GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD
“In the middle of the Lord’s
Prayer there is a distinct division. You
see it in the pronouns. In the first
three petitions we are taught to say ‘thy.’
‘thy name,’ thy kingdom,’ ‘thy will.’
But in the last three petitions are ‘us’ and ‘our’. First, we think of God, then we can
rightfully think of ourselves.”
“The Lord’s Prayer – an
interpretation” by Charles L. Allen,
page 40.
The
phrase we look at this morning is "Give us this day our daily
bread." Two simple words -- daily
bread -- are actually not that simple.
They are like that archaeological dig.
The more you look at those simple words, the more there is to discover.
Let's
take a look at the word DAILY.
DAILY
is such a common word in our vocabulary.
But the interesting thing is that when Matthew wrote the Lord's Prayer
in his Gospel, the word that was used for DAILY was far from a common word.[1] In all Greek literature, the word that is
translated as DAILY appears nowhere else except here in the Lord's Prayer. We're talking about 1000s of books, millions
of scraps of paper that have survived in museums and archives, and not one of
them uses this word that Matthew uses for daily.
Oh
wait -- there is one. It is a scrap of
paper that was apparently a shopping list -- a grocery list. On that piece of paper is the word DAILY.
Even
though the word is so rare, it is easy to translate because it is a combination
of two common words. We do the same
thing today, for example a pistol is often referred to as a hand-gun. Two words used together to refer to a
weapon. Or a trolley is often called a street-car. You get the point.
Matthew
and Luke both record the Lord’s Prayer with a word for “daily” that combines
two common words and it has left scholars struggling with what Jesus meant with
this prayer.[2]
The
combination of words that we translate as DAILY can be understood as "give
us today what we need for tomorrow."
That sounds wonderful, but it is out of touch with the rest of the
Gospel teachings. After all, it was
Jesus who said immediately after teaching his disciples to pray the Lord's
Prayer, "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, what you will wear or what you
will eat. Today has enough
concerns." (Matthew 6:25)
Other
scholars have said that this unusual word for DAILY means "the day's
necessary things."
Anyone
who has ever taken a look at the food labels on cartons has seen the
explanation of the vitamins and minerals and calories. One phrase on that label is "daily
minimum requirement." Food makers
sell cereal based on how it has 100% of the daily minimum requirement.
So
with this meaning, the prayer asks only for what we need -- not for what we
want, but what we need.
Actually,
I believe the answer is both.
In
the Lord's Prayer we are praying that God will give us today what we will need
for tomorrow, so that we will not have to be anxious for things.
And
it also means that we are asking only for what we need. Not what we want.
As
a pastor strangers are often coming into my office asking for help. They want money, gas for the car,
whatever. Sometimes, people ask for
things they don't need. The most extreme
case was several years ago someone came to the church asking for money -- here
was a person who had been out of work for sometime. He asked the church for $1,000. That far exceeded anything we had ever given
anyone. Why did he need it? He wanted to buy a new television.
Churches
often help those in need, but only to provide what the Lord's Prayer says --
the daily and minimum requirements. The
church is not obligated to provide for the luxuries of life. But we are called to help people with the
necessities of life -- food, clothing, and shelter. Not televisions.
When
we pray to God using the Lord's Prayer, we are asking that we receive only the
things we absolutely need, and that we receive them in such a time that we do
not become anxious about tomorrow.
The
other word I want us to look at is BREAD.
That is a simple word in either Greek or English. But as simple as it is, it is like that
archaeological dig. The deeper you dig
the more you find.
When
I was a teenager, BREAD meant money. I'd
go up to my father and say, "Hey man, give me some daily bread," and
that meant I wanted my allowance.
Bread
does, in fact, mean a lot of different things.
In the Lord’s Prayer it can mean four things.
V
First,
it can refer to the bread of the Lord's Supper.
The bread on the Lord’s Table is no ordinary bread. Different churches use different types of
bread. Some use small wafers of bread
that are paper-thin discs of pressed bread that often have Christian symbols
pressed into the design. Others use
bread baked in shapes that look more like an after dinner mint than bread. One church I went to actually used a saltine
cracker. In many churches you will find
a wonderful loaf of homemade bread.
But
it is always bread. It is just bread,
and yet it is always more than just bread.
It
is the body of Christ, broken for us.
But even in
Churches where the Sacrament was not received daily, the Lord's Prayer has
still been viewed as having to do with Holy Communion. For such people, the petition, "give us
this day our daily bread," has meant that we ought to always be in a spirit and attitude of communion with Christ
and His Church.
V
A
second meaning for this word BREAD has to do with the symbolic bread as the
Word of God.
There
is a wonderful old hymn, "Break Thou The Bread of Life," which many
people think of as a Communion Hymn. It
is not a Communion hymn at all. It has
to do with the Scriptures. Breaking the
bread of life has to do with opening the Bible and feeding on the Word of God.
Break
thou the bread of life
Dear Lord
to me
As thou
didst break the loaves
Beside the
Sea.
Beyond the
sacred page
I seek
thee Lord,
My spirit
longs for thee
O living
Word.
We
need to be fed daily, not only in our physical needs, but also for our
intellectual and emotional and every other aspect of our being, including our
spiritual knowledge. Many have
traditionally believed that the Lord's Prayer is a request that we be fed
spiritually.
V
A
third interpretation of this word BREAD is that it is a reference to Jesus
himself.
Jesus, after all, calls himself the bread of life in the Gospel of John
(6:33-35). In that sense the prayer becomes
a petition that we receive Jesus Christ who is the bread of life.
This would not
only mean in terms of receiving Christ for our salvation but in a daily senses,
as the Lord's Prayer implies. In other
words, developing a sense of Christ's daily presence.
V
There
is even a fourth interpretation to the meaning of the word BREAD. There is every possibility that it might just
be as simple as referring to bread. “Give us today our daily bread” could mean
simply “give us real bread,” the kind you used to make this morning's toast and
the kind you'll use to make your sandwich for your midnight snack.
There
is no reason why it cannot mean all four. Think of those terrible standardized
tests students take in school. Given the
choices of A, B, C, or D, there was often the choice of E – “All of the
above.” When we pray for our “daily
bread” we might find ourselves praying at any given time for any one or more of
these wonderful choices.
Give us today our
bread --
· The Sacramental bread of the body of Christ.
· The Word of God, with which we can nourish our souls.
· The Bread of Life, who is Jesus himself.
· And the Bread we need for our tables to nourish our bodies.
Copyright 2005, Dr. Maynard
Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
www.Pittendreigh.com
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