Our Year, Our Voice - International Youth Day
12th August 2010
Matthew 4: 1- 4
Key verse: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written, one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” 3-4 V
The tempters direction to the hungry young Jesus, who was in fast for forty days and forty nights, is a challenge for Jesus. Jesus who turned water into wine, with all his powers at this point would have easily turned the stones into loaves of bread to satisfy his deep physical hunger. In Jesus as human, his divinity was put to test, but Jesus though is divine affirmed his human dignity and countered back at the tempter accordingly. For the tempter, the physical hunger was not important; rather a miracle to turn stones into loaves of bread was of high regard.
In our times today, to the hungry, to the weak and to those in poverty, most times the tempters of today the rich and the powerful show forth stones like situations and asks the poor to work on those stones until they are made as bread. The tempters of today crib and complain, because the poor are lazy they are not willing to turn stones into bread, because they are technically not sound enough they are unable to turn stones into bread, because they are not meritorious and always fight for reservations they are unable to turn stones into bread. Such complains go against the human worth and dignity of these our friends. On the contrary the tempters enjoy life and privileges at the expense of the vulnerable poor and hungry people. Those people who toil day and night are paid meager wages, but the huge bulk of profits go into the hands of the rich, for they have capital and power. The tempters of today are hard task masters, for they do not want any stone unturned in making profit for themselves, even though it costs human dignity to those poor workers.
Jesus, therefore affirms his self-dignity and counters the tempter by not performing any miracle, rather quotes the Scripture, the voice, where he says that it is not bread alone that will quench the hunger, but the voice of God, which is the word of justice, equality and dignity that keeps life going. Word of God shows right direction to earn bread through right means and right modes. Word of God counters the rich who make profit by easy means and by exploiting the weak and the poor. Word from the mouth of God, which is in hunger when lots of people go with hungry mouths, affirms human dignity and provides means and methods in addressing hunger. Word of God is life giving and hunger satisfying.
Prayer: God, who has sent the Word to become flesh in order to know the hungry, help us to be prudent in affirming dignity in all people and help us to voice against all tempters, who exploit the weak and the poor of our times today. Amen.
