Give us Bread

Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

I have always loved the smell of freshly baked bread. As a child, we would often drive by the large bakery in town and smell the mouth-watering aroma. It reminded us of the festive holiday times of sitting around the table with family and friends when fresh bread was always a part of the feast. Though I may make do now with loaves from the store for sandwiches, I still want fresh bread for the holidays.

In Bible times, bread was a staple of life.It was usually made of ground meal from wheat or barley, mixed with water, salt and sometimes yeast and oil. It was baked on hot rocks, on griddles and in clay or iron ovens. It was made or bought daily.

Bread played a part in the religious understanding of the people, as well. During the wilderness experience, after God had delivered the Hebrew children from bondage in Egypt, God sent bread from heaven to feed them. This was in response to the complaints of the people who said that they would rather still be in slavery where there was always enough bread and meat than to starve out in the wilderness. God answered their ungrateful grumbling by sending something they had never seen before, manna. This was a sign of His mercy, bread that tasted like wafers of honey.

God taught many lessons with the bread from heaven and gave regulations for its gathering and usage. They were taught to look for this blessing daily and for 40 years God never failed to keep His promise to feed them. They were taught to refrain from greed, because they could only collect enough for their family to eat for one day. They were taught to obey God and depend on Him because if they tried to hoard the manna and leave it til morning, it would turn to worms. They were taught to remember the Sabbath because on the sixth day they collected enough for two days and rested on the seventh day and the manna did not develop worms.

Bread was sent to test the people to see if they would obey God. It showed them that God responded to their cries to Him. It was a sign of His presence, power and providence as they trusted Him for 40 years.

Jesus used the symbol of bread as a reminder to trust God for the basics of life in the model prayer taught in the Sermon on the Mount. The disciples were taught to ask, "Give us this day our daily bread."

In John 6, Jesus made this lesson come alive by feeding 5000 men, plus women and children. You may remember that a multitude had followed Him after seeing Him do miracles of healing. As the day waned on, the disciples needed to figure out a way to feed the crowd. The disciples reasoned that they did not have enough money to do this. Andrew, at least,told the Master of a boy in the crowd who had five barley loaves and two small fish. But Jesus,knowing all the time what He would do, had the disciples to sit the people down. He broke the bread and blessed it and had it distributed. Not only was the multitude fed enough but there were twelve baskets of fragments left over. When the people saw this miracle they learned what a little bit in the hands of God could do and some believed that He was the Prophet who came into the world.

On the next day the multitude gathered again, perhaps more for fish sandwiches than to worship the Messiah and learn of Him. John 6:27 tells us that Jesus told them, "Do not labor for food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." Then the people asked for a sign so they could believe in Him- reminding Him that Moses gave the people bread in the wilderness during his day. Jesus let them know that God sent the bread then and even now was sending true bread from heaven. "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him "Lord, give us this bread always". And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst."

Before His crucifixion, Jesus gave bread to His followers to remind them of His body broken for them. It was a reminder of His saving act on the cross, His resurrection and our sure hope in His return.

When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread", we are asking for a mouthful. We are asking that God hear our cries and respond. We are expressing trust that He will take care of our daily physical needs in our utter dependence on Him. But we are also asking that He will take care of our daily spiritual needs for we have a relationship with Jesus, the life-giving, life- sustaining, Bread of Life.

"Lord, give us this bread, always." Thank you, for being the God who provides, nourishes and sustains.