Matthew 6:9-15

“How can you live with the terrifying thought that the hurricane has become human, that fire has become flesh, that life itself became life and walked in our midst?”—N.T. Wright

“[B]read magnifies Christ in two ways: by being eaten with gratitude for his goodness, and by being forfeited out of hunger for God himself. When we eat, we taste the emblem of our heavenly food—the Bread of Life. And when we fast we say, ‘I love the Reality above the emblem.’ In the heart of the saint both eating and fasting are worship. Both magnify Christ. Both send the heart-grateful and yearning—to the Giver. Each has its appointed place, and each has its danger. The danger of eating is that we fall in love with the gift; the danger of fasting is that we belittle the gift and glory in our willpower.”
—John Piper, A Hunger for God

Image:  Franz Messerschmidt, “A Hypocrite and a Slanderer” (ca. 1770–83, tin alloy)