give us our daily bread

Jesus went to a certain place to pray, and when he returned, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray the way John taught his disciples.” Jesus proceeded to teach them.

The words of his teaching are famous amongst Christians; we call them “The Lord’s Prayer.”

In the midst of that prayer, however, is something startling and less famous. Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Like almost every other phrase in the New Testament, this line is translated from the ancient Greek. However, unlike almost every other phrase in the New Testament, scholars have little idea what this phrase actually means. That’s because the word that is translated “daily” only exists in two places in all of the ancient Greek literature, biblical and otherwise. That word, Greek transliterated “epiousion,” occurs only in The Lord’s Prayer. (It has two occurrences, because it appears in both Matthew’s and Luke’s versions of the prayer.)

So we could say Jesus taught his disciples to pray for “epiousion” bread; or to pray for “what we don’t know that we need.”

It reminds me of the wandering Israelites, who cry out to God for sustenance. God delivers “manna” in the wilderness, which in the Hebrew literally means God delivers “what is it?”

God seems to be in the habit of gifting us with things we don’t even know we need and feeding us with unusual things that defy our naming. God feeds us with “what is this stuff?”

Might we learn to pray, “God, each day give to us the things you see that we need, even though we don’t know what they are”?

“Give to us each day our epiousion bread.” Want more? Click here to read Luke 11:1-13.
To listen to the sermon, click here.

the things god has minted

When the Pharisees and Herodians tried to trap Jesus into saying something damaging, they asked him about paying taxes to the emperor. "Is that right or not?"  "Should we or shouldn't we?"

Jesus responded by asking to see a coin.  Turning it over in his hand, he asked one question and then another.  "Whose image imprinted here?"  "And whose title is this?"

"The emperor's."

"Then give it to the emperor.  And give to God what belongs to God."

Jesus asked them, "Who minted this coin?  Who made this money?"

God isn't much interested in the things that are made by emperors, and surely not impressed with their money -- or any money for that matter.  See, money is nothing more than an agreement amongst people about the value of copper disks and pieces of paper.  Those coins and bills represent agreements that facilitate our bartering, trading, and commerical activity. And, while helpful, they tend to spawn heightened greed and hoarding.  Desire for money misdirects the hearts, minds, and vocations of many.

Jesus says, "Give it all to the one who made it.....And give to God the things God made."

Which should give us pause.  If the emperor mints money, what does God mint? What does God make? What belongs to God?

When I try to answer that question, I come up with interesting answers.  God invented joy.  And shalom.  And understanding, wisdom, might, compassion.  God minted generosity.  And faithfulness. Family, creativity, hope. And love.  God minted mercy.

If I attempt to give back to God the things God has minted, I find myself in a whole-body, whole-mind, whole-spirit, whole-belonging, whole-wealth endeavor. A ten-percent tithe is not what God desires.  God desires that my EVERY action, EVERY expenditure, EVERY thought contribute to the kind of peaceable reign God has minted for all of us.  No wonder the Pharisees and Herodians walked away in amazement. Want more? Click here to read Matthew 22:15-22.