By Bob Yoder, campus pastor
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11 (NRSV)
WELCOME:
Welcome to Goshen College’s online devotionals for the 2017 Lent season! Our theme this year, taken from Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada worship resources found in Leader magazine, is “Restore Us, O God!.” Every Monday an author will introduce the sub-theme, and on the following weekdays authors will reflect on a specific Scripture passage. The theme for this week, Lent 1, is “We Hunger.”
DEVOTIONAL:
“…and afterwards [Jesus] was famished.”
I cannot really recall times in my life when I was physically famished. Hungry, yes, but not famished. The longest I have fasted was for three days, which pales in comparison to Jesus’s forty days. However, like Jesus, I have been tempted. And, as our Lenten theme suggests, I have needed restoration.
How about you? What has been the cause of your hunger pangs? When are you most tempted? What is the restoration that you crave?
Though I have experienced beauty and nourishment in those wilderness moments of life…and even wrote a book about the Good News of biblical lament…I must confess that living in such moments is not always fun. At times my head believes God is present and desires my restoration, but my heart needs more convincing. In other words, a wilderness can be great when viewing it in a rear view mirror, but can be quite challenging when before and beside you is a vast, barren land.
Jesus’s forty day wilderness experience described in Matthew occurred at an important hinge moment in his life; it was in the beginning of his ministry. Before that we might assume he was an “average Joe carpenter.” But now getting ready to pivot into a new life focus, Jesus was famished and faced temptation. What a powerful metaphor of overcoming one’s challenges so that one can get on with “the business of ministry.” Sounds almost heroic!
But what happens when our own wilderness moment lasts fifty or sixty days and occur long after our “beginning”? Can this passage still be a source of inspiration? Or, would this passage be different if Jesus had been in ministry for say twenty or thirty years? Would the temptations be different? Would he offer different responses to counter the tempter?
Lent is here. This season invites us to sit in whatever wilderness realities encompass us, no matter if we are in the beginning, middle, or end of our “business of life and ministry.” It is a time to be patient, yet earnestly pray for God’s restoration. It is a time to focus on God and set aside life’s bombardments. Restore us, O God!
PRAYER:
God, the Desirer of our restoration. Make your comforting presence known to us when we see barren land all around. Grace us with courage and strength. Amen.
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11 (NRSV)
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.