Devotion for Sunday, March 1
Matthew 4:1-11 | Angels came and ministered to him.
Do we not all need consoling? Is there anyone, who having passed through a bruising, straining experience, does not need to be loved and comforted back to strength? Is there anyone on earth who does not need replenishment?
In Jesus’ ministry there is a constant back and forth between quiet time and refreshment (interrupted as it almost always was), and giving. Here, after the temptation in the wilderness, he was ministered to by angels.
Saint Francis invited us, “not so much to be consoled as to console.” True enough. But consoling starts with being consoled. “Blessed be… the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Cor. 1:3-4)
The motion of the Gospel travels from being consoled in the midst of loss, despair, and judgment; to the renewed fruit of a comfort that now flows from us. Always we travel from being served to serving.
PRAYER
Dear lord, enable us to ask for comfort.