Economic Temptations

Series: The Kingdom

March 01, 2009 | David Crosby
Passage: Matthew 4:1-4

Jesus is tempted by the devil, after 40 days of fasting, to turn the loaf-looking stones of the desert into bread. Jesus is hungry. He is famished. No grocery stores are near him. Food is nowhere to be found. His body needs food to survive. The poor people need food to eat. Moses brought manna in the wilderness. God's Chosen One, the prophet like Moses, should do the same.

The temptation is real because it contains a partial truth. Many of us would have made that bread had we possessed the faith to do so. And we could easily have rationalized that it was the right thing to do.

Jesus wanted the people to have bread. He would soon feed thousands of them miraculously with five loaves and two fish. He wanted them to eat, and yet he wanted them to do more than eat. He wanted them to know that "man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Jesus longed for the people to have the word of God. He wanted them to truly understand who he was. After the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus lamented that they followed him only because they ate the bread and were full. He said, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you" (John 6:27).

As we minister to people who are hungry and hurting, we do not want to forget this truth. The announced purpose of the coming of Jesus in the power of the Spirit is not the feeding of the poor but preaching good news to the poor.

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