All I Love Is Need
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Matthew 4:1-4
He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
“Each of the temptations for Jesus tested his motivations. Each offered a different way of doing the right thing for the wrong reason. In this first temptation Jesus is hungry, famished: he has fasted for so long. If he were the son of God, he could use his power to turn stones to bread, he could use his life to feed the hungry, to be the great provider.
In the feeding of the multitudes we see how this could have been and Jesus realises that people are beginning to follow him for a full belly, not for that deeper nourishment of the spirit. You sometimes see people today who thrive on meeting other people’s needs, they reverse the Beetles theme ‘All you need is love’ to make it ‘All I love is need!’” Pg14 ‘Apprentices and Eyewitnesses’
‘All I love is need…’ – how much does that resonate in the workplace! Particularly if, like me you’ve had an experience of work-rejection, work-lessness or perhaps ill health, or whatever. We want to be needed, find fulfilment in being the one everyone counts on or likes.
Let us wake up to our own motivations, and hand them over to God. As Chris goes on to say, “Jesus’ reply to the tempter reminds us that the deeper hunger in us is not satisfied by bread but by the living word of God.”
Take a short time of silence for reflection:
In the quietness reflect on your relationships, and those who rely on you, and your motivation when you give or when you help others. Are you tempted to become the great provider?
Prayers of Recognition:
We think of our deepest motivations and drives,
including those which are self-serving, which we have laid down.
(Silence)
Living word of God,
Feed us
We bring to you our deepest needs and hungers,
We hear your word for us and hold it in our hearts.
(Silence)
Living word of God,
Feed us
We bring to you our relationships,
all who we depend on,
all who depend on us.
Help us to give and receive
freely and wholeheartedly,
recognising and encouraging
mutuality and healthy interdependence
(Silence)
Living word of God,
Feed us