A Table of Thanksgiving

This morning we learned that one goal of knowing God’s will is that we may “give thanks” to the Father for the new exodus that He has accomplished for us in His beloved Son. The term translated “give thanks” is a form of the word, eucharisteo, from which we get the word “Eucharist.” The church very early on began to refer to this meal as the Eucharist, as our giving of thanks to the Father. And thus here at this Table, Paul’s prayer is answered. For the bread and the wine are the symbols of the new exodus that Jesus accomplished for us in His death. Just as Yahweh hurled Pharaoh’s chariots and armies into the sea, even so the Lord Jesus Christ has crushed the head of the one who stands in opposition to us. In His body broken, He broke the powers of darkness over us. In His blood shed, He redeemed us and qualified us for our inheritance. So as we eat the bread and drink the wine we do so joyfully giving thanks to the Father for what Jesus has done for us. And that’s why we sing during the Supper. Joyful and thankful people sing! This is the kind of fruit that God wants to see His people bear and in which He wants us to increase. This was to be one aspect of the fruitfulness of Adam, but as Paul wrote, he “would not glorify God, nor give thanks.” The giving of thanks is a vital part of what it means to be created beings. In the giving of thanks we confess our need for, and dependence upon God. We are the recipients of His bounty and we acknowledge that in the giving of thanks. To fail to give thanks, then, is to deny God’s goodness and to ascribe what we have to the strength of our own hands. The Eucharist, therefore, trains us receive God’s gifts with thanksgiving. For here we receive the gift of His Son.