In the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Week by week, around the
world, congregations follow Jesus instruction to pray the Lord’s Prayer. I believe that there are times that we say
and do things in our faith and over the years of doing and saying them one of
two things can happen. Firstly, through
repetition and deeper understanding the words become our own and so we as we
say them they deepen our faith and commitment. Or, alternately, familiarity
breeds contempt. Repetition of the words
creates an immunity or boredom sometimes exacerbated by ignorance and often
resulting in rejection.
In considering the words of
the Lord’s Prayer which are not simply Jesus instruction but are also filled
with rich meaning I want this morning to simply focus on one line of the
prayer.
Give us this day our daily
bread.
Give us this day our daily
bread.
In reflecting on these words
I want to bring three things to your attention.
Firstly, the literal sense of
the words as they have been translated into English.
Secondly, a sense of meaning
that is grounded in Jesus statements in John’s gospel “I am the bread of life”
and “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
And thirdly, a context of
meaning found in the Eucharistic practices of the church.
Give us this day our daily
bread are words which when understood simply at face value appeal to God for
the basis sustenance of life: food. My
earliest recollections of praying this line of the prayer are to do exactly
with that. I understood that we prayed
to God to provide for us our basic human needs.
This in itself is an act of
faith. In praying give us this day our
daily bread we look to God as the one who ultimately can provide and does
provide all things. This line of the
prayer reminds us that all things come from God and regardless of our human
efforts and systems of society not one thing exists or is available for us but
by God’s will. As words standing alone
in their basic meaning they are words which should humble as we share in
praying words that Jesus prayed and as we realise that the world and all that
is in it belongs to God. We look to God
for what we need.
I have little doubt that this
basic meaning is meant to be a part of our understanding of Jesus words but
when we look deeper than the English translation and consider the wider context
of not only the prayer but the whole of Jesus life there is more to be said.
When tempted by the devil to
turn stones to bread Jesus declares “Man does not live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt 4:4, see also Luke
4:4) Jesus understanding was that whilst
bread may be important for our physical sustenance we have greater need than
this.
On this point it is
interesting to note that in the Egyptian Coptic Church’s translation of this
passage and of the Lord’s Prayer the phrase is translated something more like,
“Give us this day the bread of eternal life.”
What might we think of as the
bread of eternal life? The answer is
given to us by Jesus in John’s gospel, chapter 6.
“The bread of God is that
which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
And when asked, what is this
bread? Jesus answer is.
“I am the bread of life”
“I am the bread that came
down from heaven.”
Combine these statements with
the words of the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ might also
be said ‘Give us this day, and every day Jesus’. The statement in the prayer operates on more
than one level. In appealing for our
daily bread we appeal to God to give us Jesus, every day.
This raises the importance of
saying these words immensely and as we say them week by week in church with
this understanding they ground us in the reality of our faith. Not simply that God provides for our physical
need in bread but that God has given the bread of heaven Jesus Christ and this
is what we need more than all else. In
the gathering of the worshipping community we receive this bread as we hear the
good news of Jesus Christ proclaimed as we eat the bread together in
communion. We receive the bread in word
and sacrament.
This leads me into my final
point. This prayer has Eucharistic
significance. The Lord’s Prayer is placed
within the setting of the communion service I believe because it points us to
God’s coming kingdom and also to the bread with which we are fed upon the way:
Jesus Christ himself.
One of the great sadness that
I have for the Protestant
Church in general is the
loss of understanding concerning Jesus presence feeding us in the celebration of
the Eucharist. We have been guilty of
reducing our understanding of what we are doing as mere remembrance of what
Jesus did and often this is further exacerbated by the individualism of our
faith whereby we see taking the elements as something merely occurring between
me and God.
Yet in celebrating together,
being fed with the bread of eternity, we are not disparate people coming as
lonely individuals before our God. By no
means! We are made to be what we are
companions in Christ. The word companion
comes from two words ‘with’ ‘bread’ and literally companions are those who
break bread together. As we are fed at
this table we are bound not by respect or love of one another nor even are we
stifled by our incapacity to respect and love one another. At this table we feed on the bread of eternal
life and in breaking this bread with us the Lord makes us one. Companions in Christ!
As a final aside on this
particular point the prayer is “Give us this day our daily bread.” For me there is an argument here for more
regular celebrations of the Eucharist.
The great reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin live in a time when
the Lord’s Supper was celebrated 4 times per year with the laity. It was they who argued first for weekly communion for the people not just the priests. A few hundred years later, John Wesley in his
revival is said to have celebrated communion almost daily. The appeal for daily bread in the Lord’s
Prayer I believe points us to celebrating the Lord’s Supper each time we
worship together. In the first version of the Leaders Book of Uniting in
Worship the assumption was that communion is celebrated each week. There is something for us to dwell on here.
Give us this day our daily
bread.
Provide our physical needs
for us day by day.
Give us your Son day by day.
Feed us with the bread and
wine offered at your table day by day.
As we think again on these
words this day, as we feed on him by Word and sacrament, I pray that we all
this day may come to a deeper understanding that we are truly companions in
Christ and this will inform your congregation here in the days and the weeks
and the years ahead until Christ comes again in all his glory. Amen.
Thanks for a refreshing insight!
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