Temptation of Bread

 Luke 4:1-13

February 22, 2026, Lent 1

Temptation of Christ
J. Kirk Richards

 

Jesus is tested in the desert by Satan.

He is presented with three temptations:

food, security, and wealth and power.

I have to tell you, I think I could pass on security and power.

But it doesn’t matter, because I think I would fail the first test.

 

After 40 days in the desert, without food,

I think I would cave right away.

I could see not eating few days,

technically a healthy person

could survive 60 days without food

but forty days of not eating is a long time.

What harm would it be just to accept a little bit of bread?

I mean forty days without it, Jesus could have died,

then what good would he be?

 

How annoying is it that we have this constant need of food?

Every day, our bodies call for it.

Most of us have it pretty easy,

we can just go down to the store and buy it,

but what if you don’t have the money for it?

what if you don’t have the access or the resources?

What if you’re in a desert of any kind?

 

Just the prospect of being without food is terrifying

to a lot of people, the fear of not being able to eat

or of not being able to feed your children drives

a lot of people to do a lot of things they normally wouldn’t.

The compromises that people make to survive are soul-snatching.

 

We make compromises in our own lives for the sake of food.

For that piece of bread.

We’ve all done things we haven’t wanted to do just to keep a job.

And good, honest people can be driven to do the unimaginable.

Listen to this story:

 

In 1922, a town called Herrin in southern Illinois

was a mining town and there was a nationwide mine workers strike.

The owner of the mine near Herrin went along with the strike,

but he was deep in debt, and as the strike went on, he saw

the price of coal rise and rise and he couldn’t resist the temptation.

 

So he decided to just move out what had already been dug up

and was waiting on rail cars to ship.

This was in violation of what had

previously been agreed on with the union.

To do it, he decided to bring in non-union workers.

And he hired armed guards to monitor the mines.

He brought in poor people needing work from Chicago

who probably had no idea that they were breaking a strike,

or what exactly they were walking into.

 

After the first train car of coal left the mine,

Two striking union workers tried to get into to the mine

and they were shot and killed by the guards.

The next day, the union workers came on masse.

They started shooting into the mine trapping the workers

the sheriff was called, but he did nothing to curb the violence.

A truce was attempted. The strike breakers sent out

a mine guard with a broomstick and a white apron on it.

 

They began marching the workers, the guards, and the

superintendents into Herrin which was 5 miles away.

The plan was for the strike breakers and the guards

and the superintendent to get to Herrin and to leave the state.

Along the way, a mob of people gathered around them.

The mob became angry, as mobs do,

yelling and taunting the strike breakers.

Someone yelled that the best way to stop a

strike breaking was to kill all the strike breakers.

And then it started.

  

There are a lot of terrible, terrible details.

But in the end, 23 people were killed:

18 workers, 4 guards, and the mine superintendent

while a mob of over 1000 people, men women and children

watched, encouraged, and even joined in.

 

The Herrin Massacre.

There’s a painting depicting it in the Columbus Art Museum.

I’m not showing it, because it’s too disturbing.

One reporter that had come to witness tried to give

an dying man some water, and he was told that if he did

he wouldn’t live to see the next day.

 

Six people out of the mob were arrested,

the first two trials, which were held outside Herrin,

but in another town in Southern Illinois,

ended in acquittals. The prosecution gave up after that

and no one was ever prosecuted.

 

In 1978, journalism students from

Southern Illinois University went to

Herrin to interview people who remembered it.

Most Herrin people who were there

said they were not ashamed of the incident.

Most said you couldn’t blame them for doing what they did.

One man said, “they were taking the bread out of our mouths.”

 

Do you see yourself in that story?

I would guess most of us would not.

I didn’t when I first heard the story. I was aghast.

 

But the juries that acquitted the people could

apparently saw themselves in this story.

And the people years on said

they would have made the same choice.

“They were taking the bread out of our mouths.”

 

That whole town of people were not sociopaths.

I’m sure their parents taught them right from wrong.

The murder rate in Herrin after that was

not higher than anywhere else.

We all know that standing up for ourselves in

the face of injustice is the right thing to do.

I think unions have been a great asset to working people.

 

But somewhere along the line, they compromised.

They compromised their integrity, their compassion,

and their humanity.

They gave into the temptation for bread,

then they wanted to secure their jobs,

then they went for power with violence.

 

We might look down on the compromise they made.

But the truth is, we make compromises with the devil every day.

If you’ve ever been in a situation where

you might lose everything you’ve had,

you know what desperation can lead us to,

the things we would trade to have it all back

the way it was before.

 

Many of us have stayed in bad home

situations for economic reasons.

I think each one of us has, at one time or another,

worked against our best judgment,

or allowed one of our boundaries to be broken

or kept our mouth shut in order to keep a job and keep

that food flowing into our homes. We compromise.

 

And  just being a part of the world

make us part of the great compromise.

We turn our heads and look away as bodies pile

up and wars are fought in our name.

We live with the fact that in the supposed richest country

in the world, people can’t afford health care and

people go hungry and can’t afford homes.

As part of society, we make compromises with evil.

We turn away because it makes life easier than paying attention.

 

It all starts with that one little compromise.

Giving into that one fear.

And before we know it,

we’ve given our soul away to the devil.

We start with the temptation of food,

and once we take that, it leads to security,

and inevitably it leads to domination and power.

And then we belong to the devil.

Even if we still worship God.

 

We are right now in a rash of certain

Christians who want to claim political power.

We’re not the first nation to do this and

this is not the first time in history for sure,

but it seems like this Christian claim of absolute

political power is getting as close as it’s ever been.

 

A self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist pastor,

Doug Wilson, was invited to speak at the pentagon this week,

speaking to the military at the newly-instituted

monthly prayer services there.

(all the prayer services have been Christian,

and all were Christian Nationalist by the way)

 

Wilson has defended slavery, saying it wasn’t so bad,

believes that women shouldn’t have

the right to vote apart from their husbands,

wants homosexuality to be illegal,

and he advocates for a full-on Christian theocracy,

which punishes people for not following.

 

Disturbing to say the least.

But the most disturbing thing is, he’s not alone in these thoughts today.

 

Now I don’t think that any of these people

started out saying they want to be megalomaniacs.

They don’t begin their public lives wanting

power and control like an evil villain in a

super-hero movie.

 

They start out with that little temptation.

With those little “what ifs” that the devil feeds us:

“If you don’t do this, you could starve.

what if they take what’s yours, protect your family,

it’s about your survival, it’s just some bread,

it’s rightfully yours, take it. It’s about your security,

it’s about your future, they’re trying to take away your heritage,

your faith, your way of life,

you’re doing this for God.

You’re doing this to defend Jesus.” 

 

And eventually, you’re calling for the arrest

of people who think or worship differently than you.

You’re hating your enemies, you’re looking at the sliver

everyone else’s eye and ignoring your own,

you’re making captives instead of setting them free,

you’re scolding the 5000 for not fending for themselves,

instead of feeding them. Basically you’re defying everything

that Jesus ever stood for.

 

Jesus had been in the desert without food for forty days

without shelter and without anything to rely on.

Jesus is at his worst and most vulnerable

He’s in the middle of nowhere and doesn’t know

when the next time he will be able to eat is.

He could have taken that bread.

But he didn’t.

 

Surely Jesus could have been trusted

to take control of all the kingdoms of the world

and run them justly and fairly.

But he didn’t.

 

If God had wanted us to take over political

empires and have Christian theocracies,

then this story would have ended very differently.

But Jesus didn’t take over the Roman Empire

and impose his will on everyone through political control.

God didn’t want that.

God didn’t want that for Jesus,

and Jesus rejected it because he knew it was what the devil wants.

And the devil wants it because he knows

it will lead to our destruction.

 

It’s not about the wrong party having control

It wouldn’t be better if they had some

reasonable, more sympathetic policies.

Exercising earthly dominion in the name of Jesus

runs contrary to everything that Jesus stood for.

It never works out, because it’s not of God.

 

Preacher and author, Barbara Brown Taylor wrote:

Jesus was not killed by atheism and anarchy.

He was brought down by law and order

allied with religion—which is always a deadly mix.

Beware those who claim to know the mind of God

and are prepared to use force, if necessary, to make others conform.

Beware those who cannot tell God’s will from their own. 

 

We have a savior who has stood up to the powers of this world.

Who did not use his power for his own sake.

We have a savior who would not compromise with Satan.

He gave up his comfort, his power, and his position

he gave up his short cut and his sure thing,

and he traded it for us and for our salvation.

 

Jesus knew that this world is hopelessly tied up with the devil

Jesus knows that we are slaves to sin and cannot free ourselves

And Jesus knew that God loves us all the same,

so Christ gave us a path.

A path of service to others, a path of forgiveness,

A path to life instead of death.

Hashtag Blessed

 Matthew 5:1-12 February 8, 2026

 

This is the first part of Jesus sermon

on the Mount, it’s called the Beatitudes.

or the Blessings.

 

What does it mean to be blessed?

The dictionary was no help.

But I think we know.

I think it means having God’s favor,

experiencing God’s grace,

feeling happiness, peace, and contentment.

It’s a great reminder that God is active in our lives.

 

But I think a lot of people confuse being

fortunate with being blessed.

I’ve had some people say to me,

“I was lucky,” then they remember that I

am a pastor and say, “oh no, I was blessed”

 

We say, we’re blessed with good health,

or wealth, or good looks, or a good spouse, or whatever.

Sometimes it’s things that we worked for,

and sometimes its come just because we’re lucky.

Blessed.

 

Actually ‘hashtag blessed’ is kind of a joke,

Because so many people -especially

social media influencers— use it for whatever

gain, or free thing, they’ve gotten.

 

When you look up hashtag blessed

on social media, you get some religious

comments, “blessed to have another day”

“blessed to be sober”, “blessed to be a blessing”.

 

But you also get a lot of people talking

about other things too:

I got these premium lulu Lemon leggings

for free. Best quarterly sales so far.

Hashtag blessed.

It’s used for college acceptances,  sports victories, vacations –

“We’re blessed to be able spend a week in Cabo

and see this sunset.”  - Hashtag blessed

“Someone was upgraded to first class on a flight”

hashtag blessed. 

 

Now, if saying you’re blessed is your thing,

I’m not trying to take it away,

I think it’s great to remind yourself

that everything comes from God

and we should be thankful for everything.

 

But I’m personally kind of uncomfortable

with the concept of saying I’m blessed

when I just feel fortunate or lucky.

It’s probably just Lutheran guilt,

but I feel like if I say that God has blessed me

because of what I have, then what about the people

who don’t have those things.

 

If I’m blessed with a house, or I’m blessed

with good health, what about the people

who don’t have a house or don’t have good health.

Is God’s blessing not for them too?

 

I’m probably thinking too hard about it.

But I guess that’s my job

to think too hard about this kind of thing.

 

In Jesus time, how fortunate you were,

or how many good things you had here on earth

(whether you were hashtag blessed in life or not)

was seen as an indicator of God’s favor.

 

Meaning that, whether you were rich or poor

healthy or sick, was taken as a direct sign

as to whether you had pleased God or

you had disappointed or angered God.

Or maybe if your parents or ancestors

had pleased or angered God.

 

 

They believed in what theologians call

“divine providence”. Which means that God

directs every iota of what happens in the

earthly realm.  To believe in “divine providence”

or determinism (which is just about the same, but

a little different) is a belief that everything that

happens in the world is determined by God,

and God uses the  things in life like money or health

as a blessing, or a trial, or as instruction, or as a punishment.

By that logic, we can see what God is

thinking just by seeing what happens in the world.

So if I got a free pair of Lulu Lemon Leggings,

then God must think I’m doing okay.

 

That might sound like good theology.

if you don’t think too hard,

But like I said, my job is to think too hard.

 

If you follow that logic, that would mean that every

billionaire who has money to waste on their seventh car and

their fourth yacht has really pleased God.

And conversely, God is angry at every person who doesn’t

have enough to eat, or is sick, or without a home.

 

This theology breaks down really quickly.

And It’s actually disturbing way to view God’s

work in the world. But somehow this “hashtag

blessed”  theology has prevailed

And it actually was the dominant Christian theology

throughout most of American history.

And Christian theology was very important in shaping

the world in the 18^th and 19^th century.

 

At the founding of the United States,

the European settlers believed in “Manifest Destiny”

Meaning that because of the superiority of

European/American culture and government,

God gave people a divine right to take over

the land in the US. Even if that meant

destroying Native Americans and taking their land.

 

White people thought it was Europeans’

divine right to take over land because it was

“Allotted by Providence” meaning

because they could they should.

And God made it possible.

In other words, they were blessed by God.

 

And “God’s providence” was the most prevalent

theological defense for American Slavery of

Africans in the US. If you read letters and sermons

from the time, there’s this circular logic used to justify Slavery

People basically said that it had to be ordained by God

because it wouldn’t have happened

if it wasn’t ordained by God.

 

So what you see in the world is exactly God’s will.

White people were blessed to be slave masters,

and God had cursed black people to be slaves.

 

It’s an absolutely disturbing and wrong way to understand

God’s work in the world when used in that way,

But it was the absolutely accepted way to

think about the happenings in the world at the time.

If you didn’t believe that, you looked strange and radical.

 

And it was the prevalent way to think

about God’s work through the 19^th century.

and even if it wasn’t overt, it still hung on

even through the first part of the of the 20^th century.

 

That is until people started to grasp the holocaust.

Then people could no longer look at the horrors

of human cruelty and say that God’s hand

had a part of that. Then people were forced to realize

that maybe everything that we saw in the world

was not an indicator of God’s will.

Since that time, God’s providence

has not been as dominant in

main-stream theology.

 

But it still lives today.

It lives in the prosperity Gospel that says

overtly that God rewards your righteousness

with cold hard cash and good health.

New Jerusalem
Dirk Walker

It lived every time Pat Robertson 

or Kenneth Copeland

told people why a hurricane hit 

Haiti or New Orleans.

That’s the overt. But the less overt way

it is still in the economy of this world.

 

I really think that is why we’re seeing

so many people who identify as

Christian advocating against any kind of government

services for the poor, or healthcare for everyone,

or debt relief, or emergency aid for foreign countries,

and have such toxic attitudes about immigrants.

I think it’s because some people feel like they have

a divine right to their privilege.

They believe they are hashtag  blessed above others

and they want to maintain that.

 

We’re living in a time where people are arguing

about who has a right to have basic rights,

who has a right to live and who doesn’t.

A few months ago, a guy on Fox news suggested that the

US should just euthanize anyone who is homeless.

 

We’re living in a time where the privileged are not just trying

to maintain their privilege, they want to prevent

those that they deem unworthy from getting anything themselves.

I mean if everyone had it, then we couldn’t tell

who was hashtag blessed. Who God favored, and who God didn’t.

 

There is a corner of Christianity that is dominating

politics right now that seems to relish in the fact

that some people are hashtag blessed, and other people are not.

 

They seem to want to maintain that.

And because of that they’ve built up a resentment

towards those that they don’t see as worthy of God’s favor,

those who share their privilege.

 

 

This is leading to resentment for immigrants,

for Haitians and Somalians and Latinos

for African Americans, and gay, lesbian, and transgender

and anyone who is not in the privileged classes,

but would have the nerve feel like they

might want also a part of the American dream.

 

I really think that what drives this competition

and resentment in American life against certain

groups is based on this idea that we can  

tell who is blessed by God and who isn’t

and people want to reserve those blessing for themselves.

 

We’re living in this economy of resentment

right now and it’s tearing our country apart.

It’s literally killing us right now.

 

And as usual, Jesus is trying to save us

from the stuff that is trying to kill us

 

In the Beatitudes, the blessings, Jesus makes

this alternate economy of blessings which probably

seemed really radical at the time.

In Jesus economy, blessings are not about how much

money you have or what comfort or privilege

or health you might have.

Blessings are really God’s grace and love.

And the more you need it the more you get it.

So the most needy among us become the most blessed.

 

In Jesus economy, God’s blessings do not demand anything of us.

Jesus says to that crowd, who seemed like some

of the least blessed people around at the time,

that they were already blessed.

 

You are blessed, just because you care.

Just because you’re poor in spirit,

just because you’ve lost hope or you’re suffering,

or your heart is breaking at the suffering

of another person, or you’re struggling to find

a reason to get up in the morning,

that is you being blessed.

Just because you mourn for losses, for your own

losses and for the loss of other people you might not even know.

You are blessed.

 

You are blessed just because you worked to make peace

instead of building up resentments and competition,

you are blessed.

Just because you want justice in this world.

Just because it bothers you to see people being treated unfairly.

You are blessed.

Just because you are persecuted, or talked bad about,

or even killed, you are blessed, because you stuck up for

someone else or defended them, or even put yourself

in harms way for them, you are blessed.

You don’t have to do it, but if you have yourself in that situation,

you are blessed.

 

In Jesus economy, these blessings

don’t belong to the ones with the earthly privilege

or the power, they don’t just belong to

the rich or the healthy, or the citizen in good standing.

No one is left out of God’s economy.

 

And you can’t tell by looking if someone is blessed or not.

Just because you have a nice house,

or a nice car, or nice healthcare, just because

you have free time, no debt and self determination

doesn’t mean that you’ve been blessed by God

more than someone who has none of those things.

Being blessed is a condition of the heart.

It is a condition of the soul.

 

Jesus was telling those people listening

and telling us now, that we can’t tell what

God is thinking based on someone’s state in life.

 

The message of the Beatitudes and the message of the cross

is that God does not cause suffering,

but God is present wherever there is suffering.

 

Jesus is telling us that God’s blessings

are here for everyone. It’s not just for the ones

with the first class upgrades, or a nice house.

Everyone is hashtag blessed.

 

What would it mean if even just the

Christians really believed in that message?

What would it mean if we truly believed

God’s blessings were for everyone?