Program Success November 2014 | Page 6

Don ' t Ask the Blessing , Offer One

By , Dr . Ralph F . Wilson Contributing Staff Writer

In your mind ' s eye I want you to picture Jesus at the Feeding of the Five Thousand . Hungry multitudes cover the hillside . Jesus takes the little boy ' s lunch , lifts it up , and says the familiar prayer : " Bless this food to the nourishing and strengthening of our bodies . Amen ." I ' m here to tell you that it just didn ' t happen like that . No way !

Since when did we begin to bless our food , anyway ? Frankly , our food ' s been blessed to the point that most of us - how shall I say this - are " overnourished ."

You find two words in the New Testament used in connection with praying before meals .

Offer Blessing Dr . Ralph F . Wilson Jacksonville , Florida November 2014

D I ' '

Offering Praise

Here ' s what really happened at the Feeding of the Five Thousand . " Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven , he gave thanks and broke the loaves " ( Mark 6:41 ). The Greek word for " gave thanks " ( NIV ) or " blessed " ( KJV ) is " eulogeo ," from which we get our English word " eulogy ." It means , " speak well of , praise , extol ." The word commonly translates the Hebrew word , " barak ," " to bless ." But it wasn ' t the food Jesus was " speaking well of ' or " blessing ," it was his Father .

Every faithful Jew would offer this blessing before partaking of bread : " Blessed are you , Lord our God , King of the world , who has caused bread to come forth out of the earth ." Before partaking of wine , the blessing was said this way : " Blessed are you , Lord our God , King of the world , who has created the fruit of the vine ." The first word , " eulogeo ," reminds us to eulogize or praise God before we eat .

Offering Thanks

The second praying-before-meals word is the Greek word " eucharisteo ," from which we get our English word " Eucharist ," often used as the name of Holy Communion . " Eucharisteo " means , " be thankful , offer thanks ," and was used at the Last Supper .

" While they were eating , Jesus took bread , gave thanks ( eulogeo ) and broke it , and gave it to his disciples , saying , ' Take and eat ; this is my body .' Then he took the cup , gave thanks ( eucharisteo ) and offered it to them , saying , ' Drink from it , all of you ' " ( Matthew 26:26-27 , NIV ).

What Jesus was doing at this Passover meal was offering to his Father the traditional blessings when bread and wine were eaten . It was common for Jews to offer a blessing for each food served during a meal .

The Bless Me Club

So how did we Christians end up blessing the food instead of God ? Tradition ? Habit ? Some of the confusion may have come from a mistranslation of the passage I just quoted . In the King

James Version , Matthew 26:26 reads : " And as they were eating , Jesus took bread , and blessed it , and brake it , and gave it to the disciples , and said , ' Take , eat ; this is my body .' " Notice how the tiny word " it " was added after the word " blessed "? The word " it " isn ' t part of the Greek text - that ' s why it ' s in italics in the King James Version . But " bless it " implies something far different than " bless God ." That addition of one little word may have twisted the way we pray before meals into something Jesus didn ' t intend at all . Not that there ' s anything wrong in asking a blessing from God . There ' s not . Jesus taught us to pray , " Give us this day our daily bread " - but only after praise : " Our

Father , which art in heaven , hallowed be thy name . Thy kingdom come , thy will be done .... " No , asking favors from God isn ' t wrong , but it shouldn ' t be the primary part of our prayers , or we become like greedy little children : " Gimme this ! Gimme that !". Those prayers are essentially selfish rather than self-giving . They don ' t fulfill either the First Commandment , to love God with all our heart , or the Second , to love our neighbor as ourselves .

How Should We Pray ?

The Apostle Paul put it in this perspective . " Do not be anxious about anything , but in everything , by prayer and petition , with thanksgiving , present your requests to God " ( Philippians 4:6 ). Notice the phrase " with thanksgiving " tucked in there with " present your requests to God ." It ' s essential to keep prayer God-centered rather than self-centered . It ' s also the key to praying with real faith .

So when you pray , remember that your food doesn ' t deserve a blessing nearly so much as God who gave it . You can bless like Jesus did , " Blessed are you , Lord our God , King of the world , who has caused bread to come forth out of the earth ." Or offer a simple prayer of thanks to God for the food . Next time , don ' t " ask the blessing ," but offer one to your Father .