The Devil wanted to know for certain whether Christ was indeed the Son of God as he was declared to be at his Baptism in Jordan.  Jesus had gone into the desert to discipline his body in preparation for his ministry, to make it his servant so that it should never hinder him in his mission.  And as the days passed his body clamoured against the rigours of his fast.  And Satan put this thought into his mind, “Why not use my miraculous powers to satisfy this hunger?”  Perhaps there was the further suggestion that he should also use his miraculous powers to attract a great body of followers by regularly providing them with free bread.

But neither now nor at any other time did Jesus allow his own bodily needs or those of his fellow men to influence him in doing his Father’s will; in many weary journeys, in the Garden of Gethsemane and supremely on the Cross he was its complete master.  And when he did feed the 5000 with the five loaves and two small fishes and the people came to him the next day in the hope of getting more, he rebuked them and told them to desire for themselves, not the temporal but the eternal, not the natural but the supernatural.