Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’
”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, June 19, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Daily bread is always available to us. Jesus was wandering in the desert, fasting, for who-knows-how-long (“forty days” in the Bible was not literal, but just meant “a long time”) so of course he was hungry for food. But when Satan reminded him that, as the Son of God, he had the power to turn stone into bread, Jesus responded, “That’s not the point.” The point was to commune with God. The point was to be nourished by what God has said to us, and promised us—and what God continues to say to us and promise us. That nourishment is always at hand, if we but reach for it. Those who fast generally do so for spiritual purposes, as Jesus was doing. He could not be tempted away from his fasting—especially not by the use of his own supposed power to do miracles. For him, and for us, nourishment is right there with us in the presence of God in and through us.
Where do I find God’s nourishment available to me each day?
