Sacred Questions At ChristmasSample

HE BECAME VERY HUNGRY

Begin by taking a few breaths and paying attention to the air moving in and out of your lungs and mouth. Notice where you feel tension or discomfort in your body. To the extent you are able, try to relax, let the chair you are sitting in fully support your body, and release the tension as you breathe deeply. 

A Prayer to Open

Here I am, Lord,

in my tired, aging, hurting, wondrous body.

Open my heart to you now.

You are my High Priest who knows.

Read Scripture Passage

Reflect

In Jesus’ baptism, we see one of the most stunning moments of all time: the Father’s acknowledgment of Jesus as his Son, his beloved, and the affirmation of this truth by his voice and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Immediately afterward, Jesus’ body and mind are tested. He is hungry and thirsty and presumably very tired from not having eaten in forty days. He is alone. He is outside in the wilderness. The one who created all things and holds all things together humbled by a limited human body.

What do you think Jesus was feeling in his body during his time in the wilderness? Consider his hunger, the temperature, his aloneness, and where and how he slept.

Reflect on the reality that God came to be with us in a body that would hunger and hurt and be uncomfortable and tired. What does this truth reveal to you about his love? What does it reveal about Jesus’ ability to identify with you?

Reflect on the times you have been hurt, uncomfortable, or exhausted. How might your experience help you identify with and serve someone you know going through something similar? 

Respond

Jesus Christ—

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace;

the one through whom and for whom all things were made; and

the one in whom I live and move and have my being—

became flesh and made your dwelling among us. 

And nothing—neither death nor life, angels nor demons, the present nor the future; not any powers, height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation—can separate me from the love of our God, which is in you, Jesus Christ my Lord.