really say not to eat the fruit of this treee?" (Genesis 3:1). Perhaps Jesus' real temptation was to use his power to alleviate the hunger he felt, just as later he was tempted to use his power to avoid the cross. Maybe the devil was planting a seed in his mind that if he could turn stones to bread, he might also win followers while bypassing the cross. All of these thoughts may have been part of the temptation that day.
Ultimately, as I read this temptation, I remember that Jesus was tempted by the very thing I struggle with each day. He had the self-control to say no to the devil's whispers, to neither break fast nor use his powers for self-preservation. Jesus reminded himself and the devil that we don't live by bread alone. We live by the words that proceed from the mouth of God. Thin, in the end, is the point of fasting.
Jesus, thank you for revealing the story of your temptation to the disciples, who share those stories with us. It is good to know that you, too, struggled with temptation. Help me in my struggles with the tempter. Amen.
Adam Hamilton, The Way-40 Days of Reflection
I weighed myself this morning. I was one pound heavier than yesterday. How did that happen? Ugh! It's a constant battle in my life. Do I eat that extra piece of pizza? Do I grab a handful of dark chocolate peanut M&Ms from the jar by my desk? Do I super-size it, or accept the smallish regular size? And yes, I like my cake a la mode.
I struggle daily with the temptation of food. The percentage of Americans who are overweight tells me that I'm not alone.
Immediately after hearing the voice of the Father saying he was God's beloved son, Jesus left John and the Jordan behind and made his way to the wilderness to fast and pray for forty days. The wilderness of Judea is breathtakingly beautiful. It is a desert made up of mountains and hills and hundreds of ravines cut by rivers that flow when the rains come. Caves line the walls of the ravines and the sides of the mountains. Once, thousands of monks lived in those caves; a few monks who still live there can be found in one of the handful of monasteries built into those mountainsides.
Jesus came to the desert to fast for forty days, just as Moses and Elijah had done centuries before him. Fasting is difficult because food is our most basic of needs. Our brains are wired to be looking constantly for the next meal. Fasting is a way of reminding ourselves that we "do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
The devil came to Jesus near the end of his fast. I doubt that the devil appeared in physical form; instead, he probably came as he does when tempting or testing us, through a whisper or a thought planted in our brain that will not let us go. The temptation was for Jesus to break his fast and eat. It was food the tempter tested him with, just as he had tested Adam and Eve in the Garden long before.
Interpreters have seen much more in this temptation. The devil twice remarked, "If you ar the Son of God..." as if Jesus' struggle was whether he really believed what God had said at the Jordan River. This is precisely how the devil tempted Adam and Eve: "Did God really say not to eat the fruit of this treee?" (Genesis 3:1). Perhaps Jesus' real temptation was to use his power to alleviate the hunger he felt, just as later he was tempted to use his power to avoid the cross. Maybe the devil was planting a seed in his mind that if he could turn stones to bread, he might also win followers while bypassing the cross. All of these thoughts may have been part of the temptation that day.
Ultimately, as I read this temptation, I remember that Jesus was tempted by the very thing I struggle with each day. He had the self-control to say no to the devil's whispers, to neither break fast nor use his powers for self-preservation. Jesus reminded himself and the devil that we don't live by bread alone. We live by the words that proceed from the mouth of God. Thin, in the end, is the point of fasting.
Jesus, thank you for revealing the story of your temptation to the disciples, who share those stories with us. It is good to know that you, too, struggled with temptation. Help me in my struggles with the tempter. Amen.
Adam Hamilton, The Way-40 Days of Reflection
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