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Our daily bread: mt 6:11; lk 11:3
Santos Sabugal
The petition which we make to the Father for the gift of our daily bread is substantially the same in the writings of both Matthew and Luke. Let us examine what theological significance is evoked by this request in the context of the Lord's Prayer and in relation to the preceding petition. What kind of bread did the disciples ask of the heavenly Father?
The Bread of the Poor
Let us say immediately that this petition belongs strictly speaking to those disciples who have left possessions, family,(1) everything,(2) to follow Jesus (3)without any material security whatsoever(4) “ today", leaving the worry of food and clothing for "tomorrow" (5) to divine providence. The Lord knows what they need and watches over them with more solicitude than birds of the air or lilies of the field.(6) It is for this reason that they ask him to give them "today” (Mt) "each day" (Lk) the bread(7) or food(8) "sufficient for the day". It was thus that the "poor of the Lord" prayed, begging to be allowed to be fed "with the food that is needful for me".(9) The pious Jew prayed in a similar manner at the beginning of a meal: "Our Father and our God, give us food and see to our needs".('°) It was also thus that the disciples (11) prayed who, after having sold their material possessions,(12) lived as did Jesus: in poverty, with "nowhere to lay his head",(13) depending on alms (14 ) and sometimes having, for example, only five loaves of bread and two fish to divide among thirteen.(15 ) This material poverty (16 ) is doubtless livable only when one has unshakeable faith (17) in the providence of the Father, having no material security whatsoever, looking only towards God and living as beggars, holding out their hands to him who can fill them. So it was that Jesus sent them to preach with this indigence and with the rigorously reiterated command to take no material possessions with them.(18 ) The Father would see to their needs! Afterwards, they would confirm with joy "that they lacked nothing"!(19 ) From this faith experience was confidently, spontaneously, naturally and humbly born the prayer for "our daily bread" necessary for life: "Our Father... give us this day our daily bread" (Mt) "give us each day" (Lk).
The Special Bread
This is not, however, the only meaning of this petition. On the level of the editing of the gospels, the purpose of the prayer is at the same time to ask for a special bread. The prayer, in effect, asks of the Father "our bread", that is to say, for the bread belonging to the disciples of Jesus. Not an ordinary, but a special one is intended: "the bread which is ours", "the daily bread". The double definite article stresses the special significance of these words, as distinct from their ordinary usage. About which bread are we speaking? The response to this question depends on the translation given to the adjectival phrase: ton epouision. Herein lies the difficulty, for this phrase is unique to biblical literature and unknown to secular writings. As a consequence, neither one can aid us in the unveiling of its meaning.(20 ) It is therefore best detected in the light of the literary context of the evangelists.
The Word of God
This special bread, belonging to the disciples of Jesus, is therefore without doubt the word of God. It is seen in the accounts of Jesus' temptations,(21 ) in which context the two evangelists mention the deuteronomic reply of the Lord to the tempter who exhorted him to change stones into bread .(22 )"Man shall not live by bread alone" (Lk 4:4) but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.(23 ) The Matthean opposition, marked by a but between the life procured by the "bread" and by the "word of God", conveys the notion that the latter is a superior form of nourishment. The abridged quote of Luke (24 ) reflects an identical concept which is, in fact, what the author of the Acts shows in the context of Stephen's discourse (25) where he christianizes the figure of Moses (26 ) who, "on Mount Sinai... received living oracles to give them to us". It is thus, in the concept of Luke, that the word of God, communicated to the disciples by Jesus, the new Moses, is the living word,(27 ) whose nourishment they need for food each day of their Christian lives. This word is, in this sense, their "daily bread", absolutely necessary for subsistence(28 ) "today” (Mt) "every day" (Lk). That is why they ask the Father: "give it to us".
The Eucharist
This is not, however, the only significance of "bread" as used in the first petition. There is a separate and special bread for the disciples that is the eucharistic bread. At the last supper, "Jesus took bread, and blessed (Lk: "when he had given thanks") and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body."(29 ) It is practically impossible, in effect, that "our daily bread" did not evoke the idea of the special bread of the body of Christ for the two evangelists, given by Christ to the community of his disciples and become, by this very fact, their own. This is what is reflected in the clearly eucharistic interpretation that Matthew and Luke make of the loaves multiplied by Jesus, and then given by him to his disciples to be distributed.(30) The idea that this bread was necessary on a daily basis (kath'hemeran: Lk) is made clear through Luke, with his tracing of the features of the life of the first Christian communities. These communities "devoted themselves to the breaking of bread" and "day by day" (kath'hemeran: Lk) breaking bread in their homes.."(31 ) Additionally, the daily bread, taken as a gilt from Our Father, irresistibly evoked in the writings of Luke the divine gift of manna(32 ) that the people of Israel, once delivered from the tyranny of Pharoah and having left Egypt, had to gather "daily" (kath’hemeran).(33 ) God fed them "these forty years" of their march in the wilderness, until their entry into the promised land.(34 ) The parallels existing between Luke's petition and the account of the Septuagint concerning manna is difficult to consider fortuitous. If they are consonant with the reiterated use and the evoking of the version of the LXX by Luke,(35) then they are in perfect agreement with the theological concept particular to Luke, which considers the work of Jesus, the new Moses,(36) as the new and true messianic exodus,(37 ) Freedom by Jesus from the tyranny of Pharoah, thanks to the "hand of God° and the Holy Spirit,(38 ) the Christian community, "the true Israel",(39) forges ahead through the wilderness of the world, towards the promise of a heavenly Jerusalem, "devoting themselves to the breaking of bread"(40) and "day by day breaking bread in their homes".(41 ) It is impossible to forge ahead without this bread! That is why, with the insistence of the importunate friend,(42 ) that the gift of Our Father is asked for: "Give it to us each day."
The Gift of the Spirit
Yet "our daily bread" has still another meaning in Luke's version — it is the gift of "the Holy Spirit". Luke 11:1-13 is a catechism of the third evangelist on Christian prayer.(43 ) This entire pericope thus forms a literary unit marked by the inclusion: "Father",(44 ) as well as the theme words "to give" (45) and "bread".(46) In the context of this catechism, the students are asked to petition for the gift of "daily bread" (11:3) and are then invited to pray with the insistence of the importunate friend, thanks to which he obtained the three loaves which he needed (11:5-8). They must then do the same with unlimited confidence in the "heavenly Father" who, will certainly "give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (11:13)! These parallels seem to suggest an identification between the two. This interpretation is certainly consonant with the rich pneumatology of Luke;(47) in this context the Spirit is "power from on high",(48 ) thanks to which the disciples, rooted in baptism,(49 ) become capable of being witnesses of the risen Lord "in Jerusalem... and to the end of the earth".(50) The possession of the Spirit conditions the success or failure of their mission in the world; this can only come about by the grace of the "power" constantly communicated by this gift of our Father.(51) The Holy Spirit is, in this sense, their "daily bread°, the divine gift which they need "day by day"; and they ask for it unremittingly and confidently: "give it to us".
To Summarize:
The "our bread" of the prayer is above all, food that is necessary for subsistence of those who, abandoning to the Father their worry about tomorrow, live like the "poor in spirit", like spiritual beggars. Those whom God has blessed with riches, if they are animated by this spiritual poverty, can and must ask the Father for "daily bread", because their very wealth is a gift from God. This petition is, however, perhaps the most difficult for the human person to make today, being given the consumer society in which we live. Our progress not only does not help, but often hinders the spirit of poverty which is "necessary for renewal adapted to the life of the church".(52) Christians, "as individuals and as group members", (53) should be penetrated by this charity which surpasses the socio-economic injustices that exist, not only between classes, but moreover among nations,(54) and should practise it by reaching out to their poor brothers and sisters in need.(55) The gift of this spirit of charitable poverty includes also the petition for "daily bread": give it to us each day. This bread belonging to Christians ("our bread") is the word of God: "The Church . . . never ceases . . to partake of the bread of life and to offer it to the faithful"(56) and teaches that "the treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly so that a richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word".(57) This is thus the bread with which all the faithful, but particularly priests and deacons, religious and lay catechists, should assiduously nourish themselves (58) "every day".(59) Finally, the daily bread of the disciples is necessary for their Christian life day by all above day, the Eucharistic bread and also, according to the writings of Luke, the Holy Spirit, the perfect gift par excellence of the Father.
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Notes
* Rev. Father Santos Sabugal, O.S.A. is professor of biblical exegesis at the Augustinianum, Rome where he teaches also the history of patristic exegesis. He is the author of various articles and monographs in Spanish. The article presented here is taken from his book: El Padre nuestro , Sigueme, Salamanca 1982. The author and publishers have very kindly permitted us to translate and reproduce here pp. 308-315.
1. Mt 4:18-22 (= Lk 5:10-11); 8:21.22 (= Lk 9:5960); 9:9 (= Lk 5:27-28); Lk 9:61-62.
2. Mt 19:27 = Lk 18:28.
3. Mt 4:20-22 (= Lk 5:11); 8:22 (= Lk 9:60); 9:9b (= Lk 5:28).
4. Mt 8:19-20 = Lk 9:57-58.
5. Mt 6:25-34 = Lk 12:22-31.
6. Mt 6:25-30 = Lk 12:24-28.
7. This is the meaning of &los in Lk 11:3; cf. Lk 11:5-11; as also Lk 6:4; 9:13-16; 22:19; 24:30-35,
8. The word rirtos has this general meaning in Mt 6:11; cf. Mt 4:3-4, 7:9; 15:2,26.
9. Prov. 30:8.
10. T.B. Sotah 48b. Also T.B. Berakhoth 29b: May it be thy will, 0 Lord our God, to give to each one his sustenance and to each body what it lacks.
11. Lk 6:20.
12. Cf. Lk 12:33-34.
13. Mt 8:20 = Lk 9:58.
14. Cf. . Lk 8:1-3.
15. Cf. Mt 14:17 = Lk 9:1
16. Lk 6:20 (Cf. 6:24).
17. Mt 5:3.
18. Mt 10:9-10; cf. Lk 9:3; 10:4.
19. Lk 22:35.
20. With regard to the different interpretations of this word from the etymological point of view, cf. J. Carmignac: Recherches sur le "Notre Pare", Letouzey et An& Paris 1969, pp. 121-143. The author concludes his study, which is both ample and erudite, by affirming that neither the Fathers of the Church nor Greek or semitic philology has been able to supply an irrefutable argument on the true meaning of this mysterious epiousios (p. 143).
21. Mt 4:1-11 = Lk 4:1-13.
22. Mt 4: 3 = Lk 4:3.
23. Mt 4:4 = Deut 8:3.
24. This abbreviation is probably the work of Luke, which supposes the continuity of the quotation according to the normal rabbinical method. Cf. K. Stendahl: The School of St. Matthew, Lund 1967, p. 88, N. 1.
25. Acts 7:1-53.
26. Acts 7:35-37.
27. Cf. Heb 4:12; 1 Pet 1:23; In 6:63.
28. Epiousios can have this meaning (epi + ousian);
ef. J. Carmignac, op. cit., 128-130.
29. Mt 26:26 = Lk 22:19.
30. Cf. Mt 14:19 -I- 15:36 = 26:26; Lk 9:16 22:19
31. Acts 2:42, 46.
32. Cf. Ex 16:4,8, 15; Deut 8:3, 16. " Ex 16:5 (M).
33. Cf. Deut 8:3, 16; Jos 5:12.
35. Cf. A. Plummer: The Gospel according to Saint Luke, Edinburgh 1922, ch. 52., M.-J. Lagrange: Evangile scion st. Luc, Paris 1927, chs. 96-103; W.C.L. Clarke, The Use of the Septuagint in Acts in The Beginnings of Christianity, II, London 1922, 66-105; M. Wilcox: The Semitisms of Acts, Oxford 1965, 56-86.
36. Cf. Lk 9:35; Acts 3:22 (= Dent 18:15, 18-19); Acts 7:17-37.
37. Cf. J. Maack: The New Exodus in the Books of Luke, NT 2 (1957) 8-23.
38. Cf. Lk 11:14-22 "the finger of God" (v. 20) = the Holy Spirit, cf. Mt 12:28.
39. This is a central concept in Luke's ecciesiology —cf. H. Flender: Heil and Geschichte in der Theologie des Lukas, Munich 1965, 107-122. (Editors' note: cf. also Lohfink's thought on the true Israel, p. 26 f.).
40. Acts 2:42.
41. Acts 2:46.
42. Cf. Lk 11:5-8. This pericope forms a literary unit with the Pater Noster, as an integral part of the catechumenal catechesis of Luke on Christian prayer (11: 1-13); cf. S. Sabugal: Abba...: La OraciOn del Senor, Madrid 1984, 30.
43. Cf. S. Sabugal, op. cit., p. 29f.
44. Lk 11:2, 13.
45. Lk 11:3, 7, 8, 9, II, 12, 13.
46. Lk 11:3,5, 11.
47 Cf. G.W. Lampe: The Holy Spirit in the Writings of St. Luke, in Studies in the Gospels, Oxford 1955, 159-200; H. Flender: op. cit., 122-131.
48. Lk 24:29; Acts 1:8.
49. Acts 1:8; cf. Acts 2:38; 10:44-48; 19:5-6. 88
50. Acts 1:8.
51. Cf. Acts 2:33; 1:4; Lk 24:49.
52. Paul VI, Encyclical: Evangelica Testificato, 49-59.
53. Vatican Council II: Gaudium et Spes, 72.
54. Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical: Mater et Magistra, 157; Paul VI, Encyclical, Populorum Progressio, 45, 47; Gaudium et Spes, 4, 8, 29, 63.
55. Cf. Mater et Magistra, 158, 159; Paul VI, Evangelica Testificato, 52; Populorum Progressio 45, 46, 48, 81-86.
56. Vatican Council H: Dei Verbum, 21
57. Vatican Council II: Sacrosanct= Concilium, 51.
58. Vatican Council II: Dei Verbum, 25.
59. Vatican Council II: Presbyterorum Ordinis, 13; Perfectae Caritatis, 6.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
In Matthew 6:9-13Our Father
who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;(1) And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.
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1. Or our bread for the morrow. R.S.V. Bible
In Luke 11:2-4Father,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread;(2) and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us;
and lead us not into temptation.
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2. Or our bread for the morrow.
