Please pass the bread.

The Word for today:

Exodus 35.1-36:7

Wouldn't you know it.  Today, on Thanksgiving, our tour of the Tabernacle just happens to be stopping at the Table of Showbread (1), which is a pictorial prophecy of Jesus, the Bread of Life…

Most importantly, of course, the Table of Showbread is a prophetic picture of the Savior:

On the night in which he was betrayed he took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is broken for you…"  (1 Corinthians 11:23-24)

But we sometimes forget that the Table of Showbread is also a preview of our Creator/Sustainer:

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. (Matthew 14:19)

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Scripture records that when Jesus fed the 15,000 (2) he gave thanks.  But I wonder how many of them thanked him?

Thanksgiving, where I come from, is the day between the biggest bar night of the year and the biggest shopping day of the year.  It's sort of a rest between a doubleheader of conspicuous consumption.

I once watched the entire Macy's Parade just to see if anyone would say thanks.  I must have heard the word "Thanksgiving" a hundred times.  But not once did I hear thanks given.

Continuing my experiment, I watched the Detroit Lions football game.  I heard the word "Thanksgiving" another hundred times, but I still never heard thanks given.

Finally, I watched the Dallas Cowboys football game.  I figured that someone from the southern so-called Bible Belt might hold up a sign saying, "Thanks, God."  I figured wrong.

This is no holier-than-thou appeal to remember to "say grace" (whatever that means).   I'm not asking anyone to parade his piety.  It just seems to me that God, as Creator, provides all food for man and beast.  So whether we like it or not, we eat every day at His table in the physical realm.  All holy hokum aside, it's just downright rude and crass not to give thanks to God.

Maybe thanking the Savior of our souls, whose body was broken for our redemption, can be classified as a spiritual exercise--as a matter of prayer.

But saying thanks for our physical food isn't anything more than simple table manners.

Anyway--How 'bout them Cowboys...

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(1) Most modern versions translate "Showbread" as "Bread of the Presence" (2) The number of woman and children accompanying "5000 men" would have at least tripled the crowd.