Readings Between the Lines

Father Glenn LeCompte

Thanksgiving Day is approaching. In 1789, President George Washington, acting on the recommendation of Congress, declared Nov. 26 of that year a national day of thanksgiving to “almighty God” for his care and protection of the people prior to the Revolutionary War, the manifestation of his mercy, his providential guidance, especially regarding the establishment of government, for tranquility, unity and plenty experienced after the War, for civil liberties, for “the means of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge,” and for divinely granted favors in general. This proclamation was instrumental to the establishment of our national observance of a day of thanksgiving to be offered to, yes, “almighty God!” Giving thanks is something Jesus is said to do in John 6:11, a verse which occurs within the context of Jesus’ feeding of a multitude in John 6:1-15. John tells us that Jesus takes five barley loaves and two fish, gives thanks, and distributes them to the crowd. The Greek word translated as “gave thanks” is eucharistein. Note how close this Greek word is to the English word, “Eucharist,” which is derived from the Greek word. Curiously, John’s description of Jesus’ actions is similar to that reported by Mark (8:6) and Matthew (15:36), where Jesus also gives thanks with the loaves and fish before feeding 4,000 people. In Mark’s (6:41), Matthew’s (14:19) and Luke’s (9:16) accounts of Jesus’ feeding 5,000 people, Jesus “blesses” (eulogein in Greek) the loaves and fish.

Biblical scholar Raymond Brown points out that a typical Jewish meal blessing is “Blessed are you, O Lord, king of the universe, who bring forth bread from the earth” (The Gospel according to John, vol. 1, pg. 234). Brown also quotes J.P. Audet (Revue Biblique 65, 1958), who observes that

We gather to offer thanks to God

the New Testament use of the verb “to give thanks” reflects the Jewish verb, “to bless.” By the 2nd century A. D. in Christian circles the concept of “giving thanks” began to predominate. Brown also notes that John has a preference for the verb eucharistein. By giving thanks Jesus acknowledges that the loaves and fish are provided ultimately by God. In his thanksgiving Jesus honors God, who provides human beings with food to sustain their lives.

Jesus’ act of giving thanks with food might be a typical thing to do before a meal, but in the context of the episode of feeding a multitude in John’s Gospel it has a deeper significance. In John’s Gospel, Jesus performs a number of signs, such as changing water to wine at a wedding in Cana (2:1-11) and healing an official’s son (4:45-54). These signs reveal something about his identity and suggest that God works through him. As I noted above, stories about feeding multitudes are found in the Synoptic Gospels, but Jesus’ feeding a crowd in John’s Gospel is one of the signs he performs. In the dialog to follow, the crowd will compare Jesus to Moses, who fed their ancestors in the desert with manna. Jesus tells the crowd that although the manna sustained the lives of the Israelites’ ancestors in the desert, God now gives them the true bread from heaven, a bread which can sustain people for eternal life. The life-giving effect of the bread God now provides surpasses that of the manna in the desert. Jesus is the bread of life, and his giving thanks with the loaves before distributing them points to his action as a divine sign.

Jesus’ act of giving thanks before distributing loaves of bread points to the Eucharist, which is an act of expressing thanks to God. The entire Eucharistic Prayer at the Mass is an expression of thanksgiving to God for the gift of salvation through the redemptive acts of Jesus Christ.

Offering thanks to God is not only important; it is necessary. At a

the beginning of his proclamation, President Washington states that it is “the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.” This statement provides the motive for his declaration of a day dedicated to thanking almighty God.

For Christians, regular participation in the Eucharist is even more necessary, because the eucharistic celebration enables us to express the thanks we owe to God. Moreover, it is imperative that we offer thanks as a community. One of the effects of salvation is that the barriers among us are broken down and we are united through Christ. As we read in the Letter to the Ephesians (3:14-16), “For he (Christ) is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.” Not only do we thank God for our personal salvation, we express gratitude that part of the experience of salvation is reconciliation and unity.

The offering of thanksgiving to God has many implications for our lives. First, offering thanks to God for the blessings of our lives constitutes a recognition that God is the source of those favors. Many in our society who have let themselves be overtaken with an agnostic, or even atheistic, materialism tend to attribute the goodness they experience in life to their own efforts or even to chance. Our nation, however, still observes Thanksgiving as a day to make a fitting response to God for all he has done for us. Secondly, offering thanks keeps us in a spiritual communion with God. Thirdly, thanking God helps us to look to the future with hope, even in the midst of life’s challenges and tragedies, because we believe that the God who has blessed us up to this point will, out of love, continue to do so.

As we gather to feast and visit with family this Thanksgiving Day, let us not forget the most important reason for which we gather—to offer thanks to God. BC

Reflection Questions

v For what do you need to thank God in your life?

v How can we share with others why it is important to offer thanks to God through the Eucharist?

v What can we do to emphasize to our whole society that expressing gratitude to God on Thanksgiving Day is something beneficial for us all?

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