Untangling feelings of loss

Recently I read again the account of Christ Jesus overcoming temptation after his forty days and nights of prayerful fasting in the wilderness (see Matthew 4:1–11). Each time I read this story I get something new out of it, based on the current circumstances of my day-to-day experience. This time it had a special message for me of how to address loss in all its forms through prayer during the coronavirus pandemic.

The first suggestion the tempter made to Jesus was that he should turn stones into bread. Having fasted for so long, Jesus was hungry. Lack of supply, loss of nourishment, and loss of needed strength threatened. But Jesus met the temptation with this response: “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Jesus lived with the knowledge that man, as God’s, Spirit’s, offspring, is the spiritual idea of God, who is the one divine Mind. He knew that the Word of God supplies, strengthens, sustains, and supports God’s spiritual creation, and that knowing this is what brings God’s infinite, daily supply into our human experience. Jesus knew his need for sustenance would be met—but not by abusing the power given to him by God.