“And the Evil One said to Jesus, ‘If you are the child of Divinity, speak to this rock telling it to transform into bread'” (Luke 4.3).
Never go to the grocery store hungry. If no one ever told you this axiom, then you’ve likely picked it up on your own. And, I imagine, even those of us who have heard it have, on one occasion or another, made this mistake.
The psychology behind grocery stores and their layouts is fascinating. People have spent years considering and studying humans in order to figure out just the right placement, layout, and even lighting to get us to buy certain products and buy more of others. As I write this, one of the stores up the road is in the midst of moving everything in the store around, altering the now-familiar layout in hopes that we’ll stay longer, see more.
In the end, like many attempts at retail, the idea is to overwhelm you, wear you down, and then approach you at your weakest. It is in that moment your mind is so overrun by fatigue or hunger that you’re more suggestible. Ideas which, normally, would be quickly refused are considered and even accepted.
Jesus spends time, after his baptism, in the wilderness. Weeks and weeks have passed since he walked into the desert, and he is emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausted. So, this is, of course, when the Evil One comes to tempt him.
I am not saying here that the grocery stores or any retail store is under the management of the Devil. No, but the similarity is that both are using a keen eye for psychology, an eye that has learned how humans react under different circumstances and different stressors.
It shouldn’t surprise you that the Evil One’s tactic is based in fear. Jesus has been fasting for weeks. His body is using up its stored fats, beginning to feed upon itself. The basic parts of Jesus’ mind are starting to sound the alarm bells that starvation is setting in, that he has to find food. A primal fear is rising up in him.
But that isn’t the only fear. More than just the fear of staying alive is the fear of being abandoned. Beneath the Evil One’s words are the reminder that when the Children of Israel wandered for forty years God gave them bread from Heaven. He didn’t forget them. He didn’t let them starve.
So, how about you, the Devil says, seen any bread lying around?
God’s forgotten you. God’s abandoned you. God has failed you, the Evil One whispers. The only person you can depend on is yourself. You’re the only one that cares about you. You have to take care of number one; because, no one else will. You’ve got to be self-sufficient.
Jesus’ response was to say that he wasn’t enough all by himself. He could turn stones to bread, but that wouldn’t satisfy his need. He couldn’t depend just on himself; because, he would still be hungry. He would admit to the lie that he was alone.
Have you heard this whisper lately? Is there a place in your life where you feel like you are about to run out, about to starve? Are you tempted to depend on yourself: your hard work, your own independence, your self-sufficiency?
Have you been tempted to believe you’re alone?
Jesus, in my tired, vulnerable hours, help me to remember I am not alone.