"Jesus's stomach growled"

25/06/2010

"After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." Matthew 4: 2

This week I tried fasting. I began my fast by forgetting that I had decided to fast, and then remembering and being really sad 'cause it meant couldn't have breakfast. And then I convinced myself it was for the best, breakfast was really fatty anyway. My spirit told me that I should think about whether this fast was about God or about weight, my head told me not to be ridiculous and proceeded to use scripture out of context, "There is no condemnation..." etc. Thankfully, I began on a Sunday so I had church to distract me from all the awesome things I could be eating.

God's been teaching me a lot about awkward moments and how to embrace and even use them as ministry tools, this fast was no exception.


So, I was sitting in the pew (which is actually a cinema seat at the moment) shouting my "Come ON!" and my "That's good, REALLY good!" whenever the preacher says something particularly profound.Suddenly I heard a loud rumble. The first thing I thought of was "And I heard a sound from heaven...like a loud peal of thunder." (Rev 14:2) No one else seemed to notice. The next time it was much louder and I got a weird tickly feeling in my stomach.

Mutsa, shocked and horrified, "Is that YOUR STOMACH??!" Takunda, "HAHA!"

Me,mortified, "Um. No. Yes. I'm fasting."

Lesson 1: A growling stomach could potentially open the door to a great sermon illustration, God intended it for your good!

So, this fasting got me researching and I ended up at Matthew 4 and this hilarious video. I learned in Bible School that applying the Bible to yourself is called RiD (Reading it Devotionally). So that is what I did.

First with what was set out before me:

1. Jesus had been fasting.
2. For 40 days and 40 nights.
3. Jesus was hungry.
4. Jesus was human.

followed by applying it to me:

1. I had been fasting.
2. For several minutes.
3. I was hungry.
4. I am human.
5. My stomach growled.

My devotional reading of the Bible has been based on trying to make these people real for me today. These people were real God-followers, trying to live in a fallen world, like me. The Bible was written for people and God specifically chose certain people, their stories and there is some kind of conclusion to be drawn having applied their circumstances, their experiences and the end result to my life.The Bible is filled with testimonies!

Back to Matthew 4. The conclusion is NOT that I'm Jesus (I know you thought that too). The revelation was that "Jesus's stomach growled". So irreverent! The religious me flared up. What a terrible thought to have about God! As silly as it may sound, this is a revelation that I believe that everyone should get because most of us are guilty of emphasizing Christ's deity and denying or minimizing His humanity (Phillipians 2: 5). and that's where our disconnection with Him begins. You see, denying Christs humanity, defeats the whole purpose of Him coming down to earth, we might as well be living in the Old Testament.

The issue of humanity not only applies to how we relate to Jesus but to the all the Bible characters (David, Esther and all that bunch)and this revelation has really shifted the way I think about stuff.

More on this soon... For now, the next time your stomach embarrasses you, remember, you're in very good company.