Luke 9

“Say Grace”

He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. Luke 9:16.

Did you ever wonder why we “ask a blessing” or “say grace” at meals? A blessing is one of the very first prayers we learn. Indeed, we are usually so tiny at the time that we can't say a grown-up blessing, and are taught a special one of our own made up of short words, such as

God bless this food,

And make me good.

or just, “Thank God for my good breakfast”; “Thank God for my good dinner.”

I once knew a little girl who was so small that she couldn't even speak, but she understood about a blessing. She watched her father and her mother and her older sisters all bending their heads when food was on the table, and she too shut her eyes tight while father reverently said grace. One day, about Christmas time, her mother was preparing the fruit for the plum pudding. The raisins and the currants and the candied peel were laid out on plates on the dining-room table, and just before mother began to stone the raisins she drew Kitty's baby chair up to the table beside her. What was her astonishment when Kitty bent her curly head, folded her little hands, closed her eyes, and solemnly said something that sounded like “M m m” over the fruit for the Christmas pudding!

Yes, saying grace is one of the first things we learn. But do you know it is one of the oldest customs in the world? It is a custom we have borrowed from the Jews. The Jews believed in blessings. They believed in blessing people. They believed in blessing food; and later the blessing grew into a thanksgiving to God the Giver. The first blessing of food we read about is in the ninth chapter of the First Book of Samuel. There we are told that the people would not eat of the sacrificial meal till Samuel the prophet had blessed it.

Later in their history the Jews became very particular about grace before and after meat. They had quite a number of rules on the subject. The grace which they said before eating bread was very probably the grace which Christ used when He looked up to heaven and blessed the five loaves and the two fishes before dividing them among the multitude. Would you like to know that blessing? The Bible does not give it us, but other Jewish books do, and here it is: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who bringeth forth bread from the earth.”

Besides this grace before meat, there was another to be used before drinking; and there were no fewer than four graces after meat from which to choose. At the feast of the Passover, too, there were special blessings at certain stages of the meal.

The early Christians continued the custom of thanksgiving at meal-times, and so the practice has been handed down from generation to generation; and although we don't have so many blessings as the Jews had, most of us still thank God before meals, and some of us thank Him after meals as well.

Now, sad to say, there are some people who thank God for His goodness neither before nor after meals. They simply leave God out. These people remind me of the story of the hungry man who was once taken to a hall where plates were laid for no fewer than 1460 persons. The tables were groaning with tempting food of all kinds, and the hungry man felt his teeth water. “Would you like a meal?” asked his guide. “Rather!” replied the man. “May I sit down?” “Not till I have told you something,” said the guide. “These plates stand for the meals you have eaten during the last twelve months. There are 365 breakfasts, 365 dinners, 365 teas, and 365 suppers. You see what a lot of food they amount to; yet you have never thanked God for one of them.”

But there are others who do thank God for His mercies and then immediately start to grumble right through the meal. “The soup is too hot; the meat is tough; and ugh! they hate milk puddings!”

These people remind me of the little girl who said as grace, “For what we are about to receive, O Lord, make us truly thankful.” But until she grew quite big she thought the words were, “For quarter about to receive, O Lord, make us truly thankful.” She imagined she was to give thanks for only quarter of what she ate. I'm afraid some of us are not truly thankful even for the quarter.

You have heard of Dr. Paton, the famous missionary to the New Hebrides. At one time there was a famine in the islands, and the natives looked forward eagerly to the arrival of the missionary ship, the Day spring, because it brought food. One morning the vessel arrived, and the stores were unshipped and carried to the storehouse. A group of native children watched the scene, and when all the goods had been packed away they asked Dr. Paton if he had forgotten his promise that they should each have a biscuit. Oh no, he had not forgotten, but he had waited to see if they would remember. Of course they had remembered, and would he please open the cask quickly for they were dying for biscuits.

So Dr. Paton opened the cask and gave each boy and girl a biscuit. To his surprise they all stood round, but not one of them began to eat. He asked them why they were waiting. They had said they were dying for biscuits, and yet nobody was eating. Did they expect another one? Then one of the oldest said, “We shall first thank God for sending us food, and ask Him to bless us all.” And so they did, and then they all munched happily God's latest gift.

I somehow think these little black boys and girls could teach their white brothers and sisters a lesson. Don't you?