7.. Lord’s Prayer: Daily bread – Give us this day the bread of Life.
Food is one of the most fundamental necessities for our existence; without it, life as we know it cannot be sustained.
As children, we instinctively expect our parents to provide us with food.
It is like an unspoken contract, there is an expectation that those who give us life have a responsibility for keeping us alive until we are old enough to fend for ourselves.
Through the eyes of faith, however, the ultimate life-giver is God, the Creator, and for this reason it is not surprising to find a request for food included within the Lord's Prayer.
Bread was the principal food for Jews and came to symbolise all that was necessary for life.
Bread being a gift from God, it possessed a pronounced sacramental quality.
God created the world to yield an abundant supply (Genesis 1:28-31; 2:15-17) and miraculously provided sustenance for Israel in the wilderness, the manna from heaven (Exodus 16), before leading his people into a bountiful land of 'milk and honey' (Exodus 3:8).
Each loaf of bread embodied God's covenantal faithfulness and, for this reason, a blessing was always pronounced over it before consumption.
Further, the breaking and sharing of bread came to be an expression of covenantal living: of communing with God, showing solidarity with God's people and being hospitable in God's name (for example, Genesis 18:1-8; Exodus 24:9-11).
All this helps us to appreciate the significance of eating bread together in Jesus' ministry.
The Gospels records many occasions when Jesus shared a meal not only with friends and disciples, but also with vast crowds, debating-partners, opponents and, surprisingly, with those considered bad company – tax collectors and sinners.
Meals had become for some Jews in Jesus' time a means of establishing group identity and religious exclusiveness (for example the Pharisees, the Qumran community).
Great care was taken over what was consumed, how and with whom it was eaten (compare Mark 2:15-17; 7:1-8).
By contrast, Jesus earns himself a reputation for extending hospitality in God's name to all God's people, whatever their condition or need.
Jesus bringing to life the divine economy of blessing: blessing is bestowed that blessing may be shared, in God's name – bread is given, bread is shared.
Once again, the co-operative nature of prayer comes into focus: without a generous God, there would be no food; without a generous people, God's generosity would be frustrated.
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A wealthy old man complained to a friend that his children did not come to see him unless they wanted something.
'They never come,' he said, ‘Just for my own sake.'
The Lord's Prayer begins with adoration, we focus on the one whose name we hallow and whose will we seek to do.
We come for 'His own sake', to worship, adore and reflect on the mystery of His being.
Prayer has long been described as 'the practice of the presence of God'.
It is 'all that we are, delighting in all that He is'.
We take time to deepen our relationship with Him and that is important, but that does not preclude our seeking practical help.
Indeed, asking is part of such a relationship – asking is part of prayer.
Of course the old man was sad that his children came to see him only when they wanted something.
But he would have been devastated had he found out that one of his children really needed help but was not able to trust him enough to ask for it.
That's exactly how God is. - He longs that we should come to Him for His own sake, but when we do have needs, He wants us to bring them to Him as well.
The Lord's Prayer begins with our seeking God 'for His own sake'.
In adoration we focus upon the greatness and majesty of our Father in heaven whose name and nature must be hallowed.
We then commit ourselves to play our part in building His kingdom by doing His will.
In following this with a request for daily bread, we are changing the focus of our prayer from adoration to intercession and petition.
Having begun by seeking the face of God, we now seek the hand of God by asking for practical help.
In a very real sense, we have reached the watershed of this prayer we call the lord’s prayer.
At this watershed, or point of transition, it is worth noting that although it is brief the Lord's Prayer is remarkably comprehensive.
In it we see something of the work of each person of the Holy Trinity, and we bring before God our needs, past, present and future.
Remembering that God is our Father, the creator who sustains the universe, we ask for bread that we might live in the present.
We look to the sacrifice of Jesus, the Son, seeking forgiveness for the past through His cross and resurrection.
By our willingness to forgive others, we find ourselves being set free from resentment.
It is the Holy Spirit –
God in the present tense,
God in action now
God who enables us to deal with all that is negative and so helps us to face the future positively.
It is to this same Holy Spirit that we look to when we ask for deliverance from evil and seek God's protection as we face the challenge of whatever tomorrow may bring.
The Lord’s prayer is also a prayer for the freedom to live fulfilled lives as the children of God.
We seek liberation from all that prevents us from doing the Lord's will and playing our part in furthering the work of the kingdom.
Thus we seek freedom from hunger,
We seek forgiveness for our sins
We seek the power of God to prevent us from being tested beyond our strength or brought under the dominion of evil.
This petition reminds us that, during the wilderness wanderings, God sent the 'bread of heaven' to the Israelites (Exodus 16: 13-35).
It was a sign of God's presence with them and His willingness to sustain them after rescuing them from slavery in Egypt.
This 'manna', a bread- like substance that probably tasted like wafers made with honey, was given each day to remind them of God's care and provision.
Apart from the eve of the Sabbath, when enough was given for two days, it had to be gathered daily rather than being stored up.
There is no room for greed. God's provision is for sufficiency, not surplus.
Our prayer is for bread, the basic foodstuff and a symbol of all food and as such it is a prayer for the essentials of life, not for the luxuries.
The bread symbolises our daily needs both physical and spiritual in the form of a partnership and stewardship between us and God, our Father.
