Not By Bread Alone

I read about the temptation of Jesus with my son yesterday in preparation for Lent.  I was particularly struck by a passage in Matthew in which Jesus says, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”   This is one of many very profound teachings of Jesus and it resonated with me in the context of Lent, as we Catholics prepare to give up something that we love in honor of Jesus’ sacrifice.

This concept inculcated to us that the true source of nourishment comes from God in the form of spiritual nourishment.  As we know from John, “In the beginning there was the Word and the Word was God.”  Jesus teaches us that we should not focus upon obtaining food for our bodies, but upon obtaining food for our souls. This food comes to us by a focus upon the Word.

This message is especially resonant because I find echoes of this sermon in many world religions. I listen to some of the recorded teachings of Parmahansa Yogananda on a daily basis. In fact, his teachings CD is in my alarm clock and plays each morning.  Parmahansa Yogananda conveys a story regarding his contact with a guru when he was a young acolyte.   His job was to cater to the guru’s every need while that guru visited his ashram.  It was their custom that they could not eat until the guru was ready to eat. On this certain day, the guru was not hungry and did not eat until late in the evening. Young Parmahansa complained to the guru that he was very hungry. The guru told him that he should not complain about waiting for food.  Yogananda told him, “I don’t complain, but I get really hungry when I don’t eat.” The guru told him that he should not focus upon food.  Yogananda replied, “I don’t, but if I don’t eat I could die.” The guru exclaimed, “Then die!! Die to know that you don’t live by food but by God.”

I feel, with a high probability of certainty, that these lessons appear in Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and most other religions. The message is clear: Contact with God is our sustenance. All those things that we think are essential, such as food, money, clothes, cars and status don’t really matter.  The one true reality is our relationship with God. We think “Yes God is important, but today, I must meet a deadline or I must do this or that which is really important.   The only thing of absolute importance is our relationship with God.  It is that nourishment that is needed every day.

Take a few minutes every day to speak with God through prayers, through musings, meditation or in any manner that is customary for your religion or spiritual practice.  You will be fulfilled in unimaginable ways.