The Lord’s Prayer-Part 6 Give us this day our Daily Bread

Hello! Welcome to today’s episode. We have been working our way thought the LP. We have talked up this point about how dramatic and bold the LP actually is and how for us today it represents a New Exodus for us as believers. A departure from the vain repetition we so commonly see and into a new life in Christ.

Today we want to move forward into the next part of the prayer. This is found in Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3. There are some interesting things about this particular verse that we will drill down into briefly today. Believe it or not this short verse is actually difficulty to interpret if we look at each word individually.

The difficulty can best be demonstrated from the RSV rendering (Give us this day our daily bread), which represents a fairly literal rendering of the Greek. The problem concerns the meaning of the word rendered daily. The word appears only in Christian literature (perhaps also once in a non-Christian papyrus), and its origin and meaning have never been explained to the satisfaction of all. Several solutions have been offered and are summarized in the commentaries. One of the standard Greek lexicons presents them in the following order:

(1) “Necessary for existence.” This is the choice of TEV (“Give us today the food we need”), GeCL (“Give us what we need for life today”), and FRCL (“Give us today the necessary food”). Some commentators say that this interpretation makes the petition less than spiritual. But Jesus and his followers took seriously the needs of the body.

(2) “For the current day, for today.” This seems to be the interpretation favored by translations which render “daily” (see NIV, NJB, NAB, NEB, RSV). AT (“Give us today bread for the day”) and Phps (“Give us each day the bread we need for the day”) also favor this interpretation.

(3) “For the following day.” This would refer to the daily ration of bread, given for the next day; therefore, “Give us today our daily portion.” Mft translates “give us to-day our bread for the morrow,” while Brc renders “Give us today our bread for the coming day.” This interpretation offers several possibilities of meaning. If the prayer is said in the morning, the “coming day” would be the day in progress. If prayed in the evening, the petition would also include the following day. But the future reference would permit an eschatological interpretation as well, in which case the “coming day” could be the coming Messianic banquet. However, in this context such an interpretation is highly unlikely.

(4) “Bread for the future.” This is discussed under (3) above; it is the so-called eschatological interpretation.

There is really no significant difference of meaning between the first two alternatives. Moreover, the third alternative, if taken as a reference to the present day, comes to mean essentially the same as the first two possibilities. The fourth interpretation, though attractive, does not seem to be in focus in the present passage.

Give may be “provide” or “make sure we have.”

Since an eschatological interpretation of daily should be rejected, the translation of this day should not be “in these days” or “in this age.” It means simply “today,” although it can be “each day” or “day by day” in some constructions, depending on how daily is dealt with.

The Greek word for bread is here used with the wider meaning of “food.” In very few cultures would the figure “bread” be understood to mean food in general, and therefore almost all translations say “food” or “things to eat.”

Some have wanted to take bread to mean more than “food,” feeling it represents all our needs, spiritual and physical. They have had translations like “everything we need for true life” or “for our souls (or, spirits) and bodies.” This would be incorrect, as would an interpretation like “everything we need for a living,” which covers all physical needs. It is best here to limit the interpretation of “bread” to “food,” as we said.

Most translators will follow the examples listed under the first two interpretations: “Give us each day (or, today) the food we need,” “Give us today the food for living,” “Give us what food we need to live each day,” or “Give us the food to satisfy our needs each day,” and so forth.[1]

Give Us Today Our Daily Bread

The prayer for bread, as in “give us today [or, ‘day by day’] our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11//Luke 11:3), awakens echoes that resound throughout Jesus’ public ministry. The two evangelists who give us the Lord’s Prayer also give us the temptation stories, where Jesus’ hunger and his refusal to create bread for himself feature prominently (cf. Matt. 4:2–4; Luke 4:2–3). The wilderness feeding stories suggest both a literal feeding and a symbolic act that demonstrated God’s power, operative through Jesus, to provide for the needs of the people (cf. Mark 6:32–44 par.; 8:1–10 par.). Jesus’ own prayers of thanks on these occasions (cf. Mark 6:41 par.; 8:6 par.; see also Luke 24:30) are translated by the Lord’s Prayer into a trustful prayer for God’s regular provision.

One of the most securely established features of Jesus’ public ministry in recent discussion, with only an occasional dissenter (e.g., D. C. Allison Jr., Jesus of Nazareth), is his frequent participation in the festive meals of his day, where he celebrated the kingdom with all comers. One does not have to go all the way with the members of the Jesus Seminar, who have described Jesus as “the proverbial party animal,” in order to appreciate that the sharing of food, both actually and symbolically, was a central feature of his life.

The sequence of meals in the story of Jesus reaches its climax, of course, in the Last Supper. The bread there was—again in the context of prayer—given a special meaning, which echoes back throughout Jesus’ lifetime and on to the cross and his resurrection. To pray for bread (whether for “today,” as in Matthew, or for “day by day,” as in Luke), therefore, is once again to align oneself with one of the most central and practical symbols of Jesus’ kingdom work. Bread follows from and symbolizes the kingdom, both in the Lord’s Prayer and in Jesus’ own career.[2]

Jesus is really clever. Sometimes I think we lose sight of what Jesus is doing. During this prayer there are 3 things that Jesus thinks we need to bring to god each and every day. Bread, forgiveness and deliverance. Most of the time as he is teaching. He is giving a teaching form the Hebrew Bible while at the same time giving some new teaching. In the Exodus the Israelites had to depend on God for daily bread. Manna…which literally means what!? They are in an in-between space. While they are in between they need to depend on the father’s generosity to give them basic necessities. And also, to see these basic provisions as a gift. Jesus realizes we today also live an in-between space. We live with one foot in this world and one in the age to come. We are on a wilderness journey of sorts. One to restore heaven to earth. This place has competition for our loyalties and our attention. The world would tell us we the master’s of our destiny. These are the things that society tells us. I was raised with a strong work ethic. Something that I think is lacking today. Which the idea of strong work ethic in and of itself is not bad. However, the idea can also be deceiving. Believing that everything that IO have I have worked for and earned. Which is totally opposite of what Jesus is telling us. But the mindset of a disciple is give us daily bread. The majority of us know where our next meal is going to come from. Truly some may not. Remember this is the sermon on the mount. So most are probably poor and don not know where there next meal may come from. But that is not true of everyone there. Matthew was a tax collector. Jesus wants us to have the mindset of a day laborer. Or even a beggar. Who see each days provisions as a gift. Not to be taken for granted.

This may not be your reality. Today in our society we often suffer from Affluenza. But the point Jesus is making is that there is something about just the basics that he wants us to focus on. Food shelter clothing. Relationships, community, communicating with one another. And not get so bogged down in the chaos that this life creates. When I view these as gifts that I have not earned. When we do this the idea is it changes how you view your stuff. And that is the goal of Jesus’ message. TRANSFORMATION. That should be our goal each and every day as a Disciple of Christ is to be transformed into his image. This has to be intentional on our part! This is a prayer that is designed to reorient my day to day but also to get me to think about people other than myself.

[1] Newman, B. M., & Stine, P. C. (1992). A handbook on the Gospel of Matthew (pp. 169–170). New York: United Bible Societies.

[2] Wright, N. T. (2002). The Lord’s Prayer as a Paradigm of Christian Prayer. In R. N. Longenecker (Ed.), Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New Testament (p. 136). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.