Bread?

This week’s Messenger is from Matthew chapter 4. Many of us are familiar with it; it is the temptation of Christ in the wilderness and the 40 days fast.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’ [Matthew 4:1-4]

The tempter knows Jesus is hungry and gives Jesus a command. An interesting twist on this story is about making stones into bread. This is not a natural process of bread making and is seen as a shortcut of a well-known process. Because it’s the work that goes into the bread that makes it meaningful, and delicious enough to feed both body and soul. Bread takes time. Place seed in the ground. Wait for rain and sun. Weed and harvest. Thresh and preserve. Grind. Add ingredients. Knead. Bake. Serve. Enjoy. Take leftover seed and place in the ground. Repeat. Shortcutting the process of satisfying human hunger (physical or spiritual) means the outcome can’t be as meaningful or as effective. And of course, Jesus extends the metaphor by saying that we don’t just live from bread, but from every word that comes from God. That God-bread bread creates community around the table, feeds the hungry body and soul, and requires us to reach out to others. In such a way, we’re to reject taking the easy way out when looking for solutions to real problems. Instead, we search for ways that create community, feed body and soul, reach out to the excluded. We won’t solve any of our current problems with the stone-bread of hatred, but we may do so with the God-bread of reconciliation. We are tempted every day to shortcut our processes with God. Politicians do it, advertising does it. We are bombarded with all the ways to short cut our way around God. Whether you attend church or not, take time in the 40 days between Ash Wednesday February 26 to Easter to listen to the gentle voice of God in your ear. Turn down the noise around you and listen for the offer of bread for your hunger.

Blessings, Nancy Trimble, Deacon