Give us the Bread

The Greek phrase:

ton arton emon ton epiousion dos umin semeron

 

The word-by-word English:

'The bread our the daily give us today'

 

‘Today’ or ‘this day’ is a temporal reference to the present moment. Luke says “each day,” while Matthew says “this day.” The word translated as 'daily' only occurs in the Lord’s prayers in those two Gospels. Origen, the 3^rd Century scholar, said that the word was not used in ordinary Greek, so he believed the Evangelists created it as a neologism (new word). It may be derived from the Greek word for 'the morrow' indicating the future; or it may be a compound of epi (translating a dozen English prepositions of time, place, order) + ousias (the verb to be. subsistence) and refer to the bread of daily need/necessity or sufficient for each day.

 

Bread (The Greek artos NT 97x in 89 verses; however, the word "bread" total bible in RSV327x/297v, while NKJV 346x/315v)

Matthew and New Testament

The word bread first appears in chapter 4 on the lips of the devil, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread" (the Greek is simply "stones become bread") and Jesus replies "man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." There will be another juxtaposition of bread and stone in chapter 7. Here the temptation attacks Jesus’ simple human desire--hunger. The devil is seeking for Jesus to prove His status as the Son. We might also see a connection to the multiplication of loaves—the temptation that Jesus can appease the crowds with food and miracles, not unlike the Emperor pacified the crowds with "bread and circuses." (When the state supplies free food there is always more going on...) Chapter 7 Jesus asks, what father gives his child a stone when he asks for bread? God is better than any human father, so Jesus makes clear, be confident in asking!  In chapter 9 Jesus makes reference to David eating the sacred bread during a conflict with his son, then in Mt 14-16 artos appears eleven times as Jesus feeds the multitude and discusses its meaning with the apostles. The next time bread occurs is at the last supper and the eucharist, Mt 26, where Jesus says, "take, eat, this is my body." 

 

In Luke 24:35 Jesus is with two disciples in Emmaus, who do not recognize Him until He breaks bread with them, another reference with eucharistic elements. John 6 has ten references, connected to the theme that Jesus is the Bread of Life, or the Bread come down from heaven. His flesh is real food and His blood is real drink (scandalous to Jewish ears). It culminates with the crowd searching for Jesus. He tells them, "I tell you, you are not looking for Me because you saw signs, but because you ate your full of loaves (artos). Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life."  The eucharistic theme continues in Acts ("breaking of bread" referenced several times) with an extended reflection on Eucharist in 1 Corinthians 11.

 

I think it is legitimate to include "eucharist" as part of the prayer for bread. Paul says, "because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, because we all partake of one bread." [1Corinthians 10:17] When we experience 'Kingdom come' the prayer of Jesus (that they all be one, Father, as we are one) will no doubt be answered. Paul demonstrates the deeper meaning of the loaf. In the "Didache of the Twelve Apostles" there is a similar prayer reference to grain scattered on a hillside made one in the loaf, so may the scattered church be made one in Christ. Yet the Eucharist is connected to the manna n the exodus--that bread of heaven was for daily sustenance. The Scriptures do not denigrate this meaning. In the New Testament, Jesus feeds the crowds twice, and the language makes clear that we are to ponder both the Last Supper and Israel in the desert. In 2 Thessalonians, bread is a metaphor for making one's living, so bread also means the general sustenance (food and survival needs). This more mundane angle is sacred, God's provision of food for body and soul is all salvific. 

 

Jewish Scriptures

The curse in Genesis 3:19 is the first appearance of bread--"in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground...you are dust and to dust you shall return." The human condition outside of the Garden is a battle with thorns and thistles, the abundance of food is replaced by ground begrudgingly providing sustenance. The next appearance is Melchizedek's offering of bread and wine (another tie to Last Supper) with Abraham in Genesis 14, then four chapters later Abraham offers the Three Visitors (actually God) "a morsel of bread" (which is actually three measures of flour) and in chapter 19, Lot likewise provides a feast and bread. So feeding is connected with hospitality (towards God's presence among us). After several generic references to bread as food, Jacob offers God a conditional covenant (if God will be with me and keep me in this way I am going, and give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on...then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's House [Bethel]…) The Eucharist is covenant bread, and the plea for daily bread is an acknowledgement that if the Lord is our God, He will provide for us out of covenant fidelity.

Exodus 16 provides a ripe theological source, with multiple references to bread. God declares "See, I will rain down bread for you," "you shall be filled with bread and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, "manna/what is it"--this is the bread which the Lord your God has given you to eat." In Leviticus, "the bread of God" is among the offerings, which are brought to God and eaten by the priests. 

ISAIAH 55 is one of the most beautiful songs of Isaiah… “everyone who thirsts, let him come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Some, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread?” The prophet calls his listeners to listen and obey, to embrace the covenant and the promise of better days. “Seek the Lord...call upon Him, repent, return.” In verse10 he reminds that precipitation provides “seed to the sower and bread to the eater--and so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.”

The connection of bread, offerings and the word throughout the Jewish bible remind us of the eucharistic meaning of bread. It is the provision of God, for every aspect of human existence.

Expansion

Jesus told numerous parables of wedding feasts or other parties. He spoke of Himself as the Groom, and He offers the invitation to embrace Him (and the Kingdom) metaphorically as a banquet.  The meals in the Jewish bible are often referred to as eating bread. Ultimately, the cry to God for bread, like the cry for the Name of God to be made holy, once and for all, His Kingdom to come, once and for all, His will to be done, once and for all--all express our human need and desire for union with God. In the meantime, the Eucharist serves as a sacramental sign of the "already united" (with Him and one another--i.e., "in communion with") even as we pray for ongoing provision as we journey to the day of complete table fellowship in the Lord's Kingdom.