For the past several sermons Rabbi Nathan has continued his exploration of the Sermon on the Mount and the central role in those passages of what is commonly known as The Lord’s Prayer (Tefilat Avinu). That concept itself is so very novel and thought provoking not to mention the revelations he has shared from that perspective. I highly recommend you find these sermons on the Ruach Israel YouTube channel for these anointed teachings.  

As a Jewish reader you are well aware of the understanding that we commonly consider this prayer as Christian. (“Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name . . . “). Even as a Messianic Jewish believer not until these sermons have I more fully understood that this prayer when spoken by Yeshua and heard by the Apostles and His followers would have been understood within a completely Jewish context. It was consistent with Jewish prayer passed down through the ages and in the time of Yeshua’s teaching. That concept alone is fascinating. To learn that this prayer’s precepts are at the core of the Sermon on the Mount was equally mind blowing. To consider that its construction and subject matter model our daily prayer the Amidah was over the top.  

So when I noodled on Rabbi Nathan’s sermons I could hardly wait to share more thoughts to ponder . . .   

We’ve recently discussed God’s daily provision for us in the desert as we’ve reflected on the Israelites fleeing Egypt and what perfect timing to think about it more deeply as Passover so swiftly approaches.  The Israelites at that time and we through the ages depend on HaShem for our very existence, our sustenance, our ability to live. Without that manna, that supernatural provision, our ancestors would not have survived. Through that model they were taught only to consume what was needed, for if they took more, which would have been by their own efforts – preservation, storage – the manna would have spoiled.  

So yes, we have free will and are to co-create, but to do so always with the knowledge that God will provide daily what we need. The interplay of free will and faith is designed to teach us never to forget that no matter what we do even when we think it is right, we need God.   

The Torah sets forth the following of 613 commandments. Why would this be a standard since it seems humanly impossible? Did HaShem set His people up for failure? That makes no sense?  

Rabbi Nathan I believe addressed this too. No matter our efforts, how hard we try to follow so many rules, the truth is the ability to follow all these to the level perhaps required or at any achievable level would always require dependence on God. That’s the point. Our efforts, our choices and free will are part of the wilderness/life journey, but we always need God, intimately, in the here and now. God will provide the manna, He will give us the commandments of the Torah, we will make choices of how or what to do with what we’ve been given. Yet no matter our efforts, no matter how hard we try, we need our Creator’s divine mercy and guidance to survive physically and spiritually.  

The words of Tefilat Avinu/The Lord’s Prayer ask our Abba to give us our daily bread suggesting the interplay of God in our lives not just “up there” but intimately here with us to provide what we need to survive life’s earthly challenges as well. Our ancestors experienced God providing from the heavens bestowing a divine sustenance. Yet for those of us who know our Messiah Yeshua the phrase brings to our hearts and souls recognition of the daily need for Yeshua, as bread metaphorically and here on the ground too, for we cannot make the right choices without His Hand on us.   

In Yeshua’s time his Jewish followers especially the talmidim/disciples/Apostles, would have understood the direct meaning as did their ancestors of the need for daily bread as well as known of the divine manna. Yeshua’s followers also would have thought Yeshua to be the promised Messiah as they would have heard Yeshua proclaim himself as the bread of life and prophecy fulfilled.  They would have been taught the need for their reliance on Him for God centered living. Yet even in His Presence, or maybe because it was so overwhelming, they, too, were challenged in act and faith. Though Yeshua’s followers would have understood the deeper meaning of the words of the Tefilat Avinu, its succinct words for living at the center of the Sermon on the Mount, the reality of His Presence and provision even for them was not able to be fully understood.  

That inscrutably created complexity of multiple layers of understanding just waiting to be revealed underlies the beauty of timeless prayer divinely given from the very lips of our Messiah. He knew that His followers and generations of followers of His teachings would be repeating these words daily, in our lifetimes overcoming the thousands of years of this central prayer’s words being separated from His people. Ultimately, someday all mankind will know that He is our daily bread, that Yeshua is needed every day of our lives for our very existence here and eternally.  

Our ancestors ate manna and miraculously lived. So too are we given the choice to accept Yeshua, the bread of everlasting life.  

Shabbat shalom. 

Diane