Not by Bread Alone ...

"He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.  The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread" (Luke 4:2b-3). 

I am discovering that part of the power of observing Lent is the way it keeps uncovering my lust for control.  The giving up of one of my mini-addictions grades on my penchant to manipulate and therefore, control my life. I can no longer control my affect by anesthetizing my true feelings. And that has a way of driving me crazy. I don't want to feel sad so I reach for a bowl of blue bell ... but wait ... oh, that's right ... I gave that up.  Now I have to embrace my sadness and in so doing, try to understand it.  And that makes me anxious. I don't want to feel anxious so I reach for a diet-coke ... but wait ... oh, that's right ... I gave that up too.  Now I have to embrace my anxiety and in so doing, try to understand it. And that makes me grumpy.  I don't want to feel grumpy so I reach for ... well ... you get the point. Control.

Luke tells us that after forty days without food Jesus was hungry.  I'll bet he was grumpy too. I would be. Satan tempted him to reach for a stone and turn it into bread.  It was a temptation to take matters into his own hands.  Later Jesus would say, "What father, if his son asks him for bread, would give him a stone?"  The idea being that if earthly fathers know how to take care of their children, then surely our heavenly father knows how to take care of us.  But in the wilderness Satan told Jesus -- "Obviously, your heavenly father doesn't know how to take care of you.  You're hungry, and all your father has given you are these stones.  Why don't YOU turn them into bread?" Control. 

Bread had a long and historic place among the sacred Hebrew symbols. And the Hebrew people had a lot of sacred symbols.  Bread symbolized physical sustenance and health. It symbolized God's blessing.  Melchizedek, the king of peace, brought Abraham bread. Abraham gave bread to the angels who visited him. Esau sold his birthright for some stew and bread. Jacob stole his brother's blessing with some tasty food and bread. The sons of Jacob first went to Egypt in search of bread.  The people of God ate bitter herbs and bread as the angel of death passed over them.  They were sustained in the wilderness each day with manna (bread) and quail.  Bread was perpetually placed before God on the table of presence in the tabernacle. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." And the night before his death Jesus took the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, "This is my body."  

Satan wanted Jesus to make bread -- to take God by the collar and shake the blessing out of him.  Satan wanted Jesus to take control.  Jesus will get bread ... all the bread he wants ... he'll feed thousands with just a few loaves.  But before Jesus can do that -- before he can say, "I am the bread," he has to know what it feels like to be without bread.  He has to know the desperate feeling of the loss of control.  Whatever Jesus was feeling after forty days of fasting -- sad, anxious, grumpy, or whatever -- he had to embrace those feelings and know the full weight of them.  Before he could BE a savior he had to know what it feels like to need one. 

Jesus answered Satan, "Man does not live on bread alone."  Whatever it is that you are trying to control today ... try letting go.  Life does not consist of the things you control. Those are typically the things that help you cover up what you are really feeling. And what you are really feeling is the place where life is lived to the fullest. 

Three suggestions for this week from Sunday's sermon:

1. Do something selfless.

2. Do something spiritual.

3. Do something sacrificial.