Real Bread is Good Enough For the First Sunday in Lent, March 6th 2022 Scripture: Luke 4:1-13 This Sunday we begin Lent with a series of services and sermons whose theme is “Good Enough.” We are reminded during this time of Lent that this world, this place, and this time are all Good Enough. We are reminded that in God’s eyes we are not only Good Enough, we are beloved. In these days when we can become distracted by what we do not have, what we have not achieved, what we cannot be, we are reminded that all is good enough. We begin this week with bread. Jesus teaches the disciples to pray to God “give us this day our daily bread.” Bread is a simple basic food and that is enough for us and for our lives: bread for each day. In ancient times, and still today, bread was and is life. For thousands of years, it has been known that a measure of grain can be turned into a delicious risen loaf. Bread takes time. Time to knead, time to proof, time to be knocked down and then proofed again before baking. Bread making takes as long as it takes. I know this because my grandfather was a baker. He got up early every morning to bake bread for the day. Bread has to be sold the day it is made. It is best eaten fresh. Bread is not made from stones. Two years ago, as lockdowns began, people began to bake bread. The sudden interest in baking caused shortages of flour and yeast in the stores. Looking back we might wonder why. Was this renewed interest because people always wanted to bake bread and now they had time? Was it because people were suddenly hungry for bread? Was it because they longed for the delicious smell of fresh baking in their homes? Was it because doing something that “takes as long as it takes” would give them comfort in those anxious and uncertain times? The passage we read this morning from the gospel of Luke occurs immediately after Jesus’s baptism in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. We have rewound the story, from last week’s telling of the Transfiguration, so that we are back again at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This story of Jesus’s temptations in the wilderness is something we hear at the beginning of Lent every year. In Luke’s telling, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, where he remains and is tempted by the devil for forty days. During this time he does not eat anything and becomes famished. Jesus encounters the devil when he at his weakest. And so the first temptation concerns bread. “Since you are the Son of God” the devil begins … mocking … pointing down at a hard, dry desert stone, “command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” But Jesus resists, quoting from the book of Deuteronomy "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" Luke’s readers can complete the sentence “but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Bread is necessary for life but faith in God is also necessary. The two cannot be separated. Jesus resists the temptation to turn a stone into bread in the wilderness. But to be clear, this doesn’t mean Jesus spends his life hungry, constantly resisting the temptation to eat bread. The gospel of Luke mentions bread many times. Jesus eats bread, often. He breaks bread with his disciples, with friends, and with sinners. Jesus talks about bread in his parables, and he presides over the miraculous feeding of more than 5,000 people from only five small loaves and two fish. At the end of the gospel story, Jesus blesses bread, breaks it and gives it to his disciples, saying “take and eat, this is my body broken for you.” And then again, following his crucifixion, two of the disciples meet Jesus walking along the road to Emmaus. They do not recognize him until they all sit down for supper. Then they know him “in the breaking of the bread.” Throughout the gospel it is apparent that Jesus likes bread and feels no need to abstain from eating it. The story of the temptations tells us that Jesus has chosen to fast in the wilderness. We are told that the Holy Spirit leads him to this time of fasting and so we can imagine he wants to remain faithful to that calling. He will have time to eat later. And so, why does the devil come up with this idea that Jesus could be tempted to turn a stone into a loaf of bread? And why does Jesus decline the invitation? Perhaps it has something to do with the time it takes to make bread. Perhaps it has something to do with the nutrients, the flavor and aroma of a properly baked loaf. Perhaps it has something to do with breaking bread together in community. Jesus knows that life-giving bread, eaten in a community that trusts the life-giving word of God, is not made from stones. Bread takes as long as it takes. There is no quick fix. My grandfather, the baker, sold his bread in the shop that he ran with my grandmother. They went out of business before I was born when a large, cheaper store opened in town. Plastic packages of sliced white were less expensive than the loaves my grandpa baked early each morning. The supermarket bread had additives that allowed it to remain soft for days. The fake aroma of fresh baking was pumped into the store. The supermarket bread was not made from stones, but it might as well have been. Sliced modern bread was introduced in the 1920’s. Chemicals were added during the 20th century, in order to make the bread softer and last longer. Sugar was added for taste and browning. White bread was thought to be superior, and so the flour was bleached. The result was cheaper bread that is less nutritious but will keep for days. Over the years, with more and more modifications, some say that our bread has begun to cause food intolerances and allergies. The devil tried to tempt Jesus to satisfy his hunger by planting the idea of turning a hard desert stone into a loaf of bread. But, Jesus knew that even if he tried, this would not satisfy his hunger. Bread conjured from a stone would be fake and unsatisfying. It would not come with the necessary life-giving nutrients. There would be no fresh baked aroma. The bread would not come with the life-giving word of God. In Lent, we enter the wilderness with Jesus. The stories we read, the hymns we sing and the music we hear put us into a place of discomfort. We are led to confront the hard things of our lives and of our world. And so, as we enter the wilderness time of Lent, how are we being tempted to turn stones into bread? Perhaps by calling for peace and reconciliation without addressing the underlying causes of conflict Perhaps by blaming others for our frustrations and unhappiness instead of looking within at the thoughts and habits that keep us from a life of faith and peace Perhaps by searching for a “perfect” friend group, church or community in which everything meets our needs, so that we don’t have to do the work of building community. In essence, trying to make bread from stones is like eating the Easter eggs that are already filling supermarket shelves before we have passed through Lent and Holy Week. It’s like having the resurrection before the cross. We know that real bread is not made from stones. And so, through this Lenten time of “Good Enough” may we know that real bread and the word of God are enough to sustain us each day. Jesus says “one does not live by bread alone … but by every word that comes from God” That’s good enough for Jesus, and it’s good enough for us. May all God’s people say Amen
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