In Luke 22, we walk with Jesus through His final full day on earth. In this day, He spends time with His disciples in the upper room. Here, He celebrates the Passover and talks with them. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, I want to share four statements of gratitude for you to help anchor your heart and thinking today.

We can be grateful for the blood of Christ.

Luke writes, “Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you'” (Luke 22:20).  Jesus points to the significance of His blood. It was shed for us. Through the shedding of His blood, we get redemption. It paid for our forgiveness. By the blood of Jesus Christ, we enter into a covenant with Jesus. Our adoption paid. Our position with God in Christ settled. Through it, no more condemnation for our sin. Without it, we would forever be under the condemnation of our own unbelief and sin; with it, we rejoice in relationship with Jesus. We can be grateful for the blood of Christ.

We can be grateful for the body of Christ.

Luke writes, “And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me’” (Luke 22:19). Oh, the goodness of the body of Christ. We have peace with God and each other in the body of Christ. When we are saved, Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, places us into the body of Christ. The only way into the body of Christ is through Jesus; the only people who come in are the redeemed. The Bible strips us of all other ways we typically differentiate between people. Wealth differences – gone. Vocational differences – gone. Racial differences – gone. Gender differences – gone. Ethnic differences – gone. In the body of Christ, we enjoy being one together in Christ. As a body, we celebrate this at the local church level, where again, all these same things should be absolutely true and lived out as well. We can be grateful for the body of Christ.

We can be grateful for the kindness of Christ.

Luke continued to quote Jesus, “But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table” (Luke 22:21). The biggest traitor and betrayer in world history sat at Jesus’ table and ate with Him. This betrayer received the bread and the wine. In fact, a different gospel even mentions that He was sat in the place of honor. Jesus never once treated His betrayer as an enemy. Instead, He treated him with kindness. In order to prove just how kind Jesus was to Judas, consider the disciples response: “Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing” (Luke 22:23). Having lived with each other and watched Jesus interaction with each of them over three years, the disciples had no clue it was Judas. Why? Because even though Jesus knew He was a traitor, He never treated him in any other way than kind. Jesus is kind even to His enemies. We can be grateful for the kindness of Christ.

We can be grateful for the patience of Christ.

Luke continues the story: “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest” (Luke 22:24). The very next verse, Luke points out that the disciples were arguing over who is the greatest among each other. Imagine being Jesus in this instance. In less than twenty-four hours, Jesus would die for the sins of the world on the cross, only after a mock trial, kangaroo court, stripes, beatings, and a crown of thorns. His disciples would all forsake Him; Peter deny Him. Jesus knew these things would happen in just hours. Knowing all of this, as He tries to commemorate this last Passover with His disciples, they fight with each other over who is the greatest. What? Yet, Jesus continues to teach them with incredible patience. He does not lose it (like some of us might have). He dealt with sinners the way He always does – with patience. We can be grateful for the patience of Christ.

Grateful and Intentional

Low on gratitude today? My friend, you and I have much for which we can be grateful. We only have to begin with six verses in Luke 22 to remind ourselves. We can be grateful for the blood, body, kindness, and patience of Jesus. Of course, all of these things point us to the never-ending love of Jesus Christ. Oh yes, we can be grateful for that as well.

Anchor your soul today in gratitude. Remember Jesus. Consider what He has done and provides. Reflect on His incredible love with these four incredible demonstrations of it. And, once you have, let that motivate you toward further gratitude, deeper love for Jesus, and ultimately, deeper love for those who are in His body as well.

Ungrateful no more – at least for this morning. The saga continues.

 

Image Credit CHUTTERSNAP