Our Father . . . Give us today the food we need
January 15th, 2023 – Communion Meditation
It seems like it’s been a while since we prayed the Lord’s prayer together during our service, Matthew 6:9-13 (NLT):
“Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
I want to draw our attention to an important aspect of this short prayer – the use of pronouns. There are two groups of pronouns in this prayer – your, yours, and you (implied) comprise one group, and each of these refer to God, our Father. The other group of pronouns include “our” and “us” – yes, these are plural pronouns, each indicating more than one, and they refer to followers of Christ, the body of Christ together.
When we pray “Our Father . . . Give us today the food we need,” we are asking for our physical nutritional needs, yes, but there’s more. We are also asking for the spiritual food that God supplies. Christ Himself said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jesus continued later in that same chapter: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh . . . Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”
This means that every time we eat the bread and drink the cup, together, this seemingly small act of obedience and surrender to Christ binds us to the Lord and to each other. By participating in Communion, the Lord’s Supper, we are receiving more of the life of Christ. And in this act of trusting Christ to give us life, eternal life, we are also being connected more deeply in the body of Christ. Incredibly, the body of Christ includes not just the few souls who are physically in this room today, but all followers of Christ in all times and places. We are part of a really big family! So, as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we are not only remembering Christ Jesus; we are also deepening our relationship with Him and with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. What a beautiful gift – thank you, Lord!
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He took the bread and said, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (eat)
Again, Jesus took the cup and said, “This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (drink)
