Bread and Word
A reading for Thursday, April 30, 2020: Matthew 4:1-11.
What the devil doesn't know is the power of God to use common, everyday things for sacred practice.
When Jesus was hungry, the tempter invited Jesus to command stones to become bread. Surely not outside the capability of God, who can do all things. But Jesus responds warning Satan that one does not live merely by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God. The combination of bread and the word?
I have never thought of it this way before, but I wonder if this isn't an early reference to communion. Over and over again, we see the sacred nature of bread in scripture. Jesus feeds thousands. Bread is there at the last supper when Jesus asks that the disciples remember him. It is in the breaking of bread that the two travelers on the Emmaus road recognize Jesus.
It's not bread that is sacred, but the combination of bread and God's word together. Thanks be to God for the blessing of bread and the word.
"One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
When Jesus was hungry, the tempter invited Jesus to command stones to become bread. Surely not outside the capability of God, who can do all things. But Jesus responds warning Satan that one does not live merely by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God. The combination of bread and the word?
I have never thought of it this way before, but I wonder if this isn't an early reference to communion. Over and over again, we see the sacred nature of bread in scripture. Jesus feeds thousands. Bread is there at the last supper when Jesus asks that the disciples remember him. It is in the breaking of bread that the two travelers on the Emmaus road recognize Jesus.
It's not bread that is sacred, but the combination of bread and God's word together. Thanks be to God for the blessing of bread and the word.
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