Daily Bread

Give us this day our daily bread....

It may seem on first thought that this phrase is simply asking God to make sure we have enough to eat today. And it may very well be. But I couldn't help but think about the multiple times in the New Testament gospels, but really throughout the whole scripture, that bread is mentioned. So I typed bread into my search option in my phone Bible app and copied a few of those mentions of bread here for us to read over. I did make sure that they are all actually the same Greek word because some words, like love, are translated "love" in English but there are several Greek words for love that we just don't have in English.

So bread in the NT, ready? 

Matthew 4:1-4

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Don't y'all love that? After 40 days and 49 nights, He was hungry. I would have been too. 😳 Matthew wanted us to know that Jesus was a man. He had a body like ours and he got hungry. But Jesus was not going to be tempted by Satan to eat what God had not intended. He was going to wait on God's timing to eat. He fully trusted God's will. If God said fast, he would fast in obedience to his Father. When God provided food, he would eat with thankfulness to God. (This moment is also unlike Adam and Eve, when tempted by Satan, they took the apple.)

Matthew 15:29-39

Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”

“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”

He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

Seriously, love this. Jesus had such compassion on the people. He healed them physically and saw ahead that they would e hungry on their way home, so he performed a miracle to feed them bread. How beautiful is this??? 

So we've seen him hungry and the people hungry. Let's see their response to the bread....

John 6:22-40

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

So Jesus is the bread of life. He satisfies much deeper than our temporary, reoccurring hunger. We eat, we get full, we feel good but 3 hour later we are hungry again. Jesus fills us deeper. We read his word, we get wisdom for our day, we ask him for help, we ask for forgiveness, and our souls are peaceful. And when they are not peaceful, we return and hear it all again. But the peace in our hearts, the security of our hearts, is forever. He has made peace between our hearts and Gods heart from now until all eternity. Hallelujah, amen. 

Matthew 26:26-30

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

This was right before Jesus was crucified. This probably did not make much sense to the disciples. And actually if you read on in John 6, many people said- ew, when Jesus said he was the bread of life. It makes sense to us now through the Holy Spirit bc we see more of the picture, we have the whole Bible. That is how God sees our lives-- he sees the bigger picture.

So "Give us this day our daily bread..."
I think it means:
please feed us today food that will fill our bellies and give us strength for today
help us to remember our food is compassion from you and help us be thankful to you for it
help us to remember that your body has paid for our sins
help us to believe that your word gives our lives life
help us to have faith to believe that your are our source of hope and life