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Printer Friendly VersionThis sermon is not expositional. It follows a topical pattern
for the purpose of addressing the issue of global hunger and poverty and exploring
appropriate responses to the issue for Christian disciples from “first
world” economies. While this theme is often seen primarily as a “social
issue” and not the typical fare for evangelical preaching, the Christian
preacher bears the responsibility to address it and call for a Christian response
(just as Amos, the shepherd of Tekoa, did in ancient Israel).
In his sermon to the disciples on the Galilean mountainside, Jesus gave them
a radical vision of the kingdom of God. He reoriented their spiritual compass
180 degrees. It is the poor, not the rich, who have the kingdom. It is the
mournful, not the happy, who are comforted. It is the meek, not the arrogant,
who inherit the earth; the starving and thirsty, not the fat and sassy, who
are satisfied; the pure in heart, not the self-made “holy”, who
see God; the peacemakers, not the conquerors, who are children of God; the
persecuted, not the popular, to whom the kingdom is home. It was a radical
message to that first century audience. It is just as radical today.
In the midst of this reorientation, Jesus described what kind
of religious practice is consistent with the radical vision of the kingdom.
He didn’t introduce anything new. The practices were common to almost
all Jews of Jesus’ day: charity, prayer, and fasting (Matthew 6:1-18).
What Jesus challenged his disciples to consider was not the validity of the
practice itself, but the method and motive behind the practice. They listened
intently because this, too, was a radical departure from the dominant religious
culture of that day and ours.
It is one aspect of Jesus’ teaching about prayer that I
would like for us to consider today. But rather than going deeply into the
passage, I want us to hear Jesus words as if it were a signal echoing across
social, economic, and geographical boundaries. I want us to allow Jesus’
word to take us on a journey. I warn you now, the trip may be hard and some
of you may want to turn back before we are done. Are you ready?
Matthew 6:9-11:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come, your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread …
Give us today our daily bread …
Give us today our daily bread …
It seems like such a simple prayer, one that most of us have
prayed more times than we can count. It expresses our quiet sense of dependence
upon God for all of life, but particularly for the material provisions of
the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the roof over our heads. Sometimes
we “spiritualize” it to include the spiritual bread of God’s
Word that feeds our souls on a daily basis. We recite this prayer. We believe
in this prayer. But is it really critical to our daily lives?
The majority of us know where our next meal is coming from.
We know where the next several meals are coming from--the kitchen, the market,
the restaurant. In fact, we spend more energy choosing from our abundance
of options than worrying if we will eat or not. We live in developed countries
with relatively stable and prosperous economies. Even with the fluctuation
in the stock markets, most of the citizens of our countries are not hungry,
naked, jobless or homeless. 97% of us know nothing about poverty firsthand.
We are among the 20% of the world who have access to 80% of the world’s
resources.
Over 120 countries of the world know hunger, nakedness, homelessness
and unemployment as a way of life. These underdeveloped nations with their
low economic standards, their astronomical national debts, and their booming
population rates experience the ravages of poverty that accompany fragile
economic and social conditions. Slight movements in the international marketplace
that have minor impacts on developed countries can become disasters in the
underdeveloped world.
A few years ago, a negative fluctuation in the Asian markets
caused a stir in Hong Kong (a developed country), but devastated Malaysia
(a less developed country) by devaluing their currency 86% in six months.
Even an emerging country like Bulgaria is affected by the world
market. In the late 1990’s the wage of an average professional was the
equivalent of $60.00USD a month. A one-bedroom apartment rented for $150.00
a month. Gasoline sold for $3.00 a gallon. Clothing costs were about the same
as in North America and food was a little more expensive. Bulgaria is attempting
to develop with Eastern European wages and Western European prices. There
is very little opportunity for progress.
The devastation of natural catastrophes like Hurricane Mitch
in the 1998 is incredible. Newsweek, in November of that year, reported 10,000
dead, 13,000 persons missing, and 2.8 million persons homeless in Honduras,
Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Central American economists predicted
the economic development of these countries would be set back by 30 years!
The destruction was not only to the land it was to the internal structures
of their economy. Many of the citizens of those countries live from day to
day. If they do not work today, they do not eat today! They are among the
80% who have access to only 20% of the world’s resources. I wonder what
the people in Malaysia, Bulgaria, and Nicaragua think about when they pray,
“Give us today our daily bread”?
In our “first world” mindset we sometimes think that
we deserve the “daily bread” of food, clothing, shelter, and employment.
We work hard. We have at least of semblance of moral fiber in our society.
We have come to believe that having enough, which is usually more than enough,
is the result of our hard work, our correct political philosophy, and good
old common sense. We’re smart enough to pray “give us today our
daily bread” and know with a confident measure of assurance that it will
be answered…today. In fact, we are so sure of the answer that sometimes
we don’t bother to pray.
But the 80% (the world’s majority population in underdeveloped
countries) are not lazy, immoral, or stupid. The percentage of lazy, immoral,
or stupid people is likely no greater or less than the comparable number of
lazy, immoral, or stupid people in our countries, in our city, or even present
here today.
Their hunger and poverty cannot be reduced to the result of
their personal choice. Neither can it be blamed solely on natural disasters
or the back and forth weather patterns of drought and famine. No, most hunger
and poverty are of the results of war, illiteracy, untreated and unnecessary
disease, unsanitary water and food preparation, oppressive governments, drug
abuse, the human destruction of natural resources, inadequate housing, poor
education, crime--the list could go on. Are these issues of personal choice?
In a few instances, yes. In most cases, no. The hungry and poor are victims
of someone else’s choice.
What does hunger and poverty look like? It looks like the violence
of war in which children barely through puberty carry a gun and die on the
frontline for a cause they barely understand. It looks like 20,000 women raped
during the Balkan war. It looks like 15,000 women raped during one year of
Rwanda’s civil war. I wonder what these women and children mean when
they say “give us today our daily bread”?
This hunger and poverty looks like senseless disease. When we
think of measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and tuberculosis, polio and
tetanus we think of common vaccinations for our children. The 80% think of
these as deadly diseases that claim millions of children every year. The hunger
and poverty looks like the 585,000 women per year who died from pregnancy
related problems during the early 1990’s. Ninety-nine percent of these
women lived in underdeveloped countries with inadequate medical services.
I wonder what these women and children meant when they prayed, “give
us today our daily bread”?
This hunger and poverty looks like the oppression of evil rulers
and economic systems. It looks like artificial famines, orchestrated by powerful
systems over the past two decades, that have starved people whose only crime
was that of tribal or ethnic origin. It looks like the millions of infant
girls who are killed each year by their mothers and village midwives--their
only crime is being female. It looks like the 200 million plus children in
the world who work in substandard conditions for substandard pay with little
hope for an education or an economic future. I wonder what these millions
mean when they pray, “Give us today our daily bread”?
This hunger and poverty looks like illiteracy and lack of education.
In Haiti, almost three quarters of the girls are not in school. They will
never learn to read, never by given an opportunity for a professional job,
never achieve economic stability. There are over a million homeless children
in the world. They are not in school. Instead of doing homework they are scouring
the streets, sewers, and dumps of great cities like Rio de Janeiro, Paris,
Johannesburg, and Los Angeles. It looks like the 36% of adolescent girls in
the Philippines who suffer from anemia because of poor nutrition and inadequate
health education. I wonder what these children mean when they pray, “Give
us today our daily bread”?
World Vision International estimates that 40,000 people die
each day from a hunger related problem. What do these people mean when they
pray, “Give us today our daily bread”? I know it is not a polite
prayer of recognition divine provision in abundance. It is a life and death
plea for survival!
We’ve almost completed the journey we began on the mountainside in Galilee.
We can see lights of our comfortable homes with their well-stocked shelves
and clothes-filled closets. So what shall we do about where we have been and
what we have seen?
Two things we must avoid. First, we cannot simply forget what
we have heard and seen and return to life as normal as if we had never been
on the journey. The radical reorientation Jesus has called us to embrace won’t
allow it. Secondly, we cannot become demoralized and paralyzed by the depth
and breadth of poverty and hunger in our world. Even in the face of the magnitude
of need we must prayerfully consider what our “radical kingdom”
response should be. So what shall we do?
We must begin by not feeling regret or guilt for who we are.
We cannot change our birthplace or ethnic origin. I cannot help it that I
am a white male, born to my parents in the United States. In attempting to
follow God’s will for my life, I find myself where I am right now. However,
we can and must use the graces, privileges, and resources of our birthplace,
ethnic origin, and economic status in life to make a difference for others
who are in need. We may be part of the answer to their “give us today
our daily bread” prayer.
We can make a difference in our own prayer life. We must learn
to pray with a deep sense of gratitude to God for the basic provisions of
life. We must never take this prayer for granted. We must learn to pray this
prayer from hearts of compassion for those who may not live tomorrow if there
is no bread today. We must learn to hear their prayer for bread even as we
are praying for ourselves.
We must choose to use responsibly the resources God has provided
for us. We cannot confuse “needs” and “wants”. In our
cultures of abundance, we must learn the disciplines of contentment and sacrifice.
We could do so much from the overflow. Can you hear even now the child who
has never experienced what the word “extra” means as she prays,
“Lord, give us this day our daily bread”?
We must give. When the opportunities arise to provide food for
the hungry, clothes for the naked, supplies for basic education, or shelter
for the homeless we should give. Whether we give money or the goods themselves,
we must never pass up the joy of generosity. The opportunities to give through
denominational, parachurch, and community agencies are available to us all,
regardless of the measure of our wealth. Can you imagine your gift as a divine
grace for a mother who is praying, even as we speak, “give my children
this day our daily bread”?
We must act. There is more than enough talk about the need.
There are many who are stirred by the pictures and word images of hunger and
poverty. The problem is they are not stirred to act. We must not be among
them. When confronted by need, whether it is across the ocean or across the
street, we must do something! We who call ourselves Christian must be people
of action. We cannot hear the prayer of the world and not be compelled to
act.
Some of us need to go. Some of us with gifts and graces for
business and finance need to go to areas of need to assist families and communities
with economic development that could break the cycle of poverty. Some of us
with gifts and graces for teaching need to go to the undereducated of our
cities, nations, and world and provide a quality education that could salvage
a child’s future. Some of us with gifts and graces for health care need
to take our skills to places where basic services are the exception to the
norm. Such care could save lives. Some of us with gifts and graces for the
practice of law should consider providing legal assistance for those who are
sometimes forgotten or abandoned by the political and legal system. Such assistance
could break the strangle hold of injustice. Some of us with gifts and graces
to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ need to answer God’s call to become
pastors, evangelists and missionaries. The hunger and poverty that exists
in the world is not only material, it is also spiritual. Though I cannot fully
explain how it happens, there is a connection between spiritual renewal, social
reform, and corporate economic development (see Psalm 85:10-13). This proclamation
will make a world of difference now and for eternity.
We are followers of the Christ who proclaimed a radical departure
from the religious status quo. What shall we do for those who in the face
of hunger, poverty, disease, and oppression pray as Jesus taught them, “Give
us this day our daily bread”? We cannot do nothing. We must pray sincerely,
live responsibly, give generously, act deliberately, and go obediently to
God’s call with the echo of their prayers “for daily bread”
in our hearts. That’s what we should do.
Join me in prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and glory forever. AMEN