“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread.”
Luke 11:1-3 NIV
We have been examining the purpose of our needs in the context of prayer and God’s way of doing things. God’s economic system is to create a current by giving to those in need so that God, in turn, meets our needs.
This leads me to another important consideration. If this is God’s way of meeting our needs, why did Jesus teach His disciples to pray…
“Give us each day our daily bread.”
Was He contradicting Himself? Not if we understand a little bit about the Hebrew mind.
At the mention of “daily bread”, a Hebrew-thinking person would have associated daily bread with the manna God provided daily in the wilderness. All the details of their ancestors’ deliverance from Egypt would have been a part of their thinking and remembering.
Let’s go, for a moment, to the aftermath of Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand recorded in John’s gospel.
“The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
John 6:22, 24-31 NIV
As usual, the people bypassed faith in Jesus by demanding a sign. The sign Jesus gave them was exactly what had happened and what they had seen the previous day. He had given them bread to eat by the miracle of multiplying five small barley buns.
“Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:32-35 NIV
Now, let’s go back to Jesus’ prayer…”give us today our daily bread.” Just as the Father provided daily manna in the wilderness, so Jesus is the bread from heaven whom we must “eat” daily to nourish our souls. Jesus went on to make this shocking statement…
“Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
John 6:49-51 NIV
What was Jesus saying? Using the symbolism of eating bread, He said that we must “eat” His flesh, that is, take in the reality and meaning of His body given for us so that, through His death, we may have eternal life.
So, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus was not contradicting Himself. He was pointing to our need to feed daily on what He has done for us through His death. We must ask the Father to feed us on His Word…Jesus, who is the Bread of Life…so that we can live and grow in this eternal life He has given us through His Son and in the life of the kingdom over which He is King and Lord.
If it not necessary for us to ask God to meet our needs, for what must we ask when we have needs?
“But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”
Luke 12:31 NIV
Why not ask the Father to give us a generous heart like the heart of Jesus? When we give freely to another in need, we create a space for God’s generosity to flow to us.
To be continued…