A Gratitude Circumstance

A snatch from Paul’s account of institution says. “The night before Jesus was betrayed, he took bread; gave thanks, and broke it . . . do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).

The account does not say what he gave thanks for. He was not somehow grateful for the betrayal, that they would crucify him in the morning, that people would make fun of him while he suffered. But there was something, something that these negatives could not override, something that it made sense to say he was glad was so.

There was something besides what the suffering could eliminate, something above what the ridicule could destroy, something beyond what his dying could undo. The loaf and cup are emblems of that entire situation and what it means.

Where we insert ourselves into that event on Golgotha, we incorporate into ourselves the trust in what lies unshaken above what can be shaken below (Hebrew 12:27) and the hope for what lies beyond what’s temporary. For that we can give thanks in any situation—like Jesus did.