Give us this day our daily bread

 

 "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Therefore do not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray:

"Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

 As we forgive our debtors. 

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

 

- Matthew 6:7-15 

 

 We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.  Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.  And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your  Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

 

  "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Therefore do not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him."  In yesterday's reading and commentary, we expanded upon this verse, and the question of what constitutes vain repetitions. See yesterday's commentary here, in which we included the subject of the Jesus Prayer.  To reiterate from Jesus' talk about prayer from yesterday's reading, let us recall that Jesus speaks against hypocritical prayer.  The true spirit of prayer is an intimate, personal communion with God that leads to the vision of God's glory (1 Corinthians 2:9).  Hypocrisy blocks out this communion and vision -- my study Bible says that vain repetitions cannot establish this, but both silence and words are necessary.  The use of many words is not condemned of itself.  Rather, words must express this desire for communion with God.  Additionally, neither is repetition itself condemned here but "vain repetition."  Many psalms and prayers and hymns are repeated throughout Church services for generations in the worship of God "in spirit and truth" (John 4:23).  

 

 "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  My study Bible explains that the Father-Son relationship within the Trinity reveals our potential relationship with God.  Christ is the Son of God, and grants us the privilege of calling God Our Father by grace of adoption (Galatians 4:4-7).  As a "son of God" a Christian is called to love, trust, and serve God as Christ models for us in serving the Father.  My study Bible asks us to note that God is not our Father just because God created us.  He is only Father to those in a saving and personal relationship with Him.  This is a communion that comes by the grace of adoption alone (see John 1:13; Romans 8:14-16).  Note that with sonship follows obedience and love of God's will; the prayer Jesus gives us prays fully for God's kingdom to come and God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  

 

"Give us this day our daily bread."  Here is the center of the prayer, and appropriately, it's a unification of heaven and earth.  "Daily," my study Bible explains, is a misleading translation of the Greek.  This word is επιουσιος/epiousios, which literally means "above the essence," or "supersubstantial."  The expression daily bread, then, doesn't mean simply bread for today, for earthly nourishment.  This is the bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God, and the nourishment of our immortal soul.  This living, supersubstantial bread, my study Bible says, is Christ Himself.  In the Lord's prayer, therefore, we're not simply asking for material bread for physical health.  Rather, we as for the spiritual bread of eternal life (John 6:27-58).  

 

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."  My study Bible emphasizes that this request to be forgiven is plural -- just as the prayer itself is the prayer of community ("Our Father")  -- and this directs us to pray always for the forgiveness of others.  The term debts is reference to spiritual debts (see Matthew 18:21-35, and also the final verse in today's reading).

 

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."  God tempts no one to sin, says my study Bible (see James 1:13); temptations are from the evil one, the devil.  My study Bible tells us that temptations are aimed at the soul's giving in to the sinful passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5).  No one lives without encountering temptations, it notes, but we pray that great temptations; that is, tests beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13), should not come to us.  

 

 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."  My study Bible comments that Jesus insists on mutual forgiveness between people as a precondition of God's forgiveness.  People who do not forgive are not forgiven -- period.  This teaching is repeated in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35), which concludes with the same teaching.  To not forgive others is to willfully flee from the forgiveness of God for ourselves.  

 

It may be important to remember, as we read throughout this Sermon on the Mount, that Jesus is speaking to His disciples.  That is, to a group of believers, and in this sense, to His future Church.  All of these teachings are meant for us to apply them within this community, our community of believers.  Throughout history, as Christian faith became associated with countries or nations, that community then extended to all who were a part of it.  But for us in our present day and age, it seems important to remember that the Church was not meant to be an imitation of the world, but to bring about, as Jesus teaches us to pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."   Jesus emphasizes this new covenant that creates its own community by living in accord with that faith, when He says to His disciples at the Last Supper, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).  This difference between "the world" and believers in the Church is emphasized by St. Paul when he writes to the Corinthians about discernment within the Church, and outside the Church (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).  In the early Church then, the methods of treating one another, of living the life of faith, distinguished Christians from the societies in which they lived, and this, of course, made a great impact in terms of drawing people to the Church.  This remains entirely essential for us today, to understand that we don't want to drag "worldly" ways of behaving into the Church, but we must think of ourselves as a community with an important mission, and that mission -- as defined here by Christ -- consists in how we live our faith, especially within the community itself and between one another.  Many wise saints have taught us that the Church is not just an institution.  It is meant to be a hospital, a place of healing.  How can we heal from a world filled with things that harm and oppress except by the practice of the kind of love that Christ teaches us, and particularly among one another?  In this prayer given to the Church (which we pray communally to "Our Father" and not simply individually) Jesus lays out what it looks like to prepare a way to bring the Kingdom into the world, and to seek to live the Father's will.  Mutual forgiveness is a part of that, mercy is a part of that.  This is not to say that abuse is tolerated at all -- there are far too many passages in which Jesus warns us starkly about that, and in which St. Paul chastises his flock for such behaviors.  But forgiveness takes particular forms for us, and above all that means that we pray for one another, we don't seek vengeance, but peace between one another as best we can.  For all of this, we have great help, for Christ is always with us, and where Christ is, there are also the Father and the Spirit, and the great communion of saints and angels.  We endeavor, of course, to have peace with all around us.  But let us remember the community of disciples to whom Christ speaks, within which we each are counted. Our daily bread is the bread of the Kingdom with which we seek to be fed, and in which we wish to grow.

 

 

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened

 

 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."  So He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one."

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.  

 

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

 

- Luke 11:1–13 

 

Yesterday we read that it happened as they went that Jesus entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.  But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore tell her to help me."  And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."   

 

  Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."  My study Bible comments that "teach us to pray" is an expression of a universal longing to be in communion with God.  

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  My study Bible comments that the Father-Son relationship within the Trinity is a revelation to us of our own potential relationship with God.  Christ is the Son of God, but grants us the privilege of calling God Our Father by the grace of adoption.  As a "son of God," then (and therefore heir), each Christian is called to love, trust, and serve God as Christ does the Father.  This relationship for us comes not because God is our Creator, but because of a communion that comes by grace of faith and adoption (John 1:13; Romans 8:14-16). 

"Give us day by day our daily bread."  My study Bible comments that "daily" is a mistranslation of the Greek word that appears both here in Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer and also Matthew's (Matthew 6:11), and seems to have been coined solely for use in this prayer.  This word is ἐπιούσιον/epiousion.  It literally means "above the essence," or "supersubstantial."  So, daily bread indicates not simply bread for today, for our earthly nourishment; it is the bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God, my study Bible says, for the nourishment of our immortal soul, for true life.  This living, supersubstantial bread is Christ Himself.  In the Lord's Prayer, we're not asking only for material bread for physical health, but, as my study Bible puts it, for the spiritual bread of eternal life (John 6:27-58).  

"And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us."  This request to be forgiven is plural (and the prayer is communal; we pray to "Our Father").  So, my study Bible says, it directs us to pray always for the forgiveness of others.  To be indebted refers to spiritual debts (see Matthew 18:21-35).

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."  God tempts no one to sin, says my study Bible, citing James 1:13.  It says that temptations are from the evil one, the devil.  Temptations are aimed at the soul's giving in to the sinful passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5).  Moreover, no one lives without encountering temptations.  But here we pray that great temptation, or tests beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13) should not come to us.  

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs."   My study Bible explains that this parable demonstrates God's faithfulness to those who are in need and who pray with persistence.  Midnight is interpreted in patristic tradition as both the time of our death and a time of great temptation.  The friend is Christ, who, as our only source of grace, provides all that we need.

 

 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.    If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"  In Greek, my study Bible points out, these verbs rendered ask, seek, and knock imply a continuous action.  They are better translated, "keep asking," "keep seeking," and "keep knocking."  It says that God responds when we persistently ask for things that are good.  Bread, fish, and an egg are all images of life.  They symbolize the gift of the Holy Spirit (see John 14:13-14; James 4:3).  (see John 14:13-14; James 4:3).  

One theme that comes up repeatedly in Jesus' teaching is this theme of persistence.  He asks those who would be His followers frequently for persistence:  persistence in faith, persistence in following His commands, and as here, persistence in prayer.  These themes grow stronger as He goes toward His Passion, and prepares His followers for the times to come when He's no longer with them as the human Jesus.  In Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus first sends out the apostles on their initial journey, He speaks of the persecutions that are to come, and says, "Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:21-22).  This topic of endurance echoes Christ's words about persistence.  When He tells the parable of the Sower, He explains the seed falling on stony places this way:  "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles." (Matthew 13:1-23).  Again, the emphasis is on endurance, persistence, patience.  When Jesus warns the disciples about the end times to come, He says of His return that "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36).  He says, "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect," and adds the parable of the Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant:  "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.  Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods" (see Matthew 24:36-51).  The emphasis is all on persistence and endurance, and being consistent in following the Master's commands, being prepared for His return "at an hour you do not expect."  In today's reading, we're told that Christ's words mean "keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking."  In the Sermon on the Mount, these words come in the context of discipleship and the growth of holiness and discernment (see Matthew 7, verses 7-8 and context).  If we are true disciples then, this will be our constant action, our drive, our faithful endurance in following Him, His teachings, the practices such as prayer that we are given, and the persistence in living our faith.  Let us keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, for it is the Lord's good pleasure to help us grow in our faith, and continue in His light and love, in the life He offers to us. 

Lord, teach us to pray

 

 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."  So He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one."

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" 

- Luke 11:1-13 

 

Yesterday we read that, as they went toward Jerusalem, Jesus entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.  But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore tell her to help me."  And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

 

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." My study Bible comments that the request, "teach us to pray," expresses a universal longing to be in communion with God.  

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  The Lord's Prayer given in Luke is almost completely identical to the one found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13).  Here we begin with the understanding of God's kingdom, and this essential Christian mission to manifest that kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.   Here in the prayer we are reminded of Christ's words from chapter 8:  "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it" (Luke 8:20-21).

"Give us day by day our daily bread."  In both Matthew's and Luke's versions of this prayer, the word "daily" is translated from the same Greek word, unique to the Gospels.  That word is epiousion/ἐπιούσιον.  Its literal meaning is something like "supersubstantial" or "above the essence."  It is clearly an allusion to the Eucharist, but also the spiritual nourishment of this Kingdom which we need for sustenance each day.  My study Bible comments that the expression daily bread indicates not just bread for this day, for earthly nourishment, but it is the bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God, for the nourishment of our immortal soul.  This living, supersubstantial bread is Christ Himself.  In the Lord's Prayer, then, we are not asking merely for material bread for physical health, but for the spiritual bread of eternal life.  This understanding is made most explicitly clear in John 6:27-58.

"And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us."  In Matthew's version, we read, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."  But the idea of sin and debt here are still conjoined to create the same understanding.  If we look at the law as a means to make restitution, we can see this relatedness between sin and debt.  But forgiveness here means that God is the ultimate broker and judge; our forgiveness becomes a way of giving everything into the hands of God, and seeking God's guidance for our daily lives.  My study Bible makes it clear that this request to be forgiven is plural, directing us to pray always for the forgiveness of others.  The term debts refers to spiritual debts (see Matthew 18:21-35).  

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."  My study Bible comments that God tempts no one to sin (James 1:13); temptations are from the evil one, the devil.  It notes that temptations are aimed at the soul's giving in to the sinful passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5).  No one lives without encountering temptations, but we pray that great temptations -- that is, tests which are beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13) -- should not come to us.

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs."  My study Bible comments that this parable demonstrates God's faithfulness to those who are in need and who pray with persistence.  According to patristic commentary, midnight is interpreted as both the time of our death and a time of great temptation.  The friend, my study Bible explains, is Christ, who, as our only source of grace, provides everything we need.  

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"    In Greek, the verbs which are translated as ask, seek, and knock imply a continuous action.  My study Bible says they would be better and more accurately translated, "keep asking," "keep seeking," and "keep knocking."  It says that God responds when we persistently ask for things that are good.  Bread, fish, and an egg are all images of life, and they symbolize the gift of the Holy Spirit (see John 14:13-14, James 4:3). 

In the Lord's Prayer, which it seems is meant to be used each day, our first prayer, and the one that follows it, are:  "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."   These first pleas in the prayer are highly significant for their prominent placement.  They form the basis for the rest of the prayer.  It is as if Jesus first teaches us to pray for this kingdom to be manifest, and then the rest of the prayer in some way expresses the conditions necessary and characteristic of that kingdom.  First we know this is the kingdom of "our Father in heaven," whose name is hallowed, or holy.  Our Father in heaven, then, becomes the understanding for the basis for all the rest that is holy, all the things we may understand as holy or characterize as holy -- for it is whatever is "in His name" that is hallowed or made holy.  But the real manifestation, or coming of the God's kingdom, is characterized in that God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven.  How do we know God's will?  How do we know what God's will is for us to do in our lives specifically, or our lives collectively in the Church?  One gets an intuitive sense that perhaps simply embedded in the prayer is a plea that God makes this will known to us, that God gives us the capacity for the discernment of that will.  Nonetheless, this plea does not specify that it is only about oneself doing God's will, or a group of people or a nation, but rather that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven."  This is an ontological plea without reservation and without restriction.  It's not defined by borders or boundaries, or time or space, or by specific people or beings or any worldly thing we can name.  It is a plea for the world, and that in the whole world God's will be done as it  is in heaven.  That is an unquestionably powerful plea to pray, for we consider that we pray as a Church (in the plural), as a communion, if you will, and that we pray for God's kingdom to be made manifest, and God's will to be done for the whole world, on behalf of all and for all.  Everything else is conditioned within these pleas.  We pray for our "daily bread" which is the bread of the kingdom, for this bread is Christ Himself (John 6:51, 1 Corinthians 10:16).  We ask for this bread to be ours day by day.  We pray a mutual prayer for "our" sins to be forgiven; that is, we pray on behalf of all, and at the same time this is conditioned within the forgiveness that we offer by giving up the "debts" we feel we're owed to God, and seeking God's will in how we will live our lives and especially live the righteousness that pleases God.  And the prayer does not leave out the difficulties of this world, and an understanding and awareness of the evil in the world, but takes everything into consideration.  We do not pray in blindness to the problems of this world, but rather the opposite.  We recognize frankly the difficulties, and we present them to our Father, and we plead that we may be kept away from temptations that are too much for us, but deliverance from those times when the evil one seems to have ensnared us in difficulties that are all-too-present in this world.  And we may recall in this prayer that it is Jesus who has come down from heaven and become fully human in order to experience both temptation (Luke 4:1-13) and a time of great evil  (Luke 22:53).   We remember that "a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40), and that He is our example for times we experience the same in this world, and He has gone before us as Teacher.  Let us consider all the ways that the pleas in this prayer teach us about God's kingdom, about Christ's way, about our lives and our world as well, and consider what it is to live it and to pray it fully, day by day, and for the life of the world (John 6:33).  

Our Father in heaven

"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Therefore do not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

- Matthew 6:7-15

  We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount, which began with The Beatitudes, last Monday.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.  Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.  For they love the pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.  Assuredly, I say to to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."  The lectionary skipped over what is given in today's reading, and continued with Jesus' teachings about spiritual practice:  "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance.  For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

 "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Therefore do not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  Jesus has just finished teaching about prayer practice:  that it should be done in humility, and not to show oneself as pious to others.  But He takes it another notch forward, by teaching us what we ought to pray, and giving us this gracious prayer that is at the center of all Christian worship.  When He teaches not to pray in vain repetitions, the accent is on vain -- to be heard by many words.  Repetition for spiritual practice is another matter.  But our central focus in prayer, by Jesus' teaching, is the core relationship to God.   This is the foundation of all of His teachings, the greatest commandment, on which rests everything else.  My study bible tells us that the Father-Son relationship within the Trinity reveals our potential relationship with God; that is a sonship by grace of adoption, by which Christ the Son gives us the privilege of calling God Our Father (see Galatians 4:4-7).  That's how strong this relationship is that we must grow within.  As a "son of God," each Christian person is called to love, trust, and serve God our Father as does Christ.  Fatherhood does not belong to God simply as Creator, but Father by virtue of being in a saving and personal relationship, a communion that comes by grace of adoption (see John 1:13; Romans 8:14-16).

"Give us this day our daily bread."  Here is the center of the prayer.  Daily doesn't really convey the true meaning of the Greek word here, in describing what kind of bread He's giving us.  The Greek word here is epiousios, meaning "above the essence," or "supersubstantial."  That means this isn't just daily bread for human earthly physical nourishment.  It is the bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God, as my study bible puts it -- for the nourishment of our immortal soul.  The living, supersubstantial bread is Christ Himself; in the prayer we are asking not merely for material bread, but for the spiritual bread of eternal life (see John 6:27-58).  This is the bread of life in the Kingdom, even as we live in this world.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."  My study bible points out that in the Greek, the request to be forgiven is plural -- meaning that we pray always for the forgiveness of others.  Debts here are spiritual debts, the result of offense or sin.  In a spiritual sense, this is yet another way in which Christ takes us out of vengeance, and into a different and more cosmic sense of justice, in which we participate in the life of the Kingdom even as we are living worldly lives.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen."   Temptation to sin isn't from God (James 1:13), but from the evil one.   From the evil one is an appropriate translation of the Greek τοῦ πονηροῦ.  (The root of this word for evil also means "pain," suggesting laborious trouble, misery.)   Temptations are often those things that sound good, promise some form of ease or pleasure, indulgence, or shortcut rather than the steady road or struggle of salvation -- playing to what are traditional called sinful passions of the flesh, which come in many forms.  Going along with pleasing a crowd -- a theme in Christ's talk regarding hypocrisy -- can be a powerful one.  My study bible says that no one lives without encountering temptations, but we pray that great temptations, tests beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13), should not come to us. 

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."   We have a reciprocal kind of teaching here:  mutual forgiveness as a precondition for God's forgiveness.  This teaching is illustrated in the parable of the unforgiving servant (18:21-35), which also concludes with the same teaching.  It's another way in which we are to be "God-like" as children by adoption.

This prayer is a great gift to us.  It's a kind of blueprint of our spirituality, our relationship to God, and to one another.  It teaches us about the gifts we're given that are necessary for our salvation, notably the "supersubstantial" bread for each day, forgiveness which is counterbalanced by our own active practice of forgiveness, our sincere desire for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and the manifestation of the Kingdom.  The prayer gives us a sense of where we are in the universe, our relationship to God our Father, and our role in sonship by adoption.  It's a way of prescribing the life of active participation in the Kingdom, even as we live our lives in this world.  Repetition of the Lord's Prayer is therefore always a reminder of what we are to be about, and where we are in our spiritual lives.  It teaches us of the love of "Our Father" -- it is impossible to say this prayer without understanding the true nature of our relationship to God, and that it is based in love and through adoption, an active grace for us and through God's love.  When we pray, "Thy will be done," it's not an act of submission to an autocrat, but one of love and desire for the betterment of our entire world.  Let us remember that when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we enter into participation in this Kingdom, through all the things it teaches us:  of our need for God's love, for the Kingdom to manifest in the world (even through our own desire to follow God's will), for our daily bread which is of the eternal day of the Kingdom, our work at forgiveness, our desire to be free from temptations, and liberated from the pain of evil and its effects -- even as we walk in an imperfect world.  It is the perfect prayer, the one that suits all occasions and places us where Christ teaches us to be no matter what the circumstances.

Our Father in heaven

 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."  So He said to them, "When you pray, say:

"Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone
who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one."

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have noting to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs.  So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

- Luke 11:1-13

 In yesterday's reading, Jesus came to the village of Martha, Mary and Lazarus.  Luke's gospel tells us that Martha welcomed Him into her house.  Her sister Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.  But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore tell her to help me."  And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."  The disciple looks to the example; Jesus has been praying.  I think it's interesting that Jesus is asked in some part "as John also taught his disciples."  We know that many of Jesus' first disciples were previously disciples of John the Baptist.  My study bible says that the request Lord, teach us to pray expresses a universal spiritual need.  It adds that Matthew' record of the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13) has a slightly stronger liturgical flavor.

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  My study bible says, "Our Father signifies (1) the unique privilege of being children of God by the grace of adoption, and (2) the unity of Christians who commonly call God 'Our' Father.  God's name is hallowed when we praise and glorify Him by righteous words and deeds.  God's kingdom and will are closely related:  we pray they may be actualized on earth as they are in heaven, where God's reign is gloriously manifest."   First of all, God is "our Father."  Next comes the understanding that He is King, we are part of a Kingdom and even part of His name (as in anything set with a royal seal) by adoption.  Christ the only-begotten has come here to bring this Kingdom into our midst; it breaks in among us, and we are to be Kingdom-bearers by adoption.

"Give us day by day our daily bread."  My study bible notes, "Daily (Gr. epiousios) can also mean the 'essential' bread which many Church Fathers understood as (1) the truth of God's Word for daily sustenance, or (2) the sacramental bread of the Eucharist, Christ Himself."  This word, epiousios is a word unique to the Gospels, and not found in other literature of its time.   Another sense of this word is "super-substantial" (as Jerome revised Matthew's version of the prayer in the Vulgate).  Ousia is essence or substance.  Epi is a prefix that means "on" or "atop."  It can also imply "future" which gives us a sense, in the context, of the bread of the coming Kingdom.  St. John Chrysostom has written:  "Mark, I pray thee, how even in things that are bodily, that which is spiritual abounds."  While we pray for daily sustenance, in our prayer is also the prayer of the coming Kingdom, that which we need to also "incarnate" this Kingdom as has the Father in the Son by the Holy Spirit.

"And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."  Here is another emphasis on the Kingdom, on God's leadership and mediation of this Kingdom.  My study bible says, "Willingness to forgive everyone is a prerequisite to being forgiven by God.  To be indebted means to have committed a sin against another.  Although God tests us, He does not lead us into temptation.  Deliverance from the evil one (rather than from evil in the abstract) is the classic patristic understanding of this petition."  To forgive is to give up the "debt" to God - we don't seek our own revenge.  This doesn't, to my mind, necessarily mean reconciliation or coming back for more abuse, but it does mean that God is the ultimate mediator of justice and judgment.  We turn in prayer for discernment for how we relate to others, even those who are in some sense "indebted" to us - who have a mark on the "debtor" side of the books!  We also ask for the same forgiveness for our own debts.  Temptation is closely linked:  harmful acts of any kind are temptation to behavior that takes us away from God's peace, and they are seen as linked to the work of the evil one.  That is, the enemy of this coming Kingdom that we are here to help bear into the world.

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have noting to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs."  My study bible says here:  "Jesus praises persistence even if it seems inopportune and bothersome.  Persistence in prayer helps us to focus our attention on God."  Again, there is the emphasis of reliance on God, the head of this Kingdom, for what we need in life.  But there is more to it, as my study bible notes.  Persistence is key here.  God wants His children to come to Him, as often as possible.  When we remember God in our daily lives, however that is done, we are doing just that.

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."  My study bible says, "We ask in prayer, seek through study, and knock through righteous living."  It seems to be in the grand cosmic scheme of things that we, as adopted children of this kingdom, are to continually be returning to the King for all the things we need.  God wants dialogue with us!  We are, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan, to take the initiative, make the petition, and to continually be persistent in acting on our desires for this kingdom.  St. Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing."

"If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"  My study bible says, "Evil is used here in the general sense of all human beings being weak and sinful.  If Jesus promises to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, how is it that we ask?  The [Eastern] Church, since the early days, has provided this prayer:  'O heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who are in all places and fill all things, the Treasure of good things, and Giver of life, come and abide in us, cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, O Good One.' "  In the context of the prayer, it is clear here what we ask for.  Think of Mary's listening to the word of Jesus in yesterday's reading, and how Jesus quoted from Scripture in response to the "evil one" when He was tempted earlier in Luke's Gospel:  "It is written: 'Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' "

 In the image of the "daily" (epiousion) bread that we need "day by day," we find many echoes of the Gospels and sayings of Jesus.  There is first of all the Incarnation itself, God made man, in which human and divine natures are merged as one.  In the Eucharist, we have an image of the Incarnation, bread and wine given to us as body and blood -- the Kingdom manifest in our midst of which we also partake and in which we participate as children ourselves, in His name.  Christ is the Word, His "bread" is every word that proceeds from the mouth of God -- just as in yesterday's reading, Mary's good portion was the word she heard at Jesus' feet.  In the prayer for the coming Kingdom, we pray to participate in that Kingdom and to be bearers of that Kingdom in the world, even as it "breaks in" through the Incarnation of Christ the Word in Jesus.  There is no separation between what we consider our food and our lives as bearers in or workers for this Kingdom.  Can we get a sense of how this works in our lives, and how we need this kind of daily bread of the coming Kingdom, each day of our lives?

Our Father in heaven

"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

"In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

"Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."

- Matthew 6:1-16

We have been reading the passages from the Sermon on the Mount, in the Gospel of Matthew, since Monday. Beginning with the Beatitudes, Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5, has led us through the important topics of Jesus' teaching: the blessings of the spiritual life, or the Beatitudes; the teachings that His disciples are to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world; His expansion on righteousness regarding first the law against murder; His teachings on our own internal work regarding our thoughts and passions; and His teachings on justice and just behavior. Today, we venture into territory regarding prayer, charitable acts, and fasting - religious practice or spiritual discipline and good works.

"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." In each of Jesus' important teachings today on spiritual discipline - regarding charitable works, prayer, and fasting - His greatest criticism comes to hypocrisy, or hypocrites. "Hypocrite" in the original Greek means "actor." What He is condemning is prayer or charity - any form of piety - for outward show. If all we care about is the opinion of others, then we are missing the point. It is our relationship to God that is essential here, and God's love teaches us how we must relate to others. It is the Father who sees in secret whose understanding of who we are counts. It is again the expression here of a divine economy, in which the blessings we give in secret will be returned to us through the Father.

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." Again, a teaching against hypocrisy -- those who make a great show of their piety, who work for an audience, and not the power of the relationship that is in secret, with our "Father who is in the secret place." And again, there is emphasis on a divine economy: our "Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." My study bible says the teaching here is not against repetition per se, but against "vain repetition." The importance is that we do not babble, do not make prayers for their sound or impression, but that we cultivate a relationship - a personal and private relationship to Our Father in heaven. The teaching that God knows what we want in advance is so important: we're not really informing God about anything, nor are we making demands. We are cultivating relationship, "exchanging wishes" as the Greek word for prayer literally means. We are going to our Father with all we are, opening up ourselves for teaching and instruction, for love, and sharing all that we are as He shares Himself via grace with us.

"In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." First, we address God, our Father who is in heaven. His name is for all that is holy, and covers all that comes to us in goodness and righteousness and mercy and grace. Our great desire is to expand that kingdom, that holiness - to manifest that kingdom amongst ourselves and within ourselves, in our world. This begins our prayer, that heaven and earth, and all that Our Father is and desires be made present to us in our world as well. We begin our prayer by setting ourselves in the right place, offering the right perspective.

"Give us this day our daily bread." The bread referred to in this prayer is not necessarily the bread we eat for food, nor a symbol of material needs. "Daily" is a rather misleading translation for a Greek word that appears nowhere else in literature, and seems to have been coined specifically for this prayer. The word in Greek means more closely "super-substantial;" that is, something that has a greater reality to it - literally, "above the essence." What this implies is not only what we need for each day in terms of our material sustenance, but that which we need which includes all that we are, our spiritual reality, what feeds our souls. In other words, this word is like the Eucharist itself - the bread of God's food for us. In a very true poetic sense, we pray to receive each day the food we need for our eternal and immortal life, for "the eternal day of the Kingdom of God," as my study bible puts it so aptly. We pray for the Bread of Life, which we need daily.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." I've heard it expressed recently that God's forgiveness for us is infinite - therefore we share in that forgiveness when we realize the capacity we have to forgive others. Moreover there is once again a teaching about the divine economy here: what we are willing to share with others will also be shared with us by God. My study bible notes that "by using the plural, Jesus directs each of us to pray for the Father's forgiveness of all, and for all of us to forgive one another." It adds that "debts refer to spiritual debts; when we sin, we 'owe' restitution to our offended neighbor and to God." We are to seek to practice the loving nature that we know belongs to God.

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." This is a kind of poetic statement in itself: in the Greek, we pray that temptation not be "led into" us, and we ask to be taken or brought into God's presence, "snatched away" from the "evil one." This is about the essence of what is called spiritual battle - the prayer that all the temptations we wish to resist not be a part of ourselves, and that God's strength be with us always. More powerfully, that we be in the presence of God, delivered from the "evil one." ("Evil one" is a more precise translation than "evil.") The word for temptation is also a form of "test" or "trial." My study bible says, "Thus we pray that great temptations, tests beyond what we can bear, should not come our way."

"For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." We return, in the economy of the prayer, to the kingdom of God, God's glory and power -- it is here we wish to dwell, to remain, and that which we wish to manifest in "on earth as it is in heaven." It is this power with which we wish to be allied for our true sustenance and support in life.

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Moreover, finally, an important added emphasis and understanding of the real spiritual economy in which we dwell: we must share that which we wish for ourselves. It elevates us - human beings - to a stature worthy of a creation of God, made for independent thought and choice. We offer forgiveness as our Father in heaven offers us forgiveness. But we bear this responsibility; if we live in selfish expectation without our own growth in this love then we realize nothing of it.

"Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward." And finally, a teaching on fasting, another religious practice or spiritual discipline. And a repeated emphasis on the condemnation of hypocrisy, or "acting." Life, in the Christian discipline, is not only first and foremost for that relationship with the Father in heaven (rather than for outward show for the opinions or "praise of men") but it is also for joy. That is, it is for the joy of this relationship of love, whether we cultivate that relationship through fasting or other difficult disciplines. Furthermore, Jesus teaches us that we fast from much more than food, but from sin, from dwelling in thoughts which cultivate temptation and keep us from that relationship with our Father who is in the secret place.

A powerful reading is what we receive today, with many thoughts on the spiritual life, on how we pray -- and warnings about practicing as hypocrites, or "actors." Such is Jesus' contempt for hypocrites that He says, "They have their reward." So what does this all mean to you? How do you realize that relationship with your Father who is in the secret place? What do you do to cultivate that relationship and its strength for you? How do we live in this divine economy, of powerful realities that reward us on spiritual terms, for things not necessarily known or seen by others? It is a relationship of love in which we dwell, and cultivate and grow its blessings. Jesus began this Sermon with the Beatitudes, and today He teaches us more fully about the realization of the blessings He has taught.

Therefore hear the parable of the sower

"Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

- Matthew 13:18-23

In yesterday's reading, Jesus included the Parable of the Sower as he taught "the great multitudes." Yesterday's reading focused on the understanding of the teaching by parables - what is their purpose? Jesus explained to his disciples why he used parables to teach the crowds.

In today's reading, Jesus gives his explanation of the parable of the sower. Before we discuss the explanation, I think it's important to review some notes about parables. My study bible says, "Parables are stories in word-pictures, revealing spiritual truth. The Hebrew and Aramaic words for parable also mean 'allegory, 'riddle,' or 'proverb.' The Scriptures, especially the gospels, are filled with parables -- images drawn from daily life in the world to represent and communicate the deep things of God. Parables give us glimpses of Him whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways (Is. 55:8,9)." Personally, I think it's important to understand that these vivid "word-pictures" are not necessarily perfect analogies. They are intended to illustrate, to open up something in the hearts and minds of his listeners, to which they respond whose hearts are open to the spiritual reality conveyed.

So, let us take Jesus' answer and explanation to his disciples for the Parable of the Sower.

The parable went: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them." Jesus explains: "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside." In yesterday's reading, we reviewed what it is to have hearts open to spiritual truth. There must be something in the listener that prompts this desire, this openness. We must have spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear - these are the followers Jesus desires.

The parable continues: "Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away." Jesus' explanation is: "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles." The next step in the parable are those for whom the word has no depth, can take no root. How much do we open our hearts to this? Is there a depth in ourselves that responds, and desires more? When we go through struggles in life, do we give up on this word - and this relationship in our hearts? I think this is a crucial question, because for so many, struggle only intensifies the depth of faith and connection to the Father, to Deity. It is a crucial testing point in some sense, as Jesus indicates here. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has taught, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake." He expects his disciples to endure - see Salt and Light.

The parable: "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them." Jesus explains this part: "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." The thorns are those things that draw us into a life in which we abandon the word for false gods of material wealth - and their betrayal of that faith. See No one can serve two masters from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has taught there that "no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Jesus has also taught in the Sermon on the Mount that "sufficient for the day is its own trouble" - when he was teaching about over-concern and anxiousness illustrated as the thorns that are the cares of this world that choke the word, so that the hearer is unfruitful. See Solomon in all his glory for this teaching that illustrates this point as well. He has taught us to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."

Finally, Jesus told, "But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear!" And his explanation to the disciples was thus: "But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." We are to be fruitful. One recalls the teaching from Genesis, at the act of creation, when God blessed his creatures and told them to "Be fruitful." (See Genesis 1:28.) We must ask ourselves in this context, then, what it is to be fruitful. Clearly Jesus is teaching us about being ministers of the kingdom, those who would pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We are here to be fruitful, to bring the blessings of holiness into the world, and multiply them. We must make a good profit - worthy of the investment of the gift of the seed.

As in yesterday's reading and commentary, we recall to ourselves the teachings we learned in the Sermon on the Mount, which we have just been through (see readings and commentary from Monday, April 26th through Saturday, May 8th, 2010 -- beginning with The Beatitudes and ending with The Narrow Gate). All of Jesus' teachings are consistent, and they build up, one upon the other, for our understanding. Just as he explains the parable of the Sower for his followers, we are given repeatedly consistent teachings - and at the same time more explanation, elaboration, understanding. This is why we read the scriptures. In our depth of reception, we are capable of becoming more fruitful, of building up deeper understanding within ourselves, and moving forward more deeply and truly into our faith. This is a job for those disciples who have spiritual eyes and ears to hear: who are willing to make a connection within themselves that is beyond the mere intellectual, and beyond the surface. What is the reality of its impact in you, this word that is to take seed in our hearts? Do you make room for it? Do you take life beyond the material, and understand how much more there is to all of us in that depth of the heart? Do you make room in the heart for these words to take root, and to become fruitful? This is what he asks of us. Make time for prayer in the secret place. Remember that Jesus speaks in parables for a reason - that it is up to us to make choices deep within ourselves, and it is to that place in us that He appeals with his parables. We remember that "parable" can be translated as "allegory," "riddle" or "proverb." My study bible notes that, "thus, 'to those who are outside, all things come in parables' (Mark 4:11) may be translated 'to those who are outside, all things come in riddles.' " Jesus' quotation of Isaiah in yesterday's reading teaches us that people are responsible for their own receptivity.

Again, we tie in the teachings here to the Sermon on the Mount. What are the fruits of righteousness? How are they related to the depth and understanding of our faith, cultivated in ourselves? How do we multiply its blessings and grow in its fruit? Jesus has told his disciples in yesterday's reading and explanation of this parable: "It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." Let us recall, also, the words of Isaiah given by Jesus in yesterday's reading: "Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them." We are called by Jesus to open our spiritual eyes and ears, to grow, to persist, to be awake to mystery and its perceptions in us, and be fruitful and multiply those blessings. It is up to us - our choice.