Give us this day our daily bread

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.’
And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

- Luke 11:1-13

This passage in Luke comes after several important passages of teaching and missionary activity. The Seventy are sent out on another apostolic mission, and Jesus tells them they have power over many things - that prophets have sought to know what they know. There has also been the passage of the Good Samaritan, and other significant teachings. One thing of note in English translations is the phrase in the Lord's prayer, "but deliver us from evil." For some reason, this phrase is missing from several modern English versions (although not from the King James), but because it's definitely there in the original Greek, I leave it in. It's also important to note that often this is translated in Greek Orthodox texts as, "deliver us from the Evil one" because in Matthew (which contains the version of the prayer used in the church), the word "evil" is in the nominative form. In other words, Jesus is referring to Satan. Since this is significant in the original language, I don't think it should be skipped over.

Another important note of translation here is the word that we use as "daily" (as in "daily bread"). The original Greek word used here is epiousion. This is a very rare word, which seems to have been created specifically for this literature of the gospels. One Greek Orthodox commentary uses the word "essential" to translate the meaning of the word as used. If we take its literal form, it seems to translate "suprasubstantial." At any rate, this particular bread that is being referred to is spiritual bread - again reminding us of the manna in the wilderness and the feeding of the 5,000. But more importantly, the Eucharistic bread - the spiritual food with which we need to be fed to sustain our spiritual lives.

So from our efforts at noting important aspects of translation, we see here two important ideas: there is the focus on the allegory of bread to spiritual food, and also the understanding of what it means to be delivered from that which is evil; and in such focus the spiritual nature of these words, in my opinion, becomes more clear and more stressed. Quite often we think of praying for what we want in some physical sense of need or desire. But it is my opinion that Jesus is emphasizing that which once again is hidden in allegory: those who want the kingdom are eligible for its rewards. Just as in the passage from Matthew we were given recently, the things Jesus is referring to that we seek are spiritual things. Jesus' life and activity has been taken up with bringing in new workers for the kingdom, and sharing his spiritual power with them so that they, too, may do the missionary work he has brought into the world. So when we see the word "bread" used here, we must think of the spiritual focus of this word as analogy to that which we hunger for as spiritual seekers, as those who really want (and need) this gift.

Of course, Jesus makes this clear in the passage when he says, If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! I believe that we who read these passages now must focus on the spiritual nature of these words and this prayer. These are not magical incantations for whatever material desire we set our sights on, but rather are prayers for initiating and sustaining the spiritual life, with the focus on worship. In addition, it's important to note the form of the prayer in first person plural: Our Father... give us this day our daily bread... forgive us... , etc. This is a prayer for a particular community. I think we have been assured elsewhere that Our Father is aware of all of our needs: physical, spiritual and otherwise. But here (and there) the focus is on the primacy of putting membership in this kingdom first, as the great gift we've been given. If we think of this prayer as a sort of roadmap of the journey forward into a life that is responsible to the Good, and that asks to participate in building this kingdom, we will set our sights on an understanding that we are asked to be further initiated into wisdom and enlightenment as to how to proceed and live our lives. We ask for guidance and the discernment we need to live a good life of meaning and devotion. We should not forget that it is this for which we pray: for that which will give us a suprasubstantial life, one packed with meanings and values which multiply with time, for life in abundance.