Real Bread and Real Debts In The Lord's Prayer

The "Lord's Prayer" is one of the most well-known portions of the Bible. It occurs in both the "The Sermon On The Mount" in Matthew 6:9-13 and "the Sermon on the Plain" in Luke 11:1-4. Many people who recite this prayer don't realize that economic matters are central to the prayer.

Even though every Christian church uses the Lord's Prayer, following Matthew's version rather than Luke's, there are variations in the exact wording.

Some churches retain the archaic English "thy" and "thine." Protestant churches typically end the prayer with the phrase, "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory." Roman Catholic practice omits this phrase.

The most significant difference between various churches is that some churches use the language of "debts," some use "trespasses," and some use "sins."

The prayer Jesus taught his disciples was more than a prayer for spiritual nurture and forgiveness of sins. When he referred to daily bread and forgiveness of debts, he was referring to real bread and real economic debts.

In his prayer, Jesus makes clear that his followers are to pray for real bread and forgiveness of financial debts. In Greek, the word for debt is a financial term. Jesus' concern for bread and debts is consistent with his social and ethical approach to his society. He focused on the injustices of his society against the poor and dispossessed.

The most critical element of the prayer is the reference to the Kingdom of God, which does not refer to an afterlife in Heaven. When Jesus prays, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," he is expressing his belief that God will end oppression, poverty, and suffering on earth. The Kingdom of God refers to the rule of God on earth.

The economic foundation of the prayer is lost when the words "bread" and "debts" become spiritual metaphors with no connection to real food and economic debt

For Jesus's audience, bread and debt were much more than metaphors. Hunger and debt were constant realities of life for an underfed, overtaxed population. Much of the misery of the peasants and beggars in Palestine resulted from debt. The peasants had to turn over much of what they grew to the king or other members of the urban elite class who claimed proprietary rights to whatever the peasants grew on the land. As a result, many of the peasant farmers were hopelessly in debt. Many of the beggars had been forced off their land by failure to pay their debts.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus spoke about the real human needs of people in a society divided between the haves and the have-nots. He saw the vast gap between the rich and the poor, and criticized the rich for their exploitation and oppression of the poor. He also condemned a religious system which excluded whole categories of people from God's blessing, by labeling them as "unclean."

He saw firsthand the extent of hunger, poverty, sickness, and suffering endured by most of the population. He saw how the rich landowners grew rich at the expense of the poor. He saw people who were homeless because they had been driven off their land by high rents and taxes. He saw people living in poverty because the largest percentage of what they grew or made or caught was confiscated by taxes. He knew what it was to live under Roman occupation, where Roman soldiers could force people to do almost anything. He saw how the Temple system collaborated with the Roman occupiers to bleed the people of their money and their power.

It is also true that Matthew's version of the Lord's Prayer preserves an Aramaic idiom. Aramaic writings show that the language of "debt" and "debtors" was used regularly for "sin" and "sinners." Jesus spoke Aramaic and clearly intended that the word "debts" in the prayer refer to both money debts and sins.

In Luke, the prayer uses the word "sin" rather than "debt." This loses the financial reality behind the metaphor and obscures the underlying concern with real bread and real debts.

Especially in these times of food shortages and rampant debts, Christians who want to pray as Jesus intended need to restore the basic economic meaning to the prayer. This is especially significant at a time when basic staples such as wheat, rice, and corn have become more and more scarce. It is also significant for the millions of people who are swamped in debt and facing foreclosure and bankruptcy because of debts they cannot repay.

Jesus intended his words to refer to suffering and injustice in his own society. This prayer for bread and debts referred to real bread and forgiveness of real financial debts.

Article Source: http://www.myaddirectory.com

Kalinda Rose Stevenson, Ph.D. What if most of what you learned about Jesus and money is false? Get your copy of Going Broke With Jesus at www.GoingBrokeWithJesus.com to see how frequently Christians misunderstand what Jesus taught about money.

If You want to use this article on your website then select COPY THIS ARTICLE in the Menu on the right side!

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated