Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR
Lent 4 Midweek – March 29, 2017
Text: Matthew 6:24-34
The Fourth Petition
“Give us this day our daily bread”
What is meant by the phrase “daily bread”? The first thing that comes to mind is food, the stuff we need day in and day out to live. That’s why Jesus puts it this way, and so many other places in God’s Word associate bread with all the necessities of life.[1]
In a capitalist society, we may think it would be better to say, “our daily dough.” Our minds drift toward money, because if you have money, that opens the way to the rest of our needs. With money, you can buy clothing, food, house, land, animals, vehicle, healthcare.
But—as has been said so many times before, money isn’t everything—if you don’t have a devout spouse or children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good friends, and neighbors, self-control, even good weather, you won’t be able to keep or enjoy your daily bread.[2] The reality is we need far more than money (and the stuff it procures) alone, and far more than can be secured by making right personal choices and having the right man or woman in office.
That’s why this is a prayer directed to God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Without His governance over the world and His bountiful provision, all that we have would be lost to theft, disease, and decay—nevermind what the devil can throw against us (Job 1-2).
It may seem strange in the middle of a spiritual prayer to ask for such earthly things. It may even seem strange to pray for daily bread when Jesus tells us not to worry what we will eat, drink, or wear. Yet, the earthly and the spiritual are intertwined.
Our hearts are tied up with the daily bread we have or don’t have. When teaching on the 1st Commandment, Luther wrote, “He who has money and property feels secure, happy, fearless, as if he were sitting in the midst of paradise. On the other hand, he who has nothing doubts and despairs as if he never heard of God. Very few there are who are cheerful, who do not fret and complain, if they do not have mammon. This desire for wealth clings and cleaves to our nature all the way to the grave.”
The two vices of this petition are greed and worry. On the one hand, greed sees what we have as what we earned through our hard work or what we got away with cheating from another.
On the other hand is worry, that God doesn’t exist or God doesn’t care. Another way to put it is to say that God’s existence and love depend on one’s perception of their life. If money is plentiful, family is strong, and health is good, then God must be good. If one or all of these things fall apart, it must be that God went on vacation.
The road between these two—and what Jesus commands us to pray for—is to acknowledge God as the giver of undeserved gifts. “He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”[3] Such faith trusts His promise to provide, because He is a true Father—as He created our lives out of His goodness, so He will also sustain that life and supply whatever we need. “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?” (Mt. 6:26).
Where there is faith in our Father in heaven, there’s no room for greed or worry. “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”[4] How can we cling to what has been entrusted to us for a time? “31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” What place is there for worry when our lives and the lives of everyone we know are in the hands of a faithful, Almighty Creator?
All that’s left to do is thank and praise Him for these temporal benefits in light of the eternal, spiritual ones. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”[5] Because of God’s tremendous love, we receive all that God gives—whether plenty or scarcity—knowing for sure that He will do good for us in this life and bring us at last to our eternal rest. Amen.
[1] 1 Kings 13:9, Prov. 27:27, Prov. 31:14
[2] See the full list in the Small Catechism, Lord’s Prayer, 4th Petition
[3] Matthew 5:45, Psalm 145:15-16
[4] Psalm 24:1
[5] Romans 8:32
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