Not by Bread Alone
On Saturdays in the spring, I like to go to my town’s farmer’s market. The twenty or so booths are set up around the perimeter of a small park, and in the middle, kids play with balls, hula hoops, bubble machines, and the perennial pack of dogs that accompany young parents. Even if I get there early, at the opening of the market, I’m only just in time to get the most popular item: freshly baked bread.
I live in a part of the country where we have outdoor farmer’s markets year-round. And no matter what time of year, at this particular farmer’s market, there is always a line of people waiting to buy bread from the local baker: seven grains, round sourdough, nutty spelt, and even swanky ancient grains like teff or farro. The booths open at eight, and yet, at 7:50, a line of people is already waiting at the baker’s booth. I refuse to get there any earlier. I don’t want to appear desperate to get my loaf of bread.
I was thinking about this bread line scenario when I read the record of Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness (Matt. 4: 1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13). Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and ate nothing. Naturally, afterward, he was hungry. Is it any surprise that the devil’s first temptation involved food?
Matthew 4:3
And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
The word “if” in this verse carries the connotation of “since.” The devil knew who Jesus Christ was. And so, in this first temptation, the devil was goading Jesus to rely on his own power and ability to satiate his hunger. Note how Jesus responded to this temptation:
Matthew 4:4
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus Christ responded by quoting the Scriptures (Deut. 8:3). He was hungry, and commanding stones to be made into bread must have been enticing. But Jesus Christ was interested in doing things God’s way and fulfilling God’s Will. And so, he responded to the devil’s first temptation by declaring, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
I recognize that “bread” here is a metonymy for food in general, which led me to ask, what would happen if we spent as much time and effort on the words that come out of God’s mouth as we do on food? We have food channels, food magazines, and food as a source of entertainment and artistry. We are a nation of “foodies,” a word that didn’t exist until the 1980s. Only a culture with a tremendous surplus of food could come up with “Cupcake Wars.”
We need food to live, but according to Jesus Christ, we need the Word of God even more. While that $25 loaf of amaranth may physically sustain me now, the Word of God will nourish me spiritually, with eternal ramifications.
