SETTING THE CONTEXT

In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus is shown praying frequently. As word about Jesus’ ability to heal spread and crowds gathered to hear him and be healed by him, he would withdraw from them for a time to pray as in chapter 5:16. Luke says in chapter 6 verse 12 that Jesus withdrew to a mountain to pray all night to God and then he chose the twelve disciples and began a long section of teaching. In what we call the Transfiguration, Jesus had gone with a few of his disciples on a mountain to pray and they had an encounter with God (Luke 9:28). In all of these examples, you see Jesus has set a consistent example of the practice of private prayer. In our reading today he once again prays and his example prompts a disciple to ask him to teach them to pray. Luke’s version of what we call the Lord’s Prayer is shorter than Matthew’s more familiar version. This is a prayer of the community; we hear communal words “we”, “us” and “our.” Notice the differences to what we recite each week. What has Luke changed?

Read Luke 11:1-4

THE SERMON

How many of us worry about having enough? How many of us worry about having enough money, having enough food, enough for retirement, enough for medical bills, or enough for our children? I find myself worrying a lot even though we live very comfortably. We certainly live much better than most people in our world. The funny thing is that worry about having enough doesn’t seem to be tied to how much you have. One night we watched a TV program by John Stossel about giving. He was challenging billionaire Ted Turner about giving more of his immense wealth away. Turner’s response was, “well I’ve got to be sure I have enough, I don’t want to run out.” He was down to his last couple of billion!ⁱ Working for and with people who live with less helps to put things back into perspective for me.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” This phrase is the most debated section of the Lord’s Prayer. The unusual Greek word translated “daily” only appears in one other scroll outside the New Testament and it can mean “essential”, “daily” or “for the morrow”ⁱⁱ but whichever word you use it is about God’s provision. It’s about our dependence on God for our most elemental needs. Let’s just think about our food for a minute. We depend upon God for the sunshine, rain, soil, earthworms and other parts of our amazingly intricate eco-systems. We also depend upon many others. As one writer, Marjorie Suchocki noted that for many of us, “The food on our table comes to us not from the gardens we have tended, but from vineyards in Chile, ranches in Argentina, coffee farms in Costa Rica, rice paddies in Asia, wheat fields in mid-America, and vegetable farms in California. … To ask daily bread for ourselves is to ask daily bread for all, and to acknowledge our own responsibility in giving as well as receiving sustenance in this great chain.”ⁱⁱⁱ Give us this day our daily bread is a prayer for us all.

In the great story of the exodus, the Israelites were in their second month in the wilderness and they complained to Moses about being hungry. The Lord heard their complaint and provided them bread from heaven called manna. It appeared like dew in the morning and there was enough for each person to have just what they needed for that day except for the sixth day they could gather enough for two days so that they could rest on the Sabbath. If they tried to gather more than a days worth and there was always someone who tried to hoard or save some for the next day it would get worms and turn rotten. They got just enough. God provided manna for them for forty years until they left the wilderness. (Exodus 16:1-36) This faith story about the bread of heaven assures us of God’s provision. God will give us what we need. Give us this day our daily bread.

Beth Rambikur gave me a new insight when she preached here that is helpful as someone whose material needs are already well met. She said that since we call Jesus, the bread of heaven, perhaps we could think of him when we pray “give us this day our daily bread”. We could pray for our spiritual sustenance, give us this day Jesus Christ. It reminds me of a song the Celebration Choir sings called Untitled Hymn the words are “Give me Jesus, give me Jesus, give me Jesus and live.” “Give us this day our daily bread” whether it is the bread of heaven that sustains our bodies or the bread of heaven, Jesus, that sustains our inner being God, the Father provides these good gifts.

The next line of the Lord’s Prayer is “and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” Do you hear the economic term in there? The words are “Everyone indebted to us.” In Jesus’ culture, when someone harmed another person, the harmed person was due satisfaction for the offense. When they forgave the debt they agreed not to take satisfaction or to get even, you know an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. We pray something close to Luke words every week, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” but do you remember what I said about it in the dialogue two weeks ago. I said, “I didn’t mean it!” How many times do we repeat those words of the prayer and not really mean them? This line about forgiveness is a very important, but difficult part of the prayer. As one scholar put it “the ability to forgive and to be forgiven is part of the same gift.”^iv If we are holding a grudge against someone, if we hold onto that debt with all the anger and bitterness wanting revenge, wanting to hurt them our hearts close and it shuts off not only the person we are mad at, but it separates us from everyone including from God’s grace and forgiveness. When we are able to forgive which does not mean that we approve of the hurtful thing but that we don’t want to seek revenge, we release them from the debt, our hearts reopen and are able to receive again God’s grace and forgiveness and healing power. It is in Jesus’ great wisdom that he includes this line in the prayer. For we need to remember how much we have been forgiven by God and we need the opportunity to regularly forgive and be forgiven for are human. It would be to our great benefit if we would take him up on its offer and really mean it each week, I think we’d have much less stress in our lives and we’d be much happier if we did.

Jim shared this story on a Wednesday evening several years ago and he has graciously allowed me to share it with you again.^v Jim was at the top of his game. He was a top executive of a large company and a top athlete sponsored by Nike running marathons. One morning while doing his morning run enjoying a nice wide median along a roadway facing traffic, a man drove across two lanes of traffic and hit him from behind going 60-70 mph. It threw him 75 feet through the air breaking both legs and arms and he landed on his head. He never lost consciousness. People from the other cars stopped immediately coming to his assistance and calling the ambulance right away. Their immediate assistance saved his life. The medical team didn’t know how much brain and spinal cord damage he had so they couldn’t give him anything for the pain. Laying there with broken bones sticking out of his body in terrible pain, all Jim could do was pray, “God help me.” Nothing happened and the pain was so bad. He prayed the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…” when he finished the prayer instantly he heard God say “I’ll not give you any more pain than you can endure.” And he felt peace. After a while the pain level would become more and more intense and Jim would do the same thing he would pray the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” and when he finished the prayer he heard God say the same thing “I’ll not give you any more pain than you can endure.” And again he felt peace. Then a third time, the same thing happened, the pain level intensified and a third time Jim prayed the Lord’s Prayer “give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…” and a third time he heard God’s voice say the same thing and he felt peace. The thing is that while Jim’s body was healing, God was also healing him in mind and spirit. He never became depressed; he has never felt anger or bitterness toward the drunk driver who hit him. I think that is as miraculous as his physical healing. As one friend told him, think about what you prayed, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Jesus has indeed taught us how to pray: a prayer that reminds us that we have a loving Father who provides us with enough, with our daily sustenance and a prayer that reminds us of the importance and power of forgiveness. “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Amen.

Sermon delivered by Rev. Nancy Cushman on May 16, 2010.