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The Blessing
"The second of the actions is the blessing. Some worry about whether we can or should 'bless' material objects. Isn't that a form of magic? Emphatically not. If Jesus blessed the bread, so can we. To bless it is to pray that it may become, within the rhythm and drama of the whole event, the vessel and vehicle of God's Jesus-shaped love for each recipient and so for the world. God's good creation, longing for its own redemption, is taken up into the saving purposes of God, with past and future rushing together into the present moment." - The Meal Jesus Gave Us, p 70-71
Would Jesus have blessed the food or would He rather have blessed God for the food.
A Jewish blessing comes to mind, "Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz." (Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth.)
Would Jesus have "blessed" material objects? Or was the bread of the earth already good, not needing to be blessed? But rather, a 1st Century Jew and a Jew today would have blessed God for the food. He is the giver of all good things.
