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GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
In
the name + of Jesus.
Satan engages in a continual attack on the Scriptures, and he attacks on many fronts. One on-going attack is against Creation. The Bible declares, “God created the man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Many reject the “male and female” of God’s creation. They insist that you can be both, or neither, or that you can change from one to the other, sometimes from day to day.
When
God created male and female, he also gave them particular roles. To the man, he gave the role of protector and
provider. To the woman, he gave the role
of helper and child-bearer. Modern
people have cast off these roles.
Instead of regarding them as blessings which God gave, people cry out,
“Destroy the patriarchy!” Women are
taught that the role of man is to be despised and craved at the same time.
Another attack on Creation is the theory
of evolution. This, we are told, is not
even open to debate anymore. The entire
universe and every life in it are supposed to have happened by pure
chance. If God gets credit for anything,
he is said to have given creation its start.
After that, God simply let things happen as they did. Death, then, is not a curse, but a natural
and necessary step for improvement of the species. Sin is regarded as a societal construct,
meaning that a majority decides what is sinful or not. So, the goal is no longer to stop committing
the sin which inflicts guilt, but to get more people to say it is not
evil. With evolution, the origin of
mankind is murky. When exactly did the
knuckle dragging species become sentient human beings? Adam and Eve are regarded as mythical figures,
not historical people. If so, there is
no original sin. Then sin and death have
no connection. If Genesis 1-3 (the
creation of the world, the forming of the man and the woman, the fall into sin,
and the promise of a Savior) is fictional, then what do we need a Savior
for? To be saved from what? In the end, evolution makes Jesus Christ
useless and unnecessary. And that is the
point of Satan’s attack on Creation.
“(We) believe in God the Father
almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” (Apostles’ Creed). We believe it because we trust that God
is telling us the truth about his Creation.
Our Lord not only created it, he still loves it, cares for it, blesses
it, and sustains it. This was all put
into motion when our Lord created the world.
When God created the vegetation, he blessed it. “God said, ‘Let the earth produce
plants—vegetation that produces seed, and trees that bear fruit with its seed
in it—each according to its own kind on the earth,’ and it was so” (Genesis
11:1). This blessing assures us that
seeds will continue to produce the next harvest. We plant them, even though we have no control
over how they will grow. But God does. So, when we pray, “Give us this day our
daily bread,” we are only asking God to keep his word and to continue his
blessing to provide fruits, vegetables, nuts, and berries for another season.
When God created the animals, he blessed
them as well. “God blessed them when
he said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill
the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth’” (Genesis 1:22). Just as God blessed the fish and the birds, so
he also blessed all land animals. Year
after year, the animals reproduce. We
get to marvel at their colors, speed, power, and agility. Some we prepare in the crockpot or on the
grill. So, when we pray, “Give us
this day our daily bread,” we are asking God to continue his creative
blessing upon all the fish, birds, and animals.
And we acknowledge that our bacon cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets come
from him.
When you consider the individual petitions
of the Lord’s Prayer, six out of seven petitions have to do with the kingdom of
God and spiritual blessings. That’s
because the spiritual blessings have eternal value. But Jesus did not dismiss our earthly
needs. He taught, “Do not be anxious,
saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these
things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew
6:31-33).
Our Lord knows that we live an earthly
life. We need food, clothing, and
shelter for basic survival. But our Lord
usually gives us far more than our most basic needs. Even if our diet were limited to bread, just
think of the variety God supplies. There
is wheat, rye, pumpernickel, and sourdough.
There are croissants, bagels, and doughnuts. There are tortillas, pitas, and naan. You get the idea. But our Lord also provides spices and herbs,
fruits and vegetables, fish and meat, and so forth. Our Lord is most generous in how he blesses
us with food. He also provides clothing,
shelter, orderly society, governmental structure, the change of seasons, art,
music, laughter, and so on. When we
pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are giving thanks to our
Father in heaven for his fatherly goodness in all these things. We thank him for the blessings which make
life more than a matter of survival, but bring us happiness and comfort.
Our Father in heaven demonstrates his
amazing generosity in providing daily bread to all the world. As Martin Luther teaches us to confess about
this petition, “God surely gives daily bread without our asking, even to all
the wicked” (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 4th Petition).
Our Father is pleased to sustain the
lives of all people, whether they acknowledge him or not. Jesus said, “Your Father who is in heaven
… makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
This shows just how loving and gracious our Father is. That love and care is not limited to people,
either. God loves all that he has made. He cares for every creature. Psalm 145 reminds us, “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” (Psalm 145:15-16, emphasis added).
Our Father in heaven is kind in bringing
variety and generous in supplying abundance.
But mankind has often been unappreciative of God’s goodness. What God provides is never enough or good
enough. Even in the Garden of Eden,
where “God said, ‘Look, I have given you every plant that produces seed on
the face of the whole earth, and every tree that bears fruit that produces
seed. It will be your food’” (Genesis
1:29), even there the man and the woman craved fruit from the one tree God
had forbidden. And so it continues. God’s provides, but his provisions receive
criticism. When the Israelites were
wandering in the wilderness for forty years, the Lord provided manna for
them. This was bread that they did not
have to grow, harvest, and mill. They
simply had to collect what God miraculously provided every morning—daily bread
in the truest sense of the word. If the
Lord had not provided it, the Israelites would have died. Nevertheless, God’s gifts were not good
enough. They complained, “We are
disgusted by this worthless food” (Numbers 21:5)!
You and I may not declare our disgust, but
we are seldom content. We envy people
who have been blessed with more wealth.
We are jealous of people whose blessings are shaped differently. This does not mean that God has failed to
provide your daily bread; it means that you are not content with God’s
blessings. Or perhaps you do not trust
that God will provide your needs. Do you
worry that God will fail you? Now, if you
and I pour our money into luxuries and frills—and look through your house, it
is a lot of luxuries and frills—it is not God’s fault that the bills do not get
paid. Repent, because God is always
faithful. Even poor people have what
they need to live. Poor people even manage
to have large families. They may live on
meager means, but they still live. God
provides daily bread, just as he promises.
Jesus warned us, “A man’s life is not
measured by how many possessions he has” (Luke 12:15). At the same time, God’s love is not measured
by how many possessions we have. God’s
love is demonstrated by the fact that God made himself part of his creation. The Lord took on flesh and entered this world
to deliver us from our sins—for our failure to give thanks, for our failure to
trust him, for our coveting other people’s blessings, and for our desire to
collect more and to crave what is better or even what is forbidden. Jesus perfectly trusted his Father to provide
for his needs, even though he had no place to lay his head. Jesus went to the cross where his only
possession—his garments—were stripped from him.
The only thing that Jesus had possession of when he suffered and died
was our sins. He paid for those with his
life. But in doing so, he covered the
debt we owed and atoned for the obedience we had not given.
And now, Jesus still has connected himself
to created things to bring the benefits of this salvation to us. Jesus attaches his salvation to the waters of
baptism to wash you clean of every stain of sin. Jesus attaches himself to the bread of holy
communion. Under this bread, Jesus sustains
your faith with the body that has overcome death. Jesus attaches himself to the wine in the
cup. Under this wine, Jesus gives you
the blood which purifies you of all sin.
Daily bread will sustain your life for hours, but the Bread of Life will
grant you life without end. This is what
we truly hunger for, and our Lord supplies this need, too.
“Give us this day our daily bread.” The heavenly Father knows that you need it,
and he will provide it. But this daily
bread only has value for a while.
Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “Hey, all of you who are
thirsty, come to the water, even if you have no money! Come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and
without cost. Why do you spend money on
something that is not bread? Why do you
waste your labor on something that does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is
good. Satisfy your appetite with rich
food. Turn your ear toward me, and come
to me. Listen, so that you may continue
to live” (Isaiah 55:1-3). The day
will come when you won’t care about what you will eat or what you will drink or
what you will wear. For, your life on
earth will have come to its end.
Your Father in heaven provides all you need for this life. Better, your Father in heaven supplies all that you need for eternal life. He gives you the Bread of Life. He clothes you in garments of salvation. He will bring you to heavenly mansions. Food, clothing, shelter. It is all you need. And your Father gives it for free.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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