Banana Bread of Life

March 02, 2023

Banana Bread of Life

Mom’s Banana Bread, 2023

Watercolor pencil

15” x 11”

Happy March and happy Lent, my art blog friends! We are officially one week and one day into the Lenten season. For anybody who is scratching their head right now and asking, “what the heck is a Lent?” not to worry, you are not alone and I promise answers are imminent.

I get a lot of strange responses when I tell folks that I observe Lent. I have heard everything from, “why, you’re not Catholic?” to, “oh man, I’m so happy I’m not Jewish so I don’t have to do that!” So before I get into this post, allow me to demystify this very misunderstood holiday.

Lent is a liturgical season. The term “liturgical season” is just a fancy way of saying it is part of the church calendar year. You are probably familiar with other liturgical seasons and don’t even know it - think Christmas, Easter, or Advent (you know, the one with the fun calendars full of little chocolates). The different liturgical seasons each emphasize a certain part of Jesus’ life; during Christmas we celebrate Jesus’ birth, and Easter we celebrate His resurrection, and in Advent we celebrate the events that lead up to Jesus’ birth (the Jesus “prequel” if you will). During the season of Lent, Christians commemorate Jesus’ 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. This is typically done with 40 days of fasting and prayer. The time of Lent begins the day after Mardi Gras (also known as Fat Tuesday) and culminates in the grand celebration of Easter (Jesus’ supreme victory over sin, death, and the Devil). Certain denominations place a lot of emphasis on the observation of Lent, however, it is not specific to any one group and can be observed by anyone who is a Christian. The whole idea behind Lent is to grow closer to God through a season of fasting and prayer and deeper in our appreciation of Jesus’ victory over the Devil in the process. Sounds pretty epic huh? I mean what Christian doesn’t want to grow closer to God and celebrate kicking the Devil’s butt? Can I get an amen ;).

It is customary during Lent, to reflect on Jesus’ own time of fasting in the wilderness. A record of this event can be found in three out of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) but I am partial to the one in the Gospel of Mathew. It begins at the start of chapter 4 and reads as such:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

(Matthew 4:1-11, NIV).

One of the things that made Jesus such an incredible teacher is that He modeled all of His lessons. There is not one thing that Jesus asked us to do that He Himself did not demonstrate. And fasting is no exception. There are so many things in the story of Jesus’ temptation that one can apply and find comfort in during their own time of fasting and I swear, every time I read this story I pick up on a new one. Here is my “short” list:

Jesus was lead by the Holy Spirit on how to fast.
He was tempted and tormented by the Devil during His fast.
Jesus rebuked the Devil’s lies with Scripture.
Even though Jesus was perfect, and in total harmony with God, He was HUNGRY.
After the Devil gave up and left, God sent angels to attend Jesus.

In Jesus’ first public address, famously known as the "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7), Jesus brought up the topic of fasting. He broached the topic with “when you fast…” Note that He said: “when you fast,” not, “if you fast.” (Matthew 6:16 NIV). This is really interesting because it seems to me like Jesus totally expected that we would be fasting from time to time. Now, I’m not saying that Jesus decreed that all Christians should observe Lent. However, Lent is a really nice time to take up the practice of fasting. There is something about having a designated time that helps move the things we would like to do (like fasting, or working out, or practicing your drawing skills, or flossing) from the “someday” list to the “let’s do it now!” list.

There isn’t a whole lot of talk in our modern church culture about Christian fasting and that’s one of the reasons I felt compelled to write this post. I specified “Christian fasting” because secular diet culture has a lot to say about fasting - we should fast “intermittently” to lose weight, or we should fast from certain foods to detoxify our bodies. You may have even been asked by your doctor to fast before a medical procedure at some point. This, however, is not the same kind of fasting that the Bible is talking about. Jesus was not lead by The Spirit into the wilderness to lose five pounds. Abstaining from food (or certain things that you enjoy) is only half of the equation. You need to incorporate prayer to accomplish a true Christian fast. I believe this is why Jesus brings up the topic of fasting right after addressing how we are to pray in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 6:5-15). Early on in my investigations into fasting, I read a great post which made the observation that: “fasting without prayer just makes you a hungry Christian.” This is so true! Fasting turns up the volume and strengthens our connection to God but without the two-way conversation of prayer we are just amplifying dead air.

I have practiced Lent for several years now and every year The Holy Spirit gives me an idea of what I am to fast from. I have fasted from Netflix, coffee, even sleeping on my bed! I will say that The Holy Spirit has been creative in coming up with fasts for me, though I’m not always a big fan of His ideas… at least not at the start. Coffee, for example, was a scary one. I am a serious caffeine addict and the prospect of abstaining from coffee, the nectar of life, for 40 days was down right terrifying! But that is the whole point of a fast - giving up something you love for something greater (the presence of God) and recognizing that you need His help to do that.

This year, I elected to do an honest to goodness food fast. I determined that I would fast from all food (except for water) for a couple days a week for the 40 days of Lent. The first two days went surprisingly well, no caffeine headache and I wasn’t even all that hungry… that is, until my mom made banana bread. About mid-day, on the second day of my fast, my mother announced that she way going to make banana bread. “No biggie,” I thought to myself, “I will simply push it out of my mind for now and enjoy some tomorrow.” But as the loaf finished baking the lovely smell of banana bread filled the air. I could practically taste the crispy crust and feel the butter melting on my tongue. The aroma was intoxicating and it filled the ENTIRE house! It permeated every room, filled every hallway, and it even somehow magically passed through locked doors. There was no escaping it and panic struck me because I knew that everyone else in the house could smell it too! You see, the smell of baked goods emanating from my mother’s kitchen is a sort of alarm bell around here. This aromatic alarm automatically summons everyone from all corners of the house and proclaims, “come and get it!” Even our dogs wander into the kitchen, wagging their tails hopefully and smiling. “Oh no, I’m going to miss out! My family is going to devour the entire thing and there won’t be anything left by tomorrow!” my mind yelled. It was in this moment of supreme selfishness and temptation that Jesus’ example came to my mind. Scripture tells us that after 40 days of fasting Jesus was HUNGRY and it was at the peak of that hunger when the Devil came to tempt Him with food. “Why don’t you just turn those stones over there into tasty bread?” the Devil proposed to Jesus. To which Jesus replied with Scripture. Jesus answered, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

So I too began to reply with scripture. “Jesus is the bread of life, in Him I am satisfied” (John 6:35 NIV) I repeated this several times like a mantra, over and over again “Jesus is the bread of life.” Then, a calm washed over me and soon a revelation came to my mind: “the presence of God is sweeter than a piece of banana bread. I want THAT! I want the glorious aroma of His presence! I want it to fill my house like the beautiful smell of my mom’s banana bread!” A smile warmed my face as I thought about the aroma of God filling my house, every room, every hall, even my grandma’s wing. I followed my sister into the kitchen and saw the beautiful loaf of bread resting on the counter. It was perfectly done and golden brown. I asked my mom if she would set aside a piece for me for the following day to which she replied, “yeah, ok.” See Enemy, you are full of lies. My family is kind and loving, not a wake of vultures. I can keep my fast and eat my banana bread too… because The Word of God beats all your lies!