Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Mother’s Day brings a complicated mix of emotions: for some of us it is a day of joy, gratitude, and happiness; for others it is a day that brings pangs of pain, regret or grief. It is a day when we rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Sometime Mother’s Day is a mixture of all these things as we remember our mothers and some of the things they taught us or shared with us.
On Mother’s Day children often try to do something nice for their mothers and it’s always important to remember it’s the thought that counts. Two children ordered their mother to stay in bed one Mother’s Day morning. She lay there looking forward to being brought breakfast in bed as the smell of bacon floated up from the kitchen. Finally, her kids called her to come downstairs. She found them both sitting at the table eating bacon and eggs. One of the kids explained, “As a surprise for Mother’s Day, we decided to cook our own breakfast.”
May 11, 2014
Matthew 6:11, 25-34, Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
[powerpress]
Thinking of my mother on Mother’s Day it’s very fitting for me to be on this part of the Lord’s Prayer because my mom prayed faithfully and because she made great bread. Two kinds of bread especially remind me of my mother: banana bread and anadama bread. Jill still makes them for us. I always loved when my mother made either of those when I was a boy or a grown up. The smell of bread baking in a kitchen is intoxicating to me. I can see my mom in the kitchen putting butter on the top of the anadama bread and then how hard it was to wait for it to cool so I could eat some with my mom’s homemade strawberry jam. When I think of that, it’s easy for me to pray the third petition in the Lord’s Prayer from the Gospel of Matthew 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread.” A little further on, Jesus continues to teach about trusting God for our daily needs when he says,
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Let’s pray: Holy God open our ears, focus our minds, soften our hearts and prepare our spirits that today the leaven of your Word might find in us lively and pliable dough. In the name of the Bread of Life, Amen.
The beginning of the Lord’s prayer is concerned with God’s name, kingdom, and will; today the focus shifts to our needs and concerns. The Lord’s Prayer starts with God’s great purposes, but it doesn’t end there. Jesus invites us to pray about our needs – our bread, our sins, our trials. When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we’re asking that our needs for today would be met today. This includes food and whatever else we truly need to live. The emphasis is on provision today for what we need today. This also hearkens back to the passage from Exodus 16:1-36 about God providing food in the wilderness. The Israelites were complaining against the Lord, and the Lord provided manna for them to eat so they would not die of hunger. God through Moses instructed the people to only take what they needed for that day and not to worry about gathering more, but some folks didn’t listen, “some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul.” The only day they were supposed to take more was the day before the Sabbath because they were supposed to rest on the Sabbath day, and yet on the seventh day there were still folks who went out looking to gather manna, which ticked off Moses. According to Exodus 16:36, “the Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land.”
Like the Israelites in the wilderness, in praying “give us this day our daily bread,” Jesus is teaching us to learn to trust God for our daily needs. Over a century ago, George Muller, of Bristol, England, didn’t advertise or ask for particular needs to support a vast ministry including houses for orphans but allowed it to come from the prompting of God. He did this as a testimony that God provides faithfully for those who trust in him. He reasoned: “Now if I a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained without asking any individual, the means for establishing and carrying on an orphan house: there would be something which with the Lord’s blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, besides being a testimony to the consciences of the unconverted, of the reality of the things of God.” If we see needs met because we have asked God alone, our faith in God’s presence and care will be greatly increased.”[1]
It is not just the ancient Israelites who faced the temptation to hoard manna and take more than was needed. Henri Nouwen writes about the temptation to hoard in his book, Bread for the Journey, “As fearful people we are inclined to develop a mind-set that makes us say: “There’s not enough food for everyone, so I better be sure I save enough for myself in case of emergency,” or “There’s not enough knowledge for everyone to enjoy; so I’d better keep my knowledge to myself, so no one else will use it” or “There’s not enough love to give to everybody, so I’d better keep my friends for myself to prevent others from taking them away from me.” This is a scarcity mentality. It involves hoarding whatever we have, fearful that we won’t have enough to survive. The tragedy, however, is that what you cling to ends up rotting in your hands.”
Nouwen continues, “The opposite of a scarcity mentality is an abundancy mentality. With an abundancy mentality we say: “There is enough for everyone, more than enough: food, knowledge, love …everything.” With this mind-set we give away whatever we have, to whomever we meet. When we see hungry people we give them food. When we meet ignorant people we share our knowledge; when we encounter people in need of love, we offer them friendship and affection and hospitality and introduce them to our family and friends. When we live with this mind-set, we will see the miracle that what we give away multiplies: food, knowledge, love … everything. There will even be many leftovers.”[2]
I find it interesting that when chapters and verses were put into the Bible, Matthew 6:11 became, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and John 6:11 is, “Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.” One verse encourages us to trust God for our bread and the other is a picture of thankful abundance with leftovers.
Most of us, though perhaps not all, have been blessed in that we haven’t had to pray this prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” to survive. However, it’s important to remember and to have compassion for the hundreds of millions of people in the world that literally need this prayer answered to have food for the new day for themselves and for their children. Proverbs 30:7-9 is a request asking God to help us be honest and to keep us from the trials that can come with having too little or too much. It includes a thought similar to the Lord’s Prayer. “Two things I ask of you; do not deny them to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, “Who is the Lord?” or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.”
Proverbs says, “feed me with the food that I need.” Have you ever looked at a refrigerator or pantry filled with food and thought or said, “There’s nothing to eat?” How do you think God feels when we stand in front of plenty or abundance and complain that we need more; especially when there are so many who have so much less than we do? Those of us who have gone on mission trips to other parts of the United States and other countries often get a healthy dose of perspective when looking at the vibrant and strong faith of sisters and brothers in Christ who live in conditions far, far more challenging and impoverished than our own.
In all the verses I read from Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching us several things. First, to trust God for what we need to live today and to free us up from worrying about the future. The point is not that we shouldn’t plan for the future – to be able to cover our needs, but rather that we don’t trust our money, possessions, or stuff for our future security – that is ultimately futile. We can make all the plans in the world and put away a lot of money to provide for us for many years, but that is no guarantee we’ll get to use it. (see Luke 12:21, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”) Our ultimate trust for the future is in the same God who is present with us and loves us today.
Secondly, Matthew 6 urges us to keep a healthy perspective on material things and to cultivate an attitude of gratitude that recognizes how blessed we are by daily bread and so much more. It’s important to learn from a young age to distinguish between wants and needs, to maintain an eternal perspective on what is really important, and not to fall into the trap of thinking our value or anyone else’s as a human being is tied to how much stuff we or they have. Praying daily and expressing our thanks to God for what we do have can also help us to remain thankful the many things that can be all too easy to take for granted.
In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus is teaching us to live with contentment and thankfulness. This part of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to say, “Enough” by simply encouraging us to pray for what we need to today and to trust God for tomorrow. The discipline of simplicity can help us to live a more contented life. For example, have you ever found that you’ve gotten to the place in life where you’re happier when stuff is leaving your house or garage rather than coming in? Have you ever had the experience of cleaning out a closet, room, garage or shed and felt better when there was less rather than more? What do you think that teaches us about where true contentment lies?
There is still another aspect of “Give us this day our daily bread,” that I find interesting. Mothers usually strive to teach their children good manners including the magic word, “please” and the importance of saying, “thank you.” Jesus teaches us that it’s okay for us to ask for God’s help and Jesus doesn’t even mention the word “please.” We don’t have to pray, “May we please have our daily bread.” While we don’t have to say please, I do think it’s important to say “Thank You” to God. When the Lord has provided us with homes, furniture, appliances, vehicles, tools, toys and more; how quick and consistent are we to thank God for providing for our needs so abundantly? Now I know someone might say, “God didn’t provide these things for me, I worked for them myself.” However, life itself is a gift and all that we have – our health, strength, intelligence, education, opportunities, are a blessing from the Lord that we shouldn’t take for granted. It is always a good thing to be thankful and to more regularly express our thanks to other people and to God. We could be living in far worse conditions and situations that we are and there are a few billion people who would happily trade their problems for ours.
Finally, always remember that Jesus didn’t teach us to pray, “Give me today my daily bread.” Pastor John Ortberg writes that Jesus wants us to be concerned not only about what I need, but what we need. All through the Bible we see God’s love for those in need. If we see with the eyes of God, feel with God’s heart, and serve with the Lord’s hands, we’ll also care about those who have no daily bread. We will actually be willing to joyfully share the bread we have with others. What is a step that you personally can take or are taking to share what you have with others? As with saying “please” and “thank you,” sharing is one of the most basic things mothers try to teach their children; that shouldn’t stop when we become adults.
If you want to learn more about how you might become involved in Daily Bread types of ministries at BBC, you might speak with Wayne Johnston who leads our Caring Cupboard Food Pantry, Linda Viprino who coordinates our Calvary Meal program in Hyannis, see the sign- up sheet on the Mission bulletin board to help at the Lower Cape Lunch program in Orleans, or talk with Jill Scalise who oversees our Mission Core Ministry about how you might become involved. For example, in addition to all of the above opportunities, we also have members who go to the Salvation Army in Hyannis and help serve meals.
Earlier in the service I read John 6:35, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” One connection between the request in the Lord’s Prayer for God to give us “our daily bread.” and Jesus’ statement about being the bread of life is that the former asks us to pray for something we need to live and survive each day. Physically, we can eat bread today, but we will be hungry again tomorrow. Spiritually speaking, when we “feed” on Jesus we will be “satisfied,” “full,” and “content.” Jesus is more than enough to meet our deepest needs for love, relationship, meaning, and significance.
When we ask God “Give us this day our daily bread” we’re praying that our needs for today would be met today. This includes food and whatever else we truly need to live. Jesus is teaching us to put our trust in God for the present and for the future.
Blessing: “And my God will fulfill satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
[1] Willard, Spirit of the Disciplines, 174.
[2] Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey.