A Meal Of Thanks And Praise
April 13 * Holy Thursday
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~"O Lord, I am your servant." Psalm 116:16

Psalm 116 strikes an oddly festive note in Holy Thursday's solemn liturgy. We recall Jesus giving Himself, Body and Blood, to His disciples at the Last Supper, knowing that soon He will give Himself for them on a cross. Yet at the Last Supper, Jesus prayed this glad psalm, one prescribed to be sung at the end of the Passover meal (see Mark 14:26).

The psalmist gives thanks to God. He was in deep trouble, close to death; he felt "agony and dread" (Psalm 116:3). But God rescued him, and now he is full of gratitude: "I was helpless, but God saved me" (Psalm 116:6).

How could Jesus pray this prayer at the Last Supper? Death was now close to Him. He was about to go into Gethsemane and pray in agony and dread, knowing that God was not going to save Him from a harrowing death. Jesus could have prayed Psalm 116 only as a declaration of thanks for deliverance not yet experienced --- for resurrection from the dead. What profound trust in God! By it, He turned an otherwise mournful final meal into an eternal expression of thanksgiving.

-- Kevin Perrotta

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Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 * Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18 * 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 * John 13:1-15