(A repost from January 18, 2009)

Many people have memorized  the Bible. Most people who watch sporting events have memorized John 3:16, for example.

But that doesn’t mean they know what it means.

Some people have memorized parts of the Bible. From phrases to sentences to paragraphs to pages to whole books, people have memorized  the Bible.

But that doesn’t mean they know what it means.

Some people teach other people about the Bible. They can talk about how many books there are, how many versions have been written. They can talk about how many authors may have written which books of the Bible. They can speak with great confidence.

But that doesn’t mean they know what it means.

Some people can study in several languages. They have learned Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic and Latin. They can explain now the tenses of a particular verb mean this in the original language, but were translated incorrectly by that group. As a result, they tell us, we have all been wrong for the last 1900 years about what Jesus really meant.

But that doesn’t mean they know what it means.

Jesus was forty days into a fast. He was hungry. He needed food.  Not wanted, needed. And forty days into this fast, the devil shows up to test him, to show him what it feels like to be human.

The devil reminds Jesus that Jesus has the power to turn stones into bread. (As will be seen later, Jesus could take a five dinner rolls and feed 15,000 people.)

And Jesus says, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”Matthew 4:4

In the face of adversity, to remember and say and live even one sentence our dad told us, that is knowing what it means.

Jesus knew.