Lent Four

Lent Four THIS DAY, THIS BREAD 3/14 & 3/18/07

We share the 5^th of this 9-part sermon series. We acknowledge that Jesus prayed and taught the prayer we attribute to Him and we may see how very clearly Jesus lived this prayer…what we more commonly refer to in modern times as “walking the walk, not just talking the talk” Or “Living the prayer, not just giving the prayer!” We consider the petition, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” certainly one of the more basic requests included in this God-given prayer. Why should God allow us to trouble Him with these personal needs in light of the magnitude of issues facing this globe and universe? Our answer comes, at least in part, through the shortest sentence Jesus spoke from the Cross: “I thirst.”(John 19:28) With all our Lord had endured during that week we call Holy Week, and the immediate hours preceding His death, the next to the last words He speaks are about His “thirst”. Jesus’ words, in the very act of redeeming the world, show that material needs are significant…that matter does matter to both us and God.

Historians describe crucifixion as the most extreme form of torture and torment ever devised by one human to punish another. Nailed by hands and feet with little or no support, held, suspended in mid-air…the blistering midday sun, the festering bodily lacerations brutally rubbing against the rough wooden cross…insects attacking, birds pecking, the burning fever within as Jesus’ body attempts to respond to this trauma…with nothing to drink. This is beyond our human imagination, so much so that even some Christians are offended by the accurate presentation of this gross brutality.

Jesus demonstrates from the Cross what He preached and taught in the prior years. He prays for His enemies and their salvation, asking “Our Father” to forgive them all. He, then, deals with “family matters”, making sure His dear mother Mary is taken care of. Even while dying, Jesus welcomes the dying thief into “Our Father’s” kingdom. Jesus, then, experiences for the first and only time in all eternity, complete separation from His heavenly Father. Not until His fifth comment from the Cross does Jesus pray for His own needs. Compare this with your own personal approach to prayer. Do you place the needs of others ahead of yourself? Do you remember to offer honor and praise to “Our Father” before rattling-off an endless list of requests & petitions?

It’s no coincidence that Jesus’ first word from the Cross, “Father”, is an echo of how He begins His holy prayer. We are to pray, first, for the glory of God’s name; then the eternal welfare of God’s people in God’s kingdom; then for their willingness to do the will of the Father; and, only then, are we taught to ask for “this day” and “our daily bread”. Prayer begins in a trusting and right relationship with God and, then, continues with our physical needs. When we fail, or forget, to pray before we consume the bountiful foods of God’s creation, we bear witness to a personal relationship with God that is not right. Simple as that! If you disagree, offer me another valid reason to explain why we open our mouths to eat before we open our hearts to pray…

The phrase “daily bread” means far more than the neatly wrapped packages we see and purchase from the market. In short, “daily bread” refers to everything we need for the support of our body and everyday life. If you have ever wondered if God really cares about our daily needs, consider that Jesus placed this particular petition in the very center of His model prayer. Recall, too, Jesus words about giving food and drink “to the least of these, my brothers and sisters”(Mt. 25:31ff) and even our enemies(Rm. 12:20). God clearly desires for us to bring our concrete, earthly needs before Him in prayer.

We might have anticipated that, upon hearing His Son cry out “I thirst,” God, would break open the heavens, but not a drop of rain came down. Jesus was “cut off” from His Father for the grievous sins of this world and, as John (19:28)--who stood at the foot of the cross-- records, prophetic Scripture is fulfilled. Hundreds of years earlier the psalmist wrote: “For my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”(69:21) Both Mark and John record that “sour wine” was given to Jesus to quench His thirst (Mk. 15:36/Jn. 19:29) .

In this petition we are expressing to God, and witnessing to one another, that we trust God to provide us with all we need. Very soon after teaching this prayer, Jesus further instructs: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body, what you will wear.” (Mt. 6:25) Reading from my grandmothers’ King James’s Version, given her Nov. 27, 1937, lifting it gently off a bookcase shelf at our family cottage, King David’s words are so beautifully recorded: “The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”(Ps. 145:15-16)

When in faith we ask for “this day” and “our daily bread,” we indicate our trust in God’s goodness and wisdom. In trust and obedience we lean upon the assurance that God’s grace will be adequate for “this day”, and by God’s mercy, tomorrow. Amen.