The Lord's Prayer: A Table Prayer

Matthew 6:11

 

William Barclay tells this story:

There was a man who had an allotment; he had with great toil reclaimed a piece of ground, clearing away the stones, eradicating the rank growth of weeds, enriching and feeding the ground, until it produced the loveliest flowers and vegetables. One evening he was showing a pious friend around his allotment.

The pious friend said, "It's wonderful what God can do with a bit of ground like this, isn't it?" "Yes." said the man who had put in such toil, "but you should have seen this bit of ground when God had it to himself!".

 

      I like that story because it reminds us that sometimes the answer to a prayer might involve our 

cooperating with God.  In any case, the prayer reminds us that however successful we may be we 

should never forget our….

Dependence Upon God

Strange as it may seem, the precise meaning of this request is debated.   Does it mean bread for today or for tomorrow?  The request may be so simple that it becomes tempting to complicate it.  Vine suggests the word means “for today and tomorrow,” suggesting that though you might not have bread for next week, you do for the day to come.  Montgomery’s translation blends both ideas:  “Give us today our bread for the day before us….”  The New Century Version’s loose translation gets at the core of the meaning:  “Give us the food we need for each day.”

For centuries, the Greek word translated as “daily” was unknown outside the New Testament.  One early Christian writer suggested Matthew coined it.  That doesn’t seem likely, because a few years ago the word was found on some scraps of ancient writing material found by archaeologists.     The scrap containing the word appears to have been a woman’s shopping list.  This prompted William Barclay to offer this expanded rendering of the prayer, putting the words into the mouth of a Scottish wife and mother:

"Give me the things we need to eat for this coming day. Help me to get the things I've got on my shopping list when I go out this morning.

Give me the things we need to eat when the children come in from school, and the men folk come in from work. Grant that the table be not bare when we sit down together to-day."

Note that the prayer is about the basics, the necessities.  Jesus uses “bread” to stand for our whole diet and, almost certainly, other essentials of life.  I think we can safely say that “bread” includes food, clothing, and shelter. 

Obviously, there are some major cultural differences between Jesus’ world and ours.  There were no easy ways to keep extra food on hand, even if there were enough money for it.  A first century homemaker may have gone to the local market every day or every other day to buy what the family needed.  I don’t know if she bought bread already prepared or just the flour needed to make it.  In some cases, she may have bought the wheat to grind to make that flour.  That, of course, depended on her husband bringing home his wages the day before.  Workers were often paid a day at a time, so if the job suddenly ended or the employer was late with the wages, it was a disaster.  It could cause a lot of worry.  Jesus was addressing  that worry.

One commentary lists four possible meanings for this request.  Three of them interpret “daily bread” in spiritual terms.  Those proposing such interpretations were, no doubt, sincere but they seem to have concluded that praying for something so basic is somehow unspiritual.  Perhaps they even thought that bothering God with such a trivial matter is wrong.  Here is a request for a legitimate physical need.  Of course, it is not simply a prayer for bread;  it is a prayer for all we need for survival. 

Confidence in God

At the same time, the prayer prompts us to live one day at a time, leaving our tomorrows to God.  We are to live with confidence in God.  Later in this sermon, Jesus brings together these ideas when he urges us to avoid anxiety by trusting the God who knows our daily needs.

31. So do not worry; do not say, `What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?'

 32. It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.

 33. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well.

 34. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Does this mean you shouldn’t own a freezer or even a refrigerator?  Well, if you had to throw out a freezer full of food after the blackout, you might wonder at how wise it is to own one.  But I doubt Jesus is banning the use of modern appliances.  He’s talking about attitudes.   And the attitude we should bring to this prayer is one of grateful dependence on the goodness of the God who knows our needs.

In fact, Jesus’ description of the Father is encouraging.  Our heavenly Father knows our material needs.  Elton Trueblood used to say that Christianity was the most materialistic of all religions.  God who made us understands our physical needs—perhaps this is a gentle reminder that the God who knows our physical needs understands our psychological and spiritual needs as well.

A friend of mine mentioned that his financial adviser recently told him to stop reading the stock market reports.  The fact is, a lot of us can’t stop reading them—especially these past few weeks.  Maybe you’ve seen retirement funds dwindle or just wondered if your bank was going to fold. 

Jesus’ words remind us that God knows what the stock market is doing.  More important, Jesus is reminding us that God’s capacity to take care of you doesn’t depend on the strength of your portfolio.

Gratitude to God

In addition to a sense of dependence and confidence for the future, this truth ought to inspire gratitude.

Gratitude subverts our tendency toward pride.  When we see our dependence on God we can never take the position that we are “self-made.”  We can’t claim to have done it all.  You may trace the loaf of bread on your table back to the grocer who sold you the bread, to the bakery that made the bread, to the miller who made the flour for the bakery, to the farmer who grew the wheat the miller ground to become flour.   Behind it all was a grain of wheat.  Into that grain of wheat God placed the spark of life. 

That gratitude can be shown in simple ways.

 It’s estimated that some 64% of Americans give thanks before meals.  That’s more people than attend worship services on Sunday.  Though they don’t attend church or synagogue, they retain a sense of gratitude toward God. 

[That statistic seemed large when I first preached this sermon; today it seems even larger.  I wonder if it was the product of the “halo effect,” that desire to appear to be better people, a desire that prompts us to lie to poll-takers. 

Anyway, I’ve lately noticed a puzzling trend.  When I first preached this sermon I thought of how some people were legalistic about saying grace.  To skip it would be a sin; thus, if someone is tardy to the table, the host make everyone else wait until all are seated so the prayer can be said—even if the food gets cold.  Lately, I’ve noticed some Christians seem to believe saying grace is passé, something of a bygone era, something only legalist would do.  I’ve seen these Christian roll their eyes when someone suggests saying grace.  I’ve written a piece on “unlegalism” elsewhere and wonder if this is an example.  Are we afraid of what others will think of us?  Afraid of being labeled a “fundamentalist” or “super-spiritual,” to use a phrase popular when I was in college?  No, I don’t say grace every time I sit down to eat, no I don’t think it’s always necessary or in the best taste; but neither do I want to judge another because they wish to acknowledge God’s bounty.]

An old Puritan prayer reminds us that a meal involves far more than just “chowing down,” that the event itself is a cause for thanksgiving because we often have the food as a result of our work and we often enjoy it in the presence of those who enrich our lives.

I bless thee ...
for the body thou has given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing senses to enjoy delights...
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others...

I found this comment on the spirit that ought to shape our prayers before meals.

What could that mealtime prayer include? Traditional prayers thank God, ask that the food will benefit our health and, in some countries, that the food would do no harm. David Bivin, founder and director of Jerusalem Perspective, reminds us that the focus is God, not the food: “The blessing can only be a blessing directed towards God. The blessing that was said in Jesus’ time before one ate was praise and thanksgiving to God who so wondrously provides food for His children, to Him who ‘brings bread out of the earth.’ One does not bless the food, nor does one even ask God to bless the food. One blesses God who provides the food.”

Of course, praying before our meals can become just a ritual, so we have to be on guard against our prayers being just a habit.  And we have to be especially on guard against a creeping legalism.

I’ve heard people jokingly debate about whether it’s necessary to pray over leftovers, since the food’s been “blessed” already.  That may be a joke but some people really struggle over the question of “saying grace” in mixed company, with those who don’t usually do so. 

I talked about this with a fellow pastor the other day and he said that where he grew up Christians didn’t pray in restaurants because that would be putting your religion on display.  That was something Jesus warned against at the beginning of this chapter.

Here’s my answer to the question about saying grace in public or with those who usually don’t.  If you suspect your praying will embarrass your friend, don’t do it.  (This is especially important if your fellow diner has already started eating.)  If you suspect your praying will be perceived as legalism, don’t do it.  Finally, if you’re tempted to use your prayer to “preach” to those around your table, don’t do it.

[The sermon note sheet I distributed when I first preached this sermon included a couple questions designed to spur thinking:.

                  1.  Should you “say grace” before every meal, regardless of the setting?  ________ 

                  2.  Are you (a) more likely to feel embarrassed to say grace in public or (b) ashamed if you skip grace before a meal?  _____

                  3.  Is there a link between our “spiritual” needs and our “physical” needs?  ______]

We can also show our gratitude through our generosity.

The church has often been the vehicle by which this prayer has been answered on behalf of the poorest among us.

It’s interesting that this request comes before the request for forgiveness, our great spiritual need.  While it is certainly possible to see too much here, it remains true that gnawing hunger or other physical need can cause a person to place spiritual needs low on a list of priorities.  William Booth certainly understood this.  The founder of the Salvation Army saw terrible living conditions of men, women, and children in London’s East End and set out to improve basic living conditions as his “soldiers” offered the gospel.  A growling stomach can drown out the most eloquent evangelistic sermon. 

This is one, and only one, reason why Christians have supported “rescue” missions and programs to help the needy.  Another is that we ought to feel compassion for our fellow human beings, persons made in God’s image and for whom Christ died. 

In recent years, a new aversion to the so-called “social gospel” has arisen within our Baptist ranks.  This should concern us all for a watching world often tests our claims by measuring our love for those who are among the outcasts of society, the forgotten.  It is equally true to say:  “the only gospel I know is a social gospel,” as it is to say, “the only gospel I know is an evangelistic gospel.”

Our church has long supported the Stowe Baptist Center.  In addition to feeding over 90,000 meals a year, Stowe is offering services to the poor near Parsons Ave that no other group is offering.  This includes dental and optical services.  It’s also the training center for the Christian Women’s  Job Corp.  Stowe is moving to a new building where it will be able to do a lot more.  But this move is going to be costly.  We’re encouraging everyone to be as generous as they can over the next few years.

--No one church can do it all.

--Every church will have other ministries they must continue to support.

We all need to be as generous as possible.

Conclusion

As I prepared this sermon, one thought kept recurring:  In this world of ours, some Christians pray this prayer and have empty tables the next day. 

I don’t know why this should be.  Perhaps we will have the answer one day.  Perhaps on that day the answer won’t matter.

DaVinci’s masterpiece “The Lord’s Supper” was painted on the rectory wall of a monastery.  It was intended to inspire the monks as they ate their daily bread.  I suspect those monks looked at the painting and thought of how Christ would soon die for them and the rest of the world. 

When we celebrated the Lord’s Supper this morning, we recalled that death.  We may wonder why some prayer goes unanswered—even a simple prayer for our daily bread—but because of that death, we can never conclude it is unanswered because God doesn’t care.

[I have just finished reading a book about the Irish potato famine (1845-52).  Nearly a million people died of starvation and disease related to the famine.   English authorities—some of them Evangelical in sentiment—were slow to respond for reasons that included cultural prejudice; they thought the Irish to be lazy and morally bankrupt.  Eventually the authorities did respond—sometimes inefficiently—but they did respond.  Sadly, the Irish would long remember “Protestant England” being indifferent to their plight.  We need carefully thought-out economic policies but we also need to recall Jesus’ compassion for the poor.]