LENT THROUGH FASTING
Haiku Meditation
If you’re hungry, eat
Bread of Life broken for you
Appetites fulfilled
Matthew 4:1-4: After fasting for 40 days, Jesus was hungry; he resisted temptation by saying, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God".
This week we are focusing on hunger. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. (Matthew 4:1-11)
The devil tempted Jesus to break his fast by turning stones into bread but Jesus resisted claiming one cannot live merely on bread but can only truly have life through the very Word of God. We later read in the book of John that Jesus is the bread of life, the Word made flesh. He was talking about Himself as the Word, the only One who can satisfy all of our desires.
Lent is a season when typical comforts and rhythms are disrupted and we intentionally slow down us to look for ways to deepen our desires for God. The first week we talked about recognizing the wilderness within us. The wilderness reveals our hunger. It can help us see where we may have a disordered appetite for things that don’t truly satisfy. It’s when we pull back from our comforts, we can then see where we need to reorient our hunger. Fasting allows our desires to come to the surface and help us turn to God to satisfy us..
The devil tempted Jesus with a cheapened version of the truth. If Jesus was truly God then he would turn the stones into bread and fulfill his hunger. But Jesus knew he himself was the bread of life. He was the fulfillment for all of our desires.
We’re tempted everyday with substitute versions of ways to satisfy our hunger.
What do you find yourself turning to from this list?
Money, food, relationships, numbing out, alcohol, distraction, staying busy, constant noise, personal achievements, job success, exercise, scrolling on the internet, shopping
Maybe you have already chosen to fast from something for Lent. However, if not, take this week 2 of the Lenten season to enter into a fast. Maybe something on the list stood out to you as something you’re turning to instead of relying on God to fulfill you. That’s a good place to start. Choose the duration of your fast and whether it’s for 2 hours or 24 hours, God will meet you there and provide all that you need.
May our hunger be reoriented this Lenten season to be satisfied by the only true Bread of Life.
Scripture Meditation: John 6:35: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry".
Embodied Prayer Practice:: slow down your breathing, let your muscles soften, let tension in your shoulders relax. There’s nothing to prove, there’s no answers to figure out or problems to fix. Just recognize where you’re at today and take this time to be fully present. Lay your burdens down, name what you are hungry for, and then allow God to satisfy you with his presence as you close your eyes and feel the rise and fall of your breath.
I’ve included a poem by Malcolm Guite about that very first temptation Jesus went through.
Stone into Bread by Malcolm Guite
The Fountain thrists, the Bread is hungry here,
The Light is dark, the Word without a voice.
When darkness speaks it seems so light and clear.
Now he must dare, with us, to make a choice.
In a distended belly’s cruel curve
He feels the famine of the ones who lose,
He starves for those whom we have forced to starve,
He chooses now for those who cannot choose.
He is the staff and sustenance of life,
He lives for all from one sustaining Word,
His love still breaks and pierces like a knife
The snowy ground of hearts that never shared.
God gives through him what Satan never could;
The broken bread that is our only food.
Guided Journal Prompts:
What are you hungering for?
What do you need to turn away from to instead turn toward God to satisfy you?
Song Suggestion: Lilies & Sparrow by Jess Ray
Lent reading: The Word in Wilderness by Malcom Guite
Haiku by Libby Johnson
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