Sunday, February 20, 2005
"Give us this day Our Daily Bread"
Luke 11:1-8
Now once he was in a certain place praying, and when he ahd finished one of his disciples said,"Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, 'Say this when you pray:
"Father, may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come;
give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.
And do not put us to the test."
He also said to them, 'Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say,"My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him"; and the man answers from inside the house, "Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you". I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship's sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants."
To many of us, the 'our father' is like any other prayer... to all christians, it's a common prayer. But what is the meaning behind it? Focusing on "Give us each day our daily bread"
What is this bread? When we pray 'give us this day our daily bread' in connection with the second continuation of Jesus' story of the importunate friend, what is this exactly?
In Acts of the Apostles, we see that this bread is the bread broken and shared. This bread broken and shared is from God himself for he is the provider.
When the supposed 'us' goes to our friend in the middle of the night to get the bread, what Jesus meant by "persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants" is that the supposed 'us' persist to ask until the friend is reminded or acknowledges that the bread 'we' are asking for is from God. And when he realises that, he would hand the bread over because the person asking is in need more than the person who has the bread.
For this reason, when we pray "Give us EACH day our daily BREAD" we are actually saying, Father, give us this bread to be broken for others. We have that responsibility to Break Bread and share this bread because this bread is from God not to be kept, but to be BROKEN and SHARED.
Putting this in our petitions and intercessions context, when we pray for others, and when we say the 'our father' and reach to: "Give us each day our daily bread", we are actually saying, Father, give me this bread or the grace, so that my friend in need, whom i am praying for, will receive this bread from You through me.
Feel Lonely @Sunday, February 20, 2005
