Calvin Synod Herald, 2010 (111. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-09-01 / 9-10. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HÉRÁI D Will There be Enough Bread and Water For Everyone? “Give us today our daily bread” - Matthew 6:11 From Luke 9:10 17 we learn that Jesus fed thousands: ‘‘When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God\ and healed those who needed healing. Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here. ’ He replied, ‘You give them something to eat. ’ They answered, ‘We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.' (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, ‘Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each. ’ The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ” Our Daily Bread and the Divine Providence Nothing proves better than the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us today our daily bread” that God cares about the entire life of a human being. Our spiritual, physical, mental, emotional and social well being is equally important to our heavenly Father. Let us examine a pair of opposite points relative to children and solid food, to help us more clearly understand the divine providence. On the one hand we are expected to be like children (but not childish!) as we learn in Matthew 18:3: "... unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Yet Hebrews 5:13-14 teaches us: “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solidfood is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. ” In other-words, do not wait for God to spoon feed you with baby food when you are ready for something more substantial. Yes, God provides. We are assured this in Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” However, Apostle Paul’s admonition in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 is also true: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat. ” It is true that God feeds the birds but he does not put the bird-seed into their nests. And likewise, God helps those workers who labor on the farm, in the flour-mill, bakery, delivery truck, and the grocery store - but He will not put the toasted, buttered bread on our table. We hope God will bless us so we can earn enough to buy the necessary groceries. “Give us today our daily bread” makes it possible for us everyone to earn his/her (family included) bread and butter and other food staples, in a decent way. Our Daily Bread - A Token Expression For Our Many Needs And Obligations Here again the fact that the possessive pronoun our is plural is very important to point out. Our Lord did not say: “Give each of us individually and separately packaged vitamin fortified bread.” Remember the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19 31). The rich man’s sin was not his wealth and luxurious living but his blindness and negligence toward Lazarus, the poor man who was sitting at his gate uncared for, sick, and hungry. “Our daily bread” has social, economical, and political connotations as well. The population explosion is frightening. Unfortunately, more children are bom in underdeveloped countries than their governments are able to feed. Some of the most precious commodities nowadays are food and water - millions on the planet are starving and are thirsty. Then why do we not produce more food? Because it is not the best business; rich and big countries produce their own, poor and the small ones cannot afford to pay for it. Hungry or satisfied - which people are easier to manipulate and control? “Pass it on!” is a term we are very familiar with. We experience it often when the price of a product or service is raised - the added expense is passed on until it reaches the consumer who is at the end of the line. What can the poor people do? Tighten their belts and bite the bullet. But how far can it go? “Give us today our daily bread” also means that God disapproves of the trend, while not true in every case and all the time: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Our Daily Bread - Our Nourishment Our nourishment cannot be lopsided. It is God’s will that we take care of our body, because strength and health are needed to labor and render an excellent service. The “bread” includes all of the nourishments we need to properly perform our work. And in addition to the physical bread and nutrients, we are meant to be fed spiritually too, as our Lord said in Matthew 4:4: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. ” Our minds - our intellect - must not be neglected either. Hosea 4:6 makes it very clear: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. ” And 2 Peter 1:5 advises us: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge ...” If we understand this petition well: “Give us today our daily bread” then we will join Apostle Paul, who in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 asked the Almighty: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ” ______________________________________________2 Rev. Alexander Ja I so
