Bread of Life

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

BREAD OF LIFE

Luke 4:1-13

4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"  5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.   7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"  9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"  13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

NIV

Since we are thinking that in the forty days that Jesus was in the desert, there must have been many temptations that the devil had for him. Luke makes it clear enough that Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. So if there was just one temptation a day, that would have been forty times the devil tempted him, but we are only told of these three. Now we can look at each one of the temptations. But first, we are reminded that the writer of Hebrews makes a point that gives us something to consider. He tells us that we do not have a high priest, Jesus, who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet He was without sin, therefore we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need, which is when we are tempted. So then as we look at this first temptation of Jesus, we can see that temptation in our lives. Because Jesus had not had any food for forty days, he was hungry and that is the first thing the devil comes at him. If you are the Son of God, you can turn stones into bread and eat, But Jesus told him the bread does not cause a person to live. This could only mean that Jesus was saying that true life is not found in the food of this world, but only in the word of God. We might be tempted to look at the food of this world as what sustains our life, and perhaps metaphorically that stands for the whole world system. We could be tempted to think that our ability because our education, training, or skills bring us enough of the world’s wealth to afford us to have whatever we desire. Then we are not looking at the Lord to supply our every need, but looking to turn these stones into bread. Do we trust, ourselves or the Lord? We surely trust the Lord for our salvation, for we know without any reservations, that we cannot save ourselves from the power of death. However, do we trust the Lord for everything in our daily lives? That is to say we need to look to Jesus to turn those stones into both our daily bread, and into the bread of life, which of course, is the Lord himself. We have been in that desert, but Jesus has fed us the bread that gives us eternal life.