The last post dealt with the essential fact that everything is spiritual...that we should refrain from trying toward distinctions between a more noble 'spiritual world' against a more base 'material world.' I feel compelled to say a few more words on this matter.
In teaching us to pray in Matthew 6, Jesus shows us the importance of praying for seemingly spiritual things. He asks us to pray that his kingdom be established, his will accomplished, that sins be forgiven and temptation be overcome, yet sitting somewhat uncomfortably in the middle of all of this, he teaches us to pray for our 'daily bread.' Such a request seems so out of place, so unspirutual, so earthly...so base.
We could easily try and jump to a spiritual interpretation of such a phrase, the description of Jesus as the 'bread of life' made clear in the gospel of John, or perhaps a reference to the Lord's Supper would be two such 'spritual readings.' However there is an unavoidable earthiness about the nature of bread; Eugene Peterson says 'bread stubbornly resists spiritualisation.' Scholarly opinion also has settled on the fact that this passages undoubtedly refers to normal, every day, shopping list, burnt toast, bread.
We can take delight in the fact that Jesus teaches us to pray for material provision, and that he does not expect of us a moral standard which intends us to shun material needs. Firstly there is the simple fact of the matter our bodies need sustenance, food to give us strength, strength to glorify the name of Jesus. Secondly there is a wonderful beauty to be found in food, indeed we are all familiar with the sumptuous aromas of freshly prepared bread, the way it is still warm to touch. A prayer for daily provision not only reminds us that it is indeed the Lord who is our great provider of strength, but the provider of beatuy, pleasure and enjoyment also. Robert Farrar Capon in the The Supper of the Lamb describes 'food as 'the daily sacrament of unnecessary goodness, ordained for the continual remembrance that world will always be more delicious than it is useful.'
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