"HUNGER, STONES, BREAD"

sermon by Pastor John Hollis

February 25, 2005

Luke 4:1-13

The Scripture for today's lesson is from the Lectionary for the First Sunday of Lent. It is that portion of Scripture that gives some details of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness.

There are three separate temptations included in this reading: the temptation to turn a stone into bread; a temptation for Jesus to fall down and worship the tempter; the temptation to put God to the test. All three of these temptations are significant to our understanding the way Jesus was tempted. They are also significant from what is said about these temptations in Hebrews 4:15. It is recorded, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." What Jesus suffered in temptation gives us encouragement when we are tempted. He overcame the temptations for us.

The world hasn't changed (as far as sin is concerned) from the time Jesus was tempted until the present time. The apostle John recorded these words for us: "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world" (1 John 2:15-16). Jesus faced all of these in his temptations: "Turn this stone into bread' - the lust of the flesh; "Fall down and worship me and I will give you the kingdoms you see" - the lust of the eyes; "Jump off the temple and God will care for you" - the boastful pride of life.

We could spend some time in a profitable study of each of these temptations, but I wish to consider only the temptation to turn a stone into bread.

The background and scene of these temptations is a wilderness. We can think of many ways in which all temptations take place in a wilderness. Certainly the world around us is a wilderness, if we allow it to be. We do know that these temptations happened in a place that was conducive to placing before Jesus the great temptations of the world in which this wilderness was found.

This temptation was not an accident. Jesus was "led about by the Spirit in the wilderness." Jesus didn't just stumble into this situation; he was doing the will of the Father. Most often when we are tempted, we stumble into the temptation, or we are caught in our weaknesses. But the temptations are the same temptations which Jesus faced and overcame.

He was in the wilderness and had not had anything to eat for forty days. He was hungry. Some versions read that he was famished. I think we can imagine how hungry he must have been. The tempter knew what the first temptation should be: get some food. You are very hungry! Turn this stone into bread and eat! Enjoy! You claim to be the Son of God - prove it! Do you think the tempter would have believed if Jesus had done what he requested? I don't think so.

The tempter spoke to Jesus. "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." "If you are the Son of God, . . ." Temptation was initiated by suggesting that Jesus was a phony. How mistaken he was! But this is the way temptations begin - don't trust God! He isn't real! Remember how the serpent began his temptation of Eve? He began by suggesting that God had said something he had not said. "Indeed, God has said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden." But Eve knew better and said so. "We can eat of any tree but the one in the middle of the garden." Then the serpent suggested that God didn't want them to eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden because they would then be like God. This led Eve to eat of that which was forbidden. The serpent had done his work well. But Jesus didn't fall into the tempter's trap.

Jesus answered the tempter: "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'" Matthew's account of this adds the words, "but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4). It should be clear to us that we can always depend upon what God has said to us in His word, when we are faced with temptations. "It is written." The question is: do we know what is written?

The answer: "Not on bread alone" shall we live. This shows the importance of bread in our lives. The bread the tempter was looking for was the physical bread that sustains only the physical body. There is a body to be sustained that cannot be sustained by physical bread. Listen to Jesus: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father, even God has set His seal." (John 6:26-27). Note that Jesus distinguishes between physical bread and spiritual bread. He also notes that the bread he will give is not from a phony source; God has set his seal upon him as the bread giver.

Jesus taught his disciples much about bread. His disciples were asking for signs from Jesus, and they said, "Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'" (John 6:31). But Jesus answered them with these words: "Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died." (John 6:49). The manna came from heaven, but it didn't sustain life. They died. Then Jesus adds these words: "This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat it and not die." (John 6:50). There is bread that gives eternal life.

The manna out of heaven was not given just because the people were hungry. Listen to these words: "And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." (Deuteronomy 8:2-3). God's people were in the wilderness as Jesus was in the wilderness. They were hungry. God fed them so they would understand that what would sustain them would come from the mouth of God. They ate the manna and they died.

In the Lord's Prayer we pray for daily bread. We ask God to give us this bread. It is not bread that we can buy or earn by the sweat of our brow. It is bread we get from God. In the long ago the prophets asked the people to come and get this food without cost. "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance." (Isaiah 55:1-2). In this he says, "Listen carefully to Me." We don't live by the bread that we buy at the bakery, but we live by listening carefully to what God speaks to us.

There are more references to the "bread of life" in John chapter six. We do not have the time to look at these, but they include the words of Jesus when he said, "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate, and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever." (John 6:31-35, 48-51; 58). Bread is very important.

Just as bread is important in our lives, so is the word. It was the Word that became flesh and lived among us. (John 1:14). Since Jesus said "the bread also which I give for the life of the world is My flesh," it was necessary that the word become flesh to give this eternal bread through the flesh.

The Hebrew author describes this word for us. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit, and of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12). We cannot distinguish between the soul and spirit, but the word can. We cannot know the thoughts and intentions of the heart, but the word can. It is living! It is active! Through the prophet Jeremiah God said, "Is not my word like fire, . . .and like a hammer which shatters a rock?" (Jeremiah 23:29). I have read that the Israelites would heat stones with fire and then break them with hammers. This is the way God's word works in our lives. The hardest of hearts can be heated with the fire of God's word and then the hammer of the word breaks that heart so that it can be molded in God's image.

The word of God has sanctifying power. In Jesus prayer recorded in John seventeen we read: "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth." (17:17). When we think of the power of the word of God, then we can understand why we must live by this word that comes from the mouth of God.

When we understand that God gives us this bread and this word freely without cost, we are reminded that it is not the keeping of the word - crossing every "T" and dotting every "I" - that is important to us. We know that we cannot live perfect lives, lives without spot and blemish, but we also know that God can lift us out of temptations and allow us to experience the word. The larger story is found in experiencing the word and not in merely keeping commandments.

The stone and the bread. We are told that Jesus was the rejected stone that became the chief cornerstone. (1 Pet. 2:6). The tempter did not know this. The true stone was the true bread. Jesus didn't have to turn a stone into bread. Could Jesus have turned the stone in the wilderness into bread? If it had happened, what would have been the results? Both the stone and the bread would have been forever lost, and we would be hungry indeed. It would not do us any good to "hunger and thirst after righteousness," for our righteousness would have been defeated in the wilderness. There would be no bread of heaven to feed hungry souls. There would be no larger story to encourage and sustain us.

What is the larger story in all this? Is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness something we read and wonder about all the things that happened there and then move on to think about other things? Is this story like the manna in the wilderness - is it something we do not understand? Is there a larger story?

When we see Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by the tempter, we come to know that he fasted and became hungry in our place. He became hungry for us. We do not have to fast forty days and face the tempter when we are at our weakest. He did it for us. We can experience what he did when we face temptations, and say "it is written."

He was tempted for us. Just as we do not have to go to the cross, we do not have to go into the wilderness of temptation. This does not mean we will not have to face temptations in our lives, for we do; what it does mean is that Jesus set a standard for us to use when we are tempted: "It is written."

Jesus answered the tempter for us. Peter tells us, "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to every one who asks you to give account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." (1 Peter 3:15). The word defense used here is translated from the Greek logos. It is the same word that is used in John 1:1 that says the "Word was God." When we are tempted, we can use the Logos, the Word, as our means of turning the tempter from us. The Word is our defense.

Jesus left the wilderness for us. We do not have to go there to be tempted and tried. He went there for us and successfully met every trial placed before him by the tempter.

The larger story is a wonderful story that we can share with all who struggle with temptations in the wilderness of life. They don't have to be in the wilderness being tempted, because Jesus went there for us.

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO THE START OF THE MAIN PAGE OR use the "Back button" on your browser to get back to where you left the main page.