Very Hungry
by Alisha Garza
“Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the spirit for the test. The devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the devil took advantage of…” -Matthew 4:1-3 (The MSG)
I’ve been meditating on the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 since before the fast… something lately about the raw and rugged humanity of Jesus has been gripping me in a fresh way. It was a little word in several different versions that stood out to me.
“For forty days and forty nights He fasted and became very hungry…”
Did you catch it? It’s the small but powerful word—very. In the Message version above it narrates his hunger as— extreme. Being a big fan of creative writing and all things English, this, of course, includes adjectives! (I literally love looking up words in a Thesaurus to find new words to describe things, is that strange?) At any rate, I started to think about what Jesus must have felt like to be very hungry. How loud was his stomach rumblings? Did he ever faint? While wandering through the desert heat, did he ever fall asleep in prayer for lack of energy? I don’t know, it doesn’t say, but it does say he was VERY HUNGRY.
Let’s look at it in Luke 4 in the NLT:
“Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry…”
Here’s where my mind made an interesting yet simple connection. It says Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and yet, at the same time, he was very hungry. That’s striking. He was full of the Spirit AND at the same time, he was hungry. I don’t mean to oversimplify this, but obviously, being human means we feel things. If we didn’t feel things, we would be dead. Either that or encased in frozen carbonite like Han Solo. If you’re reading this, you’re neither of those things. Maybe it’s just me but sometimes I think to carry His presence or to be full of the Spirit, means separating our humanity out of the equation. It doesn’t. This is where it becomes absolutely critical to look at Jesus and see how He lived out life as both God and man. How did he live full in the Holy Spirit and get angry? (John 2, Matt. 21, Mark 11) How did he live in the Spirit and grieve deeply? (John 11) How did he live full in the Spirit and celebrate? (John 2, Mark 14) The life of Jesus is fascinating because he lived his humanity, not by excluding human feelings or emotions, but living them in the presence and Person of the Spirit.
I think more than anything, I’ve been getting wrecked again by the reality and truth that, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) He understands us better than anyone but He doesn’t excuse sin. When the ark of the Covenant fell off the cart and Huzzah reaches out to catch it, he was struck dead! Yikes. Yes, Jesus understands but He’s still holy and He calls us to, “be holy, for I am holy.” (I Peter 1:16) “…And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives.” (Gal 5:24-25)
I’m not trying to be contradictory. I’m saying this to give us hope and encouragement. This is really good news! We have a great high priest that has gone before us and didn’t just tell us but showed us HOW TO LIVE AS HUMANS.
After all, He was very hungry.
“Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the spirit for the test. The devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the devil took advantage of…” -Matthew 4:1-3 (The MSG)
I’ve been meditating on the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 since before the fast… something lately about the raw and rugged humanity of Jesus has been gripping me in a fresh way. It was a little word in several different versions that stood out to me.
“For forty days and forty nights He fasted and became very hungry…”
Did you catch it? It’s the small but powerful word—very. In the Message version above it narrates his hunger as— extreme. Being a big fan of creative writing and all things English, this, of course, includes adjectives! (I literally love looking up words in a Thesaurus to find new words to describe things, is that strange?) At any rate, I started to think about what Jesus must have felt like to be very hungry. How loud was his stomach rumblings? Did he ever faint? While wandering through the desert heat, did he ever fall asleep in prayer for lack of energy? I don’t know, it doesn’t say, but it does say he was VERY HUNGRY.
Let’s look at it in Luke 4 in the NLT:
“Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry…”
Here’s where my mind made an interesting yet simple connection. It says Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and yet, at the same time, he was very hungry. That’s striking. He was full of the Spirit AND at the same time, he was hungry. I don’t mean to oversimplify this, but obviously, being human means we feel things. If we didn’t feel things, we would be dead. Either that or encased in frozen carbonite like Han Solo. If you’re reading this, you’re neither of those things. Maybe it’s just me but sometimes I think to carry His presence or to be full of the Spirit, means separating our humanity out of the equation. It doesn’t. This is where it becomes absolutely critical to look at Jesus and see how He lived out life as both God and man. How did he live full in the Holy Spirit and get angry? (John 2, Matt. 21, Mark 11) How did he live in the Spirit and grieve deeply? (John 11) How did he live full in the Spirit and celebrate? (John 2, Mark 14) The life of Jesus is fascinating because he lived his humanity, not by excluding human feelings or emotions, but living them in the presence and Person of the Spirit.
I think more than anything, I’ve been getting wrecked again by the reality and truth that, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) He understands us better than anyone but He doesn’t excuse sin. When the ark of the Covenant fell off the cart and Huzzah reaches out to catch it, he was struck dead! Yikes. Yes, Jesus understands but He’s still holy and He calls us to, “be holy, for I am holy.” (I Peter 1:16) “…And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives.” (Gal 5:24-25)
I’m not trying to be contradictory. I’m saying this to give us hope and encouragement. This is really good news! We have a great high priest that has gone before us and didn’t just tell us but showed us HOW TO LIVE AS HUMANS.
After all, He was very hungry.