Year C February 21 Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13.
"If you are the son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." (4:3)

Context:
After his baptism by John (3:21-22) Luke outlines Jesus genealogy. Following the divine voice that prcolamins Jesu as his 'beloved Son' we find the Lukan genealogy that identifies this ancestral line. The next episode in Luke's story of Jesus is the temptation of Jesus.

Comment:
Even in setting the scene there is the remind that temptations and testing comes even before ministry. For some there may be doubts about the calling, for others obstacles sem to be placed in their path, while for all of us the lure of a softer alternative is ever present.

During these past days the testing suggestion to turn a stone into bread has been at the forefront of my thinking. While the whole text and the three tests are worthy of extensive consideration it is the first that is most pertinent for me. In the opulent and sometimes corpulent western world the need to turn stones into bread is not real. SO let's take another tack and replace "bread" with whatever is your greatest need. Replace bread with something else that would change or transform your life. Replace bread with the change you need for wholeness or satisfaction. Now consider again this temptation.

Jesus had been without food for forty days. His body would be crying out for nourishment, and his mind battling to remain focussed. With the power to do what Satan challenged him to do Jesus refused. In an instant his hunger could be satisfied and his body nourished. Jesus refused to use his power in that way. His response comes from Deuteronomy 8:3 - we do not live by bread alone.

Step back to the original scenario of Deuteronomy. It was a reference to trusting God, for God had provided 'manna' for the Israelites as they wandered in the desert (Exodus 16). God told them it would be there for them, and it was. God's word was enough. They had to trust the word that came from God.

Then we come to Jesus. Faced with a raging hunger and a not-so-subtle temptation to prove his connection with God he said "No". I will trust what God says. I will rely on what God has told me. I will do what God has asked me to do.

Now we come to ourselves. I believe that God has the power to intervene and fix all that is wrong in our lives and in our world, yet still there are things wrong. Those who love and trust God have been chosen to reveal and share the kingdom of God. We have not been given the rich life as a sign of blessing, we have been given the presence of God. We have not been given the power to right all wrongs and fix all faults, we have been given access to grace and strength to endure.

So here is the temptation: "If God is truly God we should be able to ask that wrongs be righted, ills be cured, and justice prevail." Yet God says simply "Trust me. Rely on my promise to be with you always."

Turning stones into bread is not a test of my faith. Fixing all that is wrong is. I will continue to trust even though the hunger remains.

Other readings:

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13