Week 3—Tuesday Luke 4:1-4
Week 3—TUESDAY
“I TAKE A BITE, YOU TAKE A BITE”
We are considering the verse: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus really dwelt among us. He resisted the temptation to live in any way except “among.” The first temptation in the wilderness was to feed himself upon miracles apart from the people—make stones into bread. He rejected that—he would eat as we eat. The second temptation he also rejected—the temptation to live above the people, standing on a pinnacle of the temple, and throwing himself down, only to be carried back again on angels’ hands. He would not live above. The third temptation was the temptation to live as—to live as we live, taking the devil’s suggestion to worship him—to adopt his methods, to gain the kingdoms of the world. No, he would not live apart, above, or as—he would be with us, but different. He would identify himself with us in everything, except our sin.
During World War II, a G.I. saw a starved little girl and offered her a sandwich, but her mind had been so poisoned by propaganda that she wouldn’t take it—it might be poisoned. So the G.I. took a bite and then said to her: “I take a bite, you take a bite”; “I take a bite, you take a bite.” She melted and began to play the game of “I take a bite, you take a bite.” In Jesus we find God seriously playing that game with us: “I take a bite, you take a bite.” Jesus “tasted death for everyone,” but he also tasted life with everyone. He asks us to do nothing but what he himself does. If we are born in poverty and rejection, remember he was born in a stable, for there was no room for them in the inn. “He was tempted in all points like as we are.” He knows us—from within.
In Holland I saw a church bell ringing inside a cross. Befitting. The music came out of pain. There is music in the gospel, but it’s music which is not surface jazz—it is pain set to music—pains become paeans. The Victory is not apart, or above, but in. He “dwelt among us.”
O Jesus, when you speak it is Deep speaking to deep. We know that you know. And knowing you love, how can we help loving in return? We do with all our ransomed beings. We love you; we love you. Give us a greater capacity to love you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: All my crosses shall have bells within them, and I shall ring them when pain wrings me.