Articles
Our Thankful Master
Have you ever stopped and noticed that Jesus gave thanks? Does that strike you as odd? It wouldn’t normally. After all, we are supposed to give thanks in everything (I Thes. 5:18). But there was a parable Jesus told which makes His thankfulness a bit more unusual. The parable was about a slave and a master. The slave had been busy working in the field, but when he came inside, the master had more for him to do. “Prepare something for me to eat and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterwards you may eat and drink” (Lk. 17:8). When the slave obeyed, Jesus asked His audience how the master would respond. “He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he” (Lk. 17:9)? Jesus makes the practical application of his point in the next verse: “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done’” (Lk. 17:10). Jesus’ point is about our attitude, but the master is portrayed as not giving thanks because he doesn’t need to give thanks. He’s the master, after all, and deserves to be served. Isn’t Jesus the master? Is there any reason for Him to give thanks? So when He does give thanks, I take notice.
Jesus gave thanks for food. He gives thanks at the feeding of the four thousand (Mt. 15:36; Mk. 8:6) and also at the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:11). In fact, the giving of thanks is especially noteworthy at the feeding of the five thousand because the next day, the location of that miracle is described as “where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks” (John 6:23). We might expect the focus to be on the miraculous multiplication of the food, but instead it is on the fact that the people ate AND that Jesus had given thanks. He performed the miracles. He made the food. Still, He gave thanks. How much more so should we give thanks for food that we have worked hard for? We worked for it. We bought it. Sure. But we should still give thanks to God for it (Mt. 6:11). Jesus sets the example.
There was an even more impressive time when Jesus gave thanks for food, and that was at the Passover when Jesus was instituting the Lord’s Supper. “When He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins’” (Mt. 26:27-28). This cup represented the blood sacrifice of Jesus. If anyone should be thankful for that sacrifice, shouldn’t it be us? Why should the one being sacrificed be thankful? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
The other time Jesus gives thanks in the Bible occurs just before He resurrected Lazarus from the dead. Jesus prayed to God, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me” (John 11:41-42). In this case, Jesus was thankful for His relationship with God and for the opportunity to build faith in those who were standing around Lazarus’ tomb.
With that last example, we gain understanding as to why our Master, Jesus, would give thanks. He has a Master too (I Cor. 11:3)! Jesus was an obedient Son, serving His Father and giving thanks to Him. But I notice that in all three examples at least a part of what Jesus was thankful for was what He could give for us. He gave mankind food, and thanked God. He sacrificed Himself for us, and thanked God. He gave us reason to believe in Him, and thanked God. We do not have a bitter Savior who begrudges all that He has done for us, and He has done so much. What an amazing Lord and Master we have!
