Grace: The Art of How We Give Thanks
Saying Grace. Giving Thanks. Saying the Blessing. It’s that little prayer that we offer up to G–d in thanks for the food on our table. It usually goes something like “we thank thee, o L–rd, for these thy gifts,” or perhaps like this; “please bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies and our bodies to thy service.” My mom’s cousin, Stevie, once offered grace by saying “we thank thee L–rd for our bread and meat, now let’s turn over our plates and eat.” If I recall correctly, he had a good whipping over that one. Regardless of their beginnings and their middles, they all end pretty much the same way, with “amen.” There is, however, a potential problem with grace — a seemingly big problem. Though I’m sure we could all use some brushing up on our grace content, the problem I’m talking about is more of a question: When is the right time to say grace? This question has prompted many to seek the answer, including yours truly.
If you’re like me, then you grew up in the typical Christian environment where grace was typically said with everyone holding hands (sometimes standing, sometimes not), and it was said before eating the meal. Always before, never any other time. It’s like it was etched in stone somewhere that grace always precedes a meal. I never questioned it because it was the normal and most routine thing in the world. Whether at home, in Sunday school or at church, it was always taught that way: grace is said first. Period.
Now, fast forward about forty years to the point where I’m now an observant Jew. For those that missed it, you can read all the details here. I’ve learned in Judaism that there is a blessing (b’rakhah) said before the meal (Kiddush), and grace (Birkat Hamazon) is said after the meal. Confusing? Kind of, but not quite…really. Both are based on Torah but grace is specifically based on Deuteronomy 8:10 (CJB) which says
“So you will eat and be satisfied, and you will bless Adonai your G–d for the good land he has given you.”
Read that verse again. Did you catch how its worded? “…you will bless Adonai…” not the meal. That is interesting, isn’t it? It is very significant as it is instructing us to bless G–d himself for what he has done for us. So, in a way, it’s not really saying grace at all. But then again, it is, because everything from G–d deals directly with his grace.
The b’rakhah (blessing) before the meal somehow got transformed into saying grace, which is, for the most part, strictly a Christian tradition. It stems from Yeshua’s words at the last supper when he and his talmidim (disciples) celebrated Pesach (Passover). Yeshua said the Jewish b’rakhahs but then he said “drink, this is my blood…” and “eat, this is my body” (Matthew 26:27). And no, he wasn’t teaching them to be cannibals or the first wave of a vampire army. He was teaching them to be grateful — to be thankful — for the ultimate sacrifice that he was making — laying his life down for humanity.
The beginning of Saying Grace in Christianity is based on Yeshua’s feeding of the 5,000 as written in Matthew 14:19-21 and Matthew 15:34-36. In the King James translation, this says
19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up into heaven he blessed and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
20 And they did all eat and were filled; and they took up of the fragments that remained, twelve baskets full.
Matthew 14:19-20
Interesting phrasing there in verse 19, isn’t it? “He blessed and brake.” Not, “he gave thanks,” but “he blessed.” He gave a blessing, the b’rakhah for bread. This is a significantly Jewish thing to do, and definitely not a Christian act. If we look at this in the Complete Jewish Bible, which is a direct translation from the original Hebrew and the Greek (and the most accurate), we read
19 After instructing the crowds to sit on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the crowds.
Matthew 14:19
There is no “Saying Grace” or “Giving Thanks” here, only a b’rakhah. Okay, so what is this b’rakhah? It is a blessing, and in Judaism there is a blessing for everything. In this case, Yeshua said the b’rakhah for bread, which is (translated of course):
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
As you can see, this blessing is just that, a blessing. In every instance of Yeshua “saying the blessing,” he is literally saying a blessing and not, technically, giving thanks. Even in Acts 27:35, Paul says a b’rakhah before breaking bread while he was aboard ship in a bad storm.
Somehow, somewhere along the way, the commanded blessing was transformed into “giving thanks” as we know it today. I believe that this is the result of bad (but well-intentioned) translations that have led people astray, as evidenced by the citations written above. As for me and my house, we will stick to following the commandments, even if we do offer up our thanks at the same time.
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