Our Daily Bread

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.--Matthew 4:2


This may seem like a strange verse to start off a blog post but considering that we are in the middle of the season of Lent I believe it to be extremely relevant. So how are your commitments going? Perhaps you decided to give up something like facebook, cigarettes or pop for Lent and I hope that is going well. I think Lent in some ways can be like 'take 2' on your New Years resolutions. I have failed miserably in my attempts at giving up sarcasm for this season. I personally don't know anyone that has done something on the level of a forty day food fast but I would love to talk to someone who has. I would love to sit and ask them about what they initially hoped to gain or lose during this intense experience as well as hear about what they actually got out of it when all was said and done. I think many in our culture would find it impossible to do such a thing in the midst of their daily lives with all of its busyness and responsibilities. We are a 'go go go' culture and we need food to fuel such a fast forward lifestyle. The problem with just such a pace is that if you are headed in the wrong direction, even just slightly, you can quickly find yourself way off track. I think that is why what we see in Jesus' fasting is in many ways a radical departure from today's norm.

People who say 'no no no' instead of 'go go go' to things such as food, communication, community, and sexual pleasures are often seen as oddities or just plain crazy. When the monastics would take vows of chastity, or live in solitude or silence it was intentionally done to separate themselves from things they saw as detrimental to the kind of lives they were called to live. It's easy to look at them and think that they had some sort of higher calling but I don't think that is the case. I think that there are many elements of the monastic life that we all need at one time or another. Prayer and fasting were regular routines for their lives. I find it interesting that when Jesus talks about giving to the needy, praying and fasting he does not say 'if' but 'when'. (Matthew 6:2,5,16) He gives us some insight into how we should give, pray and fast and each section starts off with 'when'. There is a clear implication that as his followers our lives will involve giving to the needy, praying, and fasting. It's not about 'if you fast' but 'when you fast' as a follower of Christ.

It is significant that it is here at the onset of Jesus' ministry where we see him doing something like this. As he sets his course toward the cross with all that is in store he first gets his bearings. He establishes the orientation and direction of his life in an act of self-denial and after forty days he is hungry. After that long without food I'd be ravenous but all we see in this passage is that Jesus was hungry. Please don't confuse this with any sort of spiritual hunger or with the passage in Matthew 5 about hungering and thirsting for righteousness. He is hungry for physical food thus there is the temptation to turn stones into bread. Despite this very physical hunger there is something else that takes precedence and that is the dependence upon God for that which is truly life giving. In Genesis we see life breathed into man from the very mouth of God and in Matthew we hear Jesus saying that life is sustained by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God as well.

Following this fasting experience Jesus resumes eating and many pivotal moments during his earthly life happened in the midst of meals. When he spoke in parables describing the Kingdom of God he talked about feasts. Two of his most popular miracles involved food and drink. He turned water into wine and multiplied the loaves and the fish. One of the things that got him into trouble with the religious leaders was the fact that he ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners. Even the resurrected Jesus is connected to meals. He shows up during mealtime at the end of Mark. Luke adds that after he shows up he asks for something to eat and they give him broiled fish. In John, Jesus appears a second time to the disciples and fixes them breakfast on the beach. And finally we even eat and drink the Lord's Supper in remembrance of him! There is nothing more human than eating and drinking and there is nothing that brings bodies together like sharing a meal.

Finally, fasting is never to be seen as a rejection of the flesh but a reorientation of the flesh. Our bodily lives are to be oriented toward the Kingdom of God and it's purposes. It is when we are properly oriented toward that Kingdom that we are opened up to and filled with the Spirit of life. We are empty bodies that need to be filled and fasting orients us toward the only One that truly can fill us and bring life to these earthen vessels.

When Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13 he says that they should pray for their 'daily bread'. Food provides us with the daily reminder of our dependence on the Father for our livelihood. We are to daily orient our lives around him. Paul says to the church in Corinth:


"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."--1Corinthians 10:31

When our bodily lives are properly oriented around Kingdom purposes even the mundane things like eating and drinking have the ability to give glory to God. So what are you being filled with? Maybe it's time to empty yourself via fasting and be truly filled.