Not by Bread Alone
“After fasting forty days and forty nights, 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 4:2-4
With what do you feed your deepest hungers?
A real treat for me during my childhood years was a trip to the state fair or traveling circus. Food was one of the most memorable aspects of the trip. It was food we did not eat on any normal basis—corndogs dipped in ketchup, thick salty pretzels slathered with mustard, funnel cakes sprinkled with powdered sugar, and, of course, cotton candy in a wide variety of colors.
Cotton candy must be one of the most unusual of all sweet treats—a moment of sweetness on the lips and tongue, but with no nutritional value to feed the body and no substance to feed one’s hunger.
Cotton candy may also be one of the most metaphoric of foods—for there are many, many experiences in life that may give momentary delight, but do not really fill our deepest needs. We see this played out rather liberally in human culture—healthy eating shifts to gluttony, social drinking to alcoholism, sexual experimentation replaces authentic intimacy, a healthy work ethic gives way to voracious ambition. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with food, drink, sex or work—it is when any of these is transformed as a “food source” for the soul that things get out of whack.
We know after Jesus’ 40 days and nights, He was hungry. So, when the tempter made his first attack, he made a run at the most obvious target—physical hunger. Jesus knew better. Jesus did not play into the game.
Jesus did not diminish the value of physical bread, noting that humans do, in fact, live by such bread; it is just that they do not live by that bread alone—there is a greater bread. Jesus suggested we should pray for daily bread; He used bread as the enduring symbol of His body offered for the sake of humankind; and He called himself, “the bread of life.”[1] By telling His followers to pray for bread to nourish the body, He was affirming our vital need for bread in our daily living; but by calling Himself the bread of life, Jesus shows us the way to nourishment for eternal living.
Bread is good, but it does not last. If left uneaten, it molds and become useless, and even when eaten, it eventually is digested and leaves the body as waste. When we grab hold of things not meant to last and put them in their wrongful place, we will find ourselves not just disappointed, but without nourishment.
So with what are you feeding your deepest hunger? Cotton candy or the bread of life?
[1] Matthew 6:11; 26:26; John 6:41, 48, 51.
