Wednesday of Lent 4 Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! In tonight’s Gospel, the young man “came to himself” and finally realized, “My father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” With these Words, “He came to himself” or “He came to his senses” (NIV), Jesus is teaching us about God’s good and gracious gift of daily bread. Dear Christian friends, The word “petition” might not say enough about everything God has given to us in each petition of His wonderful Lord’s Prayer. In addition to a “petition”—that is, a request—each petition of the Lord’ Prayer will also serve you powerfully as • a confession of your sin and failure; • a classroom, in which we hear the Good News concerning our Lord and Christ’s great, all-encompassing love for us; and • an expression of thanks and praise to God for all His goodness and benefits. In tonight’s Gospel, Jesus impresses upon us the great importance of praying every day, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus shows us in this Gospel how easy it is for us Christians to become lulled, numb, and insensible to God’s daily gifts. What has happened in this Gospel? A foolish young man—someone whom we might call Everyman—has lost track of God’s rich provision in his daily life. The young man clearly knew he possessed many things, but he seems to have forgotten that he possessed all these things purely as a gift and through no merit or worthiness of his own. This you man “lived as if God did not matter and as if I mattered most” (LSB, p. 292). So what did God do? With great devotion toward this young man, God graciously, lovingly, mercifully stripped the boy of everything he had. As an act of divine mercy, “a severe famine arose in that country, and [the young man] began be in need.” God gives daily bread to everyone, even to evil people and even without any prayers. In order that we might realize this and receive our daily bread with thanksgiving, God in tonight’s Gospel withholds daily bread for a moment. By showing this young man the love and mercy of hunger, God made it possible for this young man to come to himself—to come to his senses—about God’s gift of daily bread. “My father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” • Jesus says to you and to me in tonight’s Gospel that this young man “came to himself” or “came to his senses” (NIV). With these Words, Jesus is showing us how it is possible to confess our sin and failure using the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Who of among us truly receives our daily bread with thanksgiving? (Some Christians in this congregation do not even pause to pray thanks to God before they dig into their latest meal!”) Who among has not begun to look at the luxury items of our life—electricity and automobiles and cell phones—who among us does not look at these luxury items as if they are necessities and even basic rights? “Dear Father in heaven, give us this day our daily bread”: o Forgive me for how insensitive I am to all that I receive from You every day. Forgive me for shallowness, for ungratefulness, and for living as if everything You give is a matter of my right, rather than a matter of Your grace and generosity. o Forgive me, too, for how I so frequently bite the hand that feeds me, not only looking wrongly at you, but also looking wrongly at all whom you have placed in my life for the purpose of my daily bread. What would I be without my neighbors, my government, and my family—all of whom you have given me for my daily bread? • The young man “came to himself” and finally realized, “My father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” With these Words, Jesus is giving us a renewed view of our own daily bread, which we receive from our gracious heavenly Father! Stated another way, Jesus is using the parable of the prodigal son as a classroom in which we learn the Good News concerning His all-encompassing love for us. God gives us all things by His grace—grace on account of Jesus. God gives us all things by His mercy—mercy on account of Jesus. Simply stated, our daily bread and our physical sustenance have the same source as our forgiveness of sins and hope of eternal life: Jesus Christ the Righteous One! Like the absolution itself, every drink of water; every peanut butter sandwich; every stitch of clothing on our backs all stand in continual and steadfast testimony concerning of the riches of God’s unending grace toward us. • When we learn of the mercy of God toward us, how can we not feel deep thanks and hearty praise for all His benefits? The young man in tonight’s Gospel “came to himself” and “came to his senses” (NIV). In this awakening, the appreciation for his father’s generosity already began to well and to grow—even before the young man made it back home. “My father’s hired servants have more than enough bread!” In this way, we can likewise learn to use God’s Fourth Petition as an expression of thanks and praise: “Thank you, Lord, for all that You give! Even when times are lean and when the dollar must be stretched, You have nevertheless given the dollar! You feed me, You clothe me, You provide me with good government and good people all around. With equal generosity, You concern Yourself as much with the needs of the moment as You do the future promise of eternal life. • And the word “petition” still means “prayer” or “request.” Jesus carefully and purposely added to His Lord’s Prayer this petition, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus added this petition to His prayer because He wants you to say these Words to your Father who is in heaven. With these Words, Jesus wants us to look to God our Father for every good thing—large and small—who promises even to feed and clothe us for the sake of His Son Jesus. Amen. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
