Bread, Fish, and Egg
“So, if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
— Luke 11:13
We’ve all heard and read of Jesus teaching that a good father would give bread, not a stone, fish, not a snake, and an egg, not a scorpion. A good father will give good things to his child—life, food/longevity (descendants), and freedom/solace/joy.
Jesus had this in mind as He taught His disciples about prayer. When the disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, He taught the Lord’s Prayer. He said,
“OUR FATHER” (God is the summa of goodness and love, the example of summa parenting. When we say this, we acknowledge our recognition of Him as Creator of all, our Abba of our heart, soul, mind, and body.)
“IN HEAVEN” (The supreme God, Creator of heaven and earth reigns eternally on His throne. He is not limited to earth but rules over all that is from His throne in His highest heaven.)
“HOLY IS YOUR NAME” (YHWH’s name is so magnificent that it tells of the only Almighty One, YHWH. It thrills our soul. Our spirit sings when He is near.)
“YOUR KINGDOM COME” (As You reign in heaven, bring Your good, pleasant, and magnificent kingdom to dwell among us. This part of the prayer addresses our spiritual need of God to reign around and in us, to give us renewed spiritual life through and in Him,
which means…)
“YOUR WILL BE DONE” (only You, YHWH, are supremely good and cause only good to occur. LORD, may Your will alone be done)
“HERE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN” (as recorded in Matthew 6:10) (We recognize Your goodness, greatness, and omnipotence. I AM. Have Your throne among us, Lord.)
“GIVE US EACH DAY OUR DAILY BREAD” (This prayer now addresses our physical earthly needs and recognizes our need to remain in God’s family. We fool ourselves thinking we can go off on our own and live life for ourselves. We are dependent on God for His good gifts of life-sustenance.)
“AND FORGIVE US OUR SINS” (Recognize only God is able to absolutely forgive, pardon, and remove the stain and guilt our sins place on and in us. This is our recognition God is Savior and Redeemer. We confess we are aware God made our spirits and we need His nurture and cleansing spiritually. We are dependent on God spiritually whether we recognize it or not. Jesus led the disciples to recognize that through this prayer. This statement comes from our heart, soul, mind, and body.)
“FOR WE OURSELVES ALSO FORGIVE ANYONE WHO IS INDEBTED TO US” (We are only able to do this because God has shown us how to do it through His forgiveness of us and has put this goodness in us when He did. He began making us like Him and drawing us into a right relationship when He did. We also need to be in right relationships with other people. This affects our hearts, too.)
“AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION” (Remind us that You, YHWH, give us hope, daily bodily sustenance, forgiveness, and daily right relationships with YOU and other people. What more do we need. You provide for our bodies, spirits, minds, and hearts. Make us content with these summum donum—supreme gifts. Nothing a temptation offers is better than what You, YHWH, give us though we don’t deserve anything from You.)
God gives better than bread, fish, and egg. He gives Life, Eternality/Food (life and family forever), and Solace and Freedom (forgiveness of our sins and power over temptations). Jesus is the Bread of Life. He is the Way to eternal Life. Jesus is the Redeemer who gives freedom from the death of eternal mourning because of our separation from God forever.
God gives even better than the best earthly father. He gives supremely good gifts—summam donum. His gifts give us life and freedom for our bodies, minds, souls, and hearts. The Lord’s Prayer expresses that. It expresses God’s supreme greatness and our absolute need of Him in our whole being. So much more will the Father in heaven give those who ask of Him.
Seek. Knock. Ask. (Luke 12:10)
Ask YHWH for faith in Jesus.
Ask Him for forgiveness and freedom.
Ask Him for the Living Bread.
Ask YHWH for the Holy Spirit.
Ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking.
Our ABBA in heaven, holy is YOUR name!
