Stones to bread.

Matthew 4.3-4, Luke 4.3-4.

There’s a line in Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson’s 1984 hit song, “We Are the World,” which goes, “As God has shown us by turning stones to bread.”

As those of us who are biblically literate know, God never did any such thing in the scriptures. Now to be fair to Richie and Jackson, maybe God performed such a miracle for them personally… but I have my doubts. In any case neither of them, nor their producers, nor the roomful of pop stars they brought in to sing the song with them—which has to include people who were raised in church, right?—caught the error. Or convinced the producers to change it. So it’s still in the song. Aw well.

As we know, Jesus was tempted to do such a thing. He’d been fasting; he was hungry; Satan might’ve figured here’s an easy opportunity to get Jesus to fall for its “If you are the Son of God” taunt. Shouldn’t be hard at all for the Son of God to turn stones to bread, right? So that became the devil’s first temptation.

Matthew 4.3 KWL

Approaching, the tempter tells Jesus,

“If you’re the son of God, say something

so these stones might become bread.”

Luke 4.3 KWL

The devil tells him,

“If you’re the son of God, speak to these stones

so they might become bread.”

Back when I was a kid, I noticed something kinda obvious about this particular temptation: It’s not a sin for Jesus to turn stones into bread. There’s no commandment, at all, telling people to not do such a thing. There’s nothing ritually unclean about stones; there’s no command against eating them (though common sense oughta tell us to not do that); so if you turn a stone into bread, you’re not turning an unclean thing into a clean thing, then eating it. Jesus is neither breaking a command, nor going through a loophole, if he did such a thing. So… why was it wrong for him to do it?

Well duh; it’s the “if you’re the son of God” part. Jesus didn’t have to prove anything to Satan. Nor should he be that easy to manipulate, like a child showing off or an insecure president. Jesus knows exactly who he is… and frankly, it’s not a bad idea to keep the devil, who might have its own doubts, wondering. And underestimating him.

So Jesus did nothing, and threw a little bit of Deuteronomy back at Satan.

Matthew 4.4 KWL

In reply Jesus says, “It was written,

‘Not only by bread will humans live,

but by every word coming out of God’s mouth.’ ” Dt 8.3

Luke 4.4 KWL

In reply Jesus tells the devil, “It was written,

‘Not only by bread will humans live.’ ” Dt 8.3

And that’s that.

What’s the point?

In my younger years I used to waste my time debating with skeptics. Took me a long time to realize I was wasting my breath. They weren’t gonna let me change their minds, no matter how good my arguments were.

I could have Jesus himself appear to them in a cloud of glory—much like he’s gonna appear in his second coming, y’know—and they’d still respond, “Okay, that’s impressive. I have no idea how you pulled it off. But there’s gotta be a logical explanation other than ‘Jesus is Lord.’ So give me time and I’ll think of it.” Even with Jesus standing right there, they’d be as dense as angry Pharisees.

So. If the point of Satan’s temptation, was for Jesus to prove to it he’s God’s son, what’s the point of performing a miracle? Any miracle? If Satan already has its mind set in stone about who Jesus is, how would this miracle convince Satan it was wrong? It’d just see the miracle—same as your average pagan or nontheist skeptic—as a really neat trick, but proves nothing.

Yeah, even though Satan just demanded this particular miracle. Human skeptics will do the very same thing. “You wanna convince me God is real? Raise the dead.” Jesus being raised from the dead isn’t enough for them; they gotta see another dead person come back.

Okay, but let’s say the Holy Spirit plays along, and empowers me so I do raise the dead. Now will they believe? Nah. “Neat trick bro. But come on, God’s not real.” (Since the Spirit already knows they’ll immediately renege on their terms, this is why he usually won’t play along. Go ahead and ask, but it’ll just waste your time.)

So turning stones to bread won’t convince Satan—and honestly, why would we need to convince Satan of anything? What, if it realizes Jesus is God’s son, will it repent? Bow before Jesus as Lord? Stop trying to tempt the world; stop trying to undermine Jesus’s followers and neuter their good works? Unlikely. Abaddon will have to put it in chains first.

Now if the point of Satan’s temptation was to make Jesus doubt himself, this is ridiculous. If Jesus had any such doubts by this point, our Lord would be a moron, and why are we following him?

Ever since he was a child Jesus knew who his Father is. Lk 2.49 He heard his Father declare him his son at his baptism. Mk 1.11, Mt 3.17, Lk 3.22 He’d been led to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit himself. He’d been fasting, and God’s way easier to hear when we fast. Being God’s son should not have been anything Jesus doubted by this point. If that was the devil’s goal, it’s a mighty stupid one.

So why would Jesus need to prove such a thing to himself? Well he wouldn’t. But okay, for the sake of argument, let’s pretend Jesus is a big dummy and was legitimately tempted: “Hey, am I God’s son? Maybe I should do a miracle, just to make sure.” But here’s the thing about miracles: I can do a miracle. You can do a miracle. Any believing Christian can do a miracle. Miracles certainly prove God’s involved, but they don’t prove you’re the only-begotten Son of the Father.

In all, this was a silly temptation. One which of course crossed Jesus’s mind, but was easy to dismiss.

Better than bread.

I’ve heard one preacher claim that Jesus, while he was fasting 40 days, had a copy of Deuteronomy on him, and he was probably reading and re-reading and re-re-reading it.

Or, I thought at the time, memorizing it, because they didn’t have phones and pocket bibles back then. Might it not come in really handy to have Deuteronomy in your brain? But then again Jesus had the previous thirtysome years to memorize Deuteronomy, and it’s hard to imagine he didn’t already have it in his brain. And yeah, maybe he was meditating on it while he fasted. Along with other scriptures. Anyway.

Here’s the passage Jesus’s verse comes from: Moses describing the Hebrews’ experience in the wilderness after the LORD led ’em there. I’ll quote Everett Fox’s translation of it.

Deuteronomy 8.1-6 Schocken Bible

1“All the commandment that I command you today,

you are to take care to observe,

in order that you may live and become-many and enter and possess the land

that YHWH swore to your fathers.

2You are to bear-in-mind the whole route that YHWH had you go

these forty years in the wilderness,

in order to afflict you, by testing you,

to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.

3So he afflicted you and made you hungry,

and had you eat the mahn

which you had not known and which your fathers had not known,

in order to make you know

that not by bread alone do humans stay alive,

but rather by all that issues from YHWH’s mouth do humans stay alive.

4Your garment did not wear out from upon you,

your foot did not swell up,

these forty years.”

5You are to know in your heart

that just as a man disciplines his child,

YHWH your God disciplines you.

6So you are to keep the commandment of YHWH your God,

to walk in his ways and to hold him in awe!”

In this passage, in verse 3, Moses says it’s “not by bread alone do humans stay alive, but rather by all that issues from YHWH’s mouth”—the LORD gave ’em their desert experiences to test them, and make ’em recognize he’s their source of provision. But lemme point you to verse 5, in which Moses says how “just as a man disciplines his child, YHWH your God disciplines you.”

To God, Israel is his son, and the Israelis are his children. And God has a far different idea of how a father deals with his children, than Satan has.

Really, a far different idea than we have. Regardless of any predominantly Christian culture we might’ve grown up in. I’ll be blunt; our “Christian” culture has been heavily corrupted by unhealthy attitudes about power, patriarchy, discipline, submission, and possession. God disciplines his kids to make us better people. But we humans discipline our kids, usually, to make ’em behave—to get ’em to conform to their parents’ wishes, or conform to popular culture, and not become trouble for anyone.

Assuming of course these parents aren’t the lenient sort who doesn’t discipline their kids at all. I’ve seen way too much of that type of parent. To them, their kids aren’t so much little people whom they’re raising to be independent, mature individuals. The kids are theirs—meaning their possession, and don’t you touch their precious possessions. But more commonly the kids are seen as an extension of themselves, and if you oppose their child for whatever reason, they figure you’re opposing them. You’re not a person with valid concerns about their kids’ behavior; you’re a foe, a threat, an enemy, and they’re gonna fight you. Doesn’t matter if you’re right; they always defend their own, right or wrong. And while I’m sure the devil’s favorite parenting style is that of pure disinterested apathy (’cause there’s no love in apathy), this warped-loyalty form of misbegotten love is definitely Satan’s first runner-up. Causes plenty of chaos for no good reason.

Now, Israel is God’s son, and God fed his descendants manna. But feeding the Israelis was only the secondary purpose of the manna. God coulda fed them anything else. Could’ve made fruit trees spring up overnight. Could’ve sent swarms of quail on the daily. Didn’t; he fed them a weird kind of honeydew which spoiled in a day or two, obligating them to gather it daily. Because, as Moses said, he was trying to teach them he is their provision. That’s a valuable lesson. One which certain stingy conservatives agitate about whenever the government spends money to feed the needy—the government shouldn’t be their provision; they need to get jobs! And I agree the government should only feed those who can’t work, or who work yet still can’t afford food. But meanwhile: Feed the hungry, Mt 25.31-46 and if you gotta, use your government to do it.

If Jesus is God’s son, can he call upon his Father to feed him? Sure… but why? He had free will. Nothing was stopping Jesus from going to town and buying soup, bread, fruit, whatever. Or, if he was out of cash, from gleaning the nearby fields. He didn’t need to miraculously make bread. Waste of supernatural effort. And to prove a point to whom? Himself?—he already knows who he is. Satan?—why does he owe Satan any explanation? What good would this miracle do?—’cause God does miracles for good reasons, not selfish, futile, or dumb ones.

So much for the first temptation. And the other two were just as ineffective.