Matthew 6:9-13
There is a chain restaurant called “Le Pain Quotidien.” Their menu celebrates the simplicity of fresh, nourishing food. If you are an English speaker, you may wonder if it is a good idea to have the word “Pain” in the name of a restaurant. Perhaps what people do not know is that this restaurant chain borrowed its name from the Lord’s Prayer. You see, “Le Pain Quotidien” is French for “The Daily Bread.” At first glance, the meaning of “Give us each day our daily bread” doesn’t seem complicated. It appears to be a straightforward request for God to give us the food we need to survive. Asking for daily bread acknowledges that everything we have, including our ordinary food, ultimately comes from the Lord. The Greek word translated in v. 11 as “daily” (epiousios) is quite unusual. Though there is still no scholarly consensus, the strongest arguments support the literal reading, “Give us each day tomorrow’s bread.” Now, it’s quite possible that Jesus was praying with a double meaning here. Not only was He asking for literal food, but He also was asking for bread in a metaphorical sense. Later in Matthew, we’ll encounter Jesus saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son” (22:2). One of the ways faithful Jews in Jesus’ time envisioned the future kingdom of God was as a lavish banquet (see Isaiah 25:6-10). Because of this, “Give us today the bread of tomorrow” seems to have had a dual meaning. On the one hand, it was a prayer for the daily provision. On the other hand, it was also a poetic way of asking for the coming of God’s kingdom, following on the heels of “Your kingdom come”. There is one more curious matter in the language of “Give us this day our daily bread.” In Luke’s Gospel, “Give us” is the present tense imperative in Greek, a continuous sense. It meant not just “Give us this day our daily bread” but “Give and keeping on giving us each day our daily bread.” In other words, “Give” reminds us that we need God’s provision not just once, but day after day after day. When we pray “Give us our daily bread,” we are asking God to provide what we need to sustain our life. It reminds us of how much we depend on God and His grace daily. When I pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” I’m reminded that I am not self-sufficient. Yes, the food I eat today was purchased with money I have earned. But our capacity to work, our ability to purchase food and so much more are gifts from God’s own hand. Thus, asking for daily bread reminds me of my need for God. It also encourages me to be grateful for the bread on my table. Saying to the Lord “Give us this day our daily bread” is also a way to ask, once again, for the coming of God’s future kingdom. But we aren’t saying in effect, “May your kingdom come someday in the future.” Rather, we are asking for “tomorrow’s bread” today. We are urging God to give us a foretaste now of the messianic banquet of the future. We are yearning for an appetizer of God’s grace, justice, and world-transforming peace. We are expressing our longing for the future kingdom to permeate our lives and our world right now. Comments are closed.
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