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Hello!
In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus faces temptation after fasting for forty days.
The first of three such temptations occurred once Jesus had completed His fast and His body craved food. "The tempter" came to Him and said, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." In response, Jesus quoted Scripture, specifically the Book of Deuteronomy, saying:
"...‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
What does this mean?
Seeing this exchange through a metaphysical lens, it is an illustration - and an instruction - for us that God (or, more to the point, the God-in-you / the Christ) does not operate outside the Law. Divine Law governs all, including the activity of Infinite Mind, out from which we spring forth as an Idea ("Christ"), expressed as "an eachness." In other words, God does not "perform miracles," if by that we mean that the workings of Mind (God) are something aberrant from natural law and Divine Order. God cannot - I repeat, cannot - function "outside" of, or in opposition to, God's Law. Because there is no separation, neither can we.
Spiritual Law dictates that material conditions cannot be resolved at the "level" of the condition. We are prospered and sustained by the Power of the Creative Word (Logos). This is our spiritual food, the "word that comes from the mouth of God." Transformation, healing, guidance, prosperity, peace - all the Divine Ideas we pray to be made manifest in our lives - begins in the mind, not in the material. Your ego would have you believe - and behave otherwise, if you / we let it.
In Unity, we understand the "feeding of the 5,000," the healing of the sick, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and other events of the kind not as "miracles," "performed" by Jesus, but as demonstrations of Divine Law - nothing more, nothing less. There is no "magic" here, because we are concerned with Law.
To seek spiritual sustenance ("bread") from the material realm "out there" ("stones") for one's own gain / glory is the temptation of the ego mind, represented by the devil in this Scriptural account. Life is lived from within-out, you see...
In Keep A True Lent, Charles Fillmore, Unity co-founder, wrote, "Divine law is the logical process by which divine principle, or God, manifests. The inner spirit of the law is the spiritual way of life that Jesus taught and lived... Divine law cannot be broken."
It has been said that the Lenten season being set as a 40 day period of fasting (with six feast days, being the Sundays, including Palm Sunday) was patterned after this accounting of Jesus's fasting and temptation in the wilderness. It is a time for us to prepare our minds to be filled by the "bread" of spiritual ideas, through prayer and meditation.
May we be reminded this day that, for every problem, there is a spiritual solution. Let us look within, and listen...
This coming Sunday is Passion Sunday, and the period of Lent called Passiontide will begin. Rev. Linda Tuttle will return to our platform, with an uplifting message called, "Playing With God." She will be supported by the musical gifts of Carisa Holmes and the Tony Bonardi Trio.
Speaking of musical gifts: Our Unity Community Choir will also gather after service this Sunday to rehearse for the Palm Sunday Service (March 29). If you're interested: Join us!
Thank you for being a vital part of this growing spiritual community!
Gratefully yours,
Daryn L. Wells, LUT
Editor-In-Chief
Scriptural references: Matt. 4:1-4
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