St John 6:32-51/Our Father: Fourth and Fifth Petitions
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is your true God and dear Father by way of your fellowship and participation in His death and resurrection for you through the birth waters of Holy Baptism, by which He has adopted you as His own dear child and sent His Spirit, the Spirit of His Son, into your hearts, by whom you cry, Abba, Father! He who has bestowed His holy Name upon you, guards and keeps His Name holy among you and for you by the preaching of His Word in its truth and purity for the forgiveness of all your sins, for the strengthening of your faith in Him, and for the leading of holy lives according to His will and Word and dearly beloved, faithful and obedient children.
So too by the self-same means of His Word, that is, the preached Word of the Cross and Passion, Death and Resurrection of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, does His Kingdom come to you. For in this way does He continue to bestow His Holy Spirit upon you so that by His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, you believe His holy Word, leading godly lives fruitful in the Spirit’s sowing of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This is all done according to His good and gracious will. For the means by which He strengthens and keeps you firm in His Word and faith, is the same manner in which He defends you against all danger, guards and protects you from all evil. Which is to say, the hallowing of God’s Name, the coming of His Kingdom, and the accomplishing of His will all come by way of and are perfectly fulfilled within the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why, then, should it come as any surprise that the provision of daily bread to you, His dear children, and even to all evil and wicked people, likewise comes by way of and on account of the Cross of Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord? And how much more the daily need for the forgiveness of sins? For every good gift, and every perfect gift, comes down from above, from the Father of Lights, in whom there is no shadow or variation due to change (Ja 1:17). Indeed, only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without an merit or worthiness in you, He gave the Good Gift and the Perfect Gift, His own Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. How will He not also with Him and from Him and through Him graciously give you all things?
Therefore do not worry, you little faiths. Either about your life or about your body. For your heavenly Father knows that you need clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, and all that is necessary for daily bread. And in love and in mercy, through the Cross of His Son, Jesus Christ, He provides them to you according to His good and gracious will. What is more, He goes beyond what may be deemed the daily necessities and provides you, in abundance, the luxuries of good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors and the like, so that He richly and daily provides you with all that you need to support this body and life. All of this and more flows forth from His fatherly heart, as revealed to you in the handing over of His Son, Jesus Christ into death that you may be His own. Moreover, these gifts are according to His good and gracious will as He has revealed it to you and you have learned it from the Ten Commandments. Thus do you always pray for that which your dear Father who is in heaven has already promised and indeed daily provides you.
But these are not the source or substance of your life and health and strength either in this life nor in the life you have by fellowship in the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit. Such bread is for now, for today, but it is not for forever. Even the miraculous Old Testament Manna pointed beyond itself to something more. It lasted only for the day that is was given, that the people should learn to live, not by such bread for their bodies, but by faith in the Word and promises of God and in love according to His commandments.
So also does your heavenly Father teach you to live by the very example of the bread He daily provides. Whereas the phrase, On earth as it is in heaven, may rightly be applied to each of the first three petitions, so that they would be prayed, Hallowed be Thy Name on earth as it is in heaven. Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So too can the adjective daily be applied with equal importance to the Fifth as it is to Fourth Petition such that you could pray: Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our daily trespasses as we daily forgive those who daily trespass against us. While such a paraphrase may be a mouthful, its meaning is certainly meant by the simple conjunction: and. For as often as you need bread for this body and life, so do you need forgiveness for all your sins and the life of the world to come.
And here, according to our Lord Christ’s discourse the two are joined. Bread, from the perspective of heaven, is never just bread. Your God and Father never feeds you, provides for all that you need to support this body and life, in a casual, even accidental way. In other words, there is no providence from heaven, no feeding, no love or mercy from God our Father apart from the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ crucified and raised. Everything goes back to the Cross. And the Holy Communion brings to the Cross back to you. The Holy Communion is everything. It is the New Testament in His Blood.
Every petition of the Our Father finds its fruition and fulfillment in the Sacrament of the Altar, which is one reason is is prayed at every Holy Communion, without exception, but the sacramental connection and significance is perhaps seen in no better place than in these, the Fourth and Fifth Petitions. For as your daily bread comes through the earthly means our Lord and Father provides on your behalf, many of which are entirely outside of your control, and yet you have food enough for the journey, so too does your daily absolution come through the means our God and Father provides on your behalf: through the House of Bread that is His Church and the very Bread of Life, even Jesus Christ, His Son our Lord.
And in the Eucharist the two petitions are joined. As our Lord Jesus Christ takes bread, the food of the fall, the sustenance of wandering Israel, and uses it to supply the Bread of Life, which is to say, He joins Himself to the earthly substance, transforming the food of perdition into the Feast of Everlasting Life. No longer do you eat bread by the sweat of your face, but rather you eat the Bread that is His Body, the toil and sweat of Him who bore the thorns and thistles of the curse for you. And in this way He does not cast you out or deny your prayer on account of your sins, but by grace bestows upon you the forgiveness of all your sins, such that you are blessed and received by His Father as one whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered, so that you too may sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is your true God and dear Father by way of your fellowship and participation in His death and resurrection for you through the birth waters of Holy Baptism, by which He has adopted you as His own dear child and sent His Spirit, the Spirit of His Son, into your hearts, by whom you cry, Abba, Father! He who has bestowed His holy Name upon you, guards and keeps His Name holy among you and for you by the preaching of His Word in its truth and purity for the forgiveness of all your sins, for the strengthening of your faith in Him, and for the leading of holy lives according to His will and Word and dearly beloved, faithful and obedient children.
So too by the self-same means of His Word, that is, the preached Word of the Cross and Passion, Death and Resurrection of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, does His Kingdom come to you. For in this way does He continue to bestow His Holy Spirit upon you so that by His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, you believe His holy Word, leading godly lives fruitful in the Spirit’s sowing of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This is all done according to His good and gracious will. For the means by which He strengthens and keeps you firm in His Word and faith, is the same manner in which He defends you against all danger, guards and protects you from all evil. Which is to say, the hallowing of God’s Name, the coming of His Kingdom, and the accomplishing of His will all come by way of and are perfectly fulfilled within the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why, then, should it come as any surprise that the provision of daily bread to you, His dear children, and even to all evil and wicked people, likewise comes by way of and on account of the Cross of Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord? And how much more the daily need for the forgiveness of sins? For every good gift, and every perfect gift, comes down from above, from the Father of Lights, in whom there is no shadow or variation due to change (Ja 1:17). Indeed, only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without an merit or worthiness in you, He gave the Good Gift and the Perfect Gift, His own Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. How will He not also with Him and from Him and through Him graciously give you all things?
Therefore do not worry, you little faiths. Either about your life or about your body. For your heavenly Father knows that you need clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, and all that is necessary for daily bread. And in love and in mercy, through the Cross of His Son, Jesus Christ, He provides them to you according to His good and gracious will. What is more, He goes beyond what may be deemed the daily necessities and provides you, in abundance, the luxuries of good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors and the like, so that He richly and daily provides you with all that you need to support this body and life. All of this and more flows forth from His fatherly heart, as revealed to you in the handing over of His Son, Jesus Christ into death that you may be His own. Moreover, these gifts are according to His good and gracious will as He has revealed it to you and you have learned it from the Ten Commandments. Thus do you always pray for that which your dear Father who is in heaven has already promised and indeed daily provides you.
But these are not the source or substance of your life and health and strength either in this life nor in the life you have by fellowship in the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit. Such bread is for now, for today, but it is not for forever. Even the miraculous Old Testament Manna pointed beyond itself to something more. It lasted only for the day that is was given, that the people should learn to live, not by such bread for their bodies, but by faith in the Word and promises of God and in love according to His commandments.
So also does your heavenly Father teach you to live by the very example of the bread He daily provides. Whereas the phrase, On earth as it is in heaven, may rightly be applied to each of the first three petitions, so that they would be prayed, Hallowed be Thy Name on earth as it is in heaven. Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So too can the adjective daily be applied with equal importance to the Fifth as it is to Fourth Petition such that you could pray: Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our daily trespasses as we daily forgive those who daily trespass against us. While such a paraphrase may be a mouthful, its meaning is certainly meant by the simple conjunction: and. For as often as you need bread for this body and life, so do you need forgiveness for all your sins and the life of the world to come.
And here, according to our Lord Christ’s discourse the two are joined. Bread, from the perspective of heaven, is never just bread. Your God and Father never feeds you, provides for all that you need to support this body and life, in a casual, even accidental way. In other words, there is no providence from heaven, no feeding, no love or mercy from God our Father apart from the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ crucified and raised. Everything goes back to the Cross. And the Holy Communion brings to the Cross back to you. The Holy Communion is everything. It is the New Testament in His Blood.
Every petition of the Our Father finds its fruition and fulfillment in the Sacrament of the Altar, which is one reason is is prayed at every Holy Communion, without exception, but the sacramental connection and significance is perhaps seen in no better place than in these, the Fourth and Fifth Petitions. For as your daily bread comes through the earthly means our Lord and Father provides on your behalf, many of which are entirely outside of your control, and yet you have food enough for the journey, so too does your daily absolution come through the means our God and Father provides on your behalf: through the House of Bread that is His Church and the very Bread of Life, even Jesus Christ, His Son our Lord.
And in the Eucharist the two petitions are joined. As our Lord Jesus Christ takes bread, the food of the fall, the sustenance of wandering Israel, and uses it to supply the Bread of Life, which is to say, He joins Himself to the earthly substance, transforming the food of perdition into the Feast of Everlasting Life. No longer do you eat bread by the sweat of your face, but rather you eat the Bread that is His Body, the toil and sweat of Him who bore the thorns and thistles of the curse for you. And in this way He does not cast you out or deny your prayer on account of your sins, but by grace bestows upon you the forgiveness of all your sins, such that you are blessed and received by His Father as one whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered, so that you too may sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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