And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them and they all drank of it.
Mark 14:23
I’ve been asking God for help with the gratitude thing lately. Several times a day I say the same prayer. Make me truly grateful, Lord. Don’t let me take your gifts for granted.
So far, he’s been teaching me to be thankful for stuff that used to bug me – like winter, waiting on long red lights and trains, trusting his provision when the bills pile up, learning to depend on his power when confronted by obstacles – that sort of thing. I thought my gratitude quotient was increasing nicely until the other day when Mark 14:23 put the kibosh on the pat-myself-on-the-back fest. There was Jesus at the Last Supper, ready to tell the disciples that the cup of wine symbolizes his blood about to be poured out for sinners. And what does he do before divulging the grisly news? He gives thanks!
Now I don’t know about you, but if my next gig was bleeding and dying for a bunch of rebellious, unrepentant reprobates, I wouldn’t be saying thank you. I’d be begging for a way out, which Jesus does later in the garden, but my pleading wouldn’t contain an iota of the gratitude he showed at supper.
What makes his prayer more startling is that Jesus knew all the gory details about his death beforehand. Earlier in Mark he described his upcoming arrest, torture and death three separate times. Maybe he repeated it because the disciples were slow learners. Or maybe he repeated it so for the rest of time men could have no doubt Jesus knew what would happen during the last hours of his life. Even though he knew what was coming, he picked up the cup, and he gave thanks.
Well, his kind of gratitude makes my snively efforts look mighty lame. In the presence of such a supernatural example, I’m tempted to give up. To be honest the chances of me ever saying thank you in the face of injustice, dishonesty and cruelty, not to mention execution, are pretty slim.
But something else Jesus said in the three Mark prophecies keeps me going. Along with the predictions of his death, he foretells his resurrection. During the Last Supper he says, “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus knew the bad and the good that was coming down. And because he knew the good would bring great glory to God, he gave thanks for the cup and the shedding of his blood for rebellious, unrepentant reprobates like you and me. That’s why I won’t give up on the gratitude thing. But from now on, I have a different prayer.
Make me grateful to drink from your cup, Jesus. Let me trust you to use hard and bloody bits of my life for great and glorious good. Amen.
