Thanksgiving Year B, 2024

Thanksgiving, Year B

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The season is upon us already. No, not that season. The season of Thanksgiving. Feeling a sense of gratitude for what we have. Tonight we’re going to look at the lessons given to us for this occasion and what God has to say about giving thanks, with particular attention on the Gospel lesson in Luke. Why does God want us to be grateful? Why is it important to give thanks? We’ll look at these questions and what the Christian answers are.

I remember very well a routine where Bill Cosby described his father: “My father walked to school, 4 o'clock every morning. With no shoes on. Up a hill, both ways in 5 feet of snow … and he was thankful.” Now, all humorous exaggeration aside, we know that there was some element of truth to this. No matter how old you are, I’ll bet you can relate to this quote. The generation before you most likely told you that they had less than you do, and they were thankful to have that. But why? Why does this seem like all the old folks tell the younger folks that in each generation? And why does it keep on going?

First of all, because it’s true. It’s important to be thankful for what you do have. If you spend all your time focused on what you don’t have, you’ll take for granted what you *do* have. Is that a bad thing? Well, let’s take a quick inventory. Our society, which has been growing farther and farther away from God - is this a thankful society? Do we count our blessings? Or do we focus on what we don’t have? Commercials and media are hyper-focused on showing us that we need to have the newest and best “thing” (whatever that is), because the one we have is outdated, obsolete, or worn out. We have to stay up to date…gotta get the new one! Have I shown you my new Samsung S24 yet? It’s pretty slick… Oh, and just in time for Black Friday shopping. Gotta get the best sale price on that new thing. How many new things can you get to put under your tree? Make sure you don’t leave anyone out. Everyone needs to have a new thing to unwrap. I’m going to be the one to get that last sale item before they run out…noone had better beat me to that deal, or I might lose my temper. I might even shove through a line so I can get that deal. If someone gets knocked down in the process…well, this is Black Friday shopping. If you can’t take the heat, stay outta the kitchen, right?

Any of you been exposed to that attitude on Black Friday yet? It’s out there. It’s why I stay home on Black Friday if at all possible. I don’t want any part of that chaos. Fist fights at big box stores and electronics stores over sale merchandise? Violence for a Christmas gift? What better way to commemorate the birth of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world than by beating up the person in line next to you so you can get the last 55” TV that’s on sale. The sense of thanksgiving is just overwhelming, is it not? (If you couldn’t tell…that was sarcasm…) It’s also a clear indication of just how much the Thursday holiday means to us… or rather, how little. It’s turkey and a huge meal and too many calories. Sure, many families take time to recognize what they have to be thankful for. And that’s wonderful, and we should encourage everyone to keep it up. But how many of those same families are engaged in the greedy chaos less than 24 hours later?

Let’s look at the gospel lesson from Luke 17. Ten lepers begged Jesus for mercy - meaning that they wanted him, acting as God’s agent, to cleanse them of their disease. Remember: lepers were outcasts. They could not live among society, they could not worship in the temple or synagogue… they had to live among other lepers, relying only on the generosity of others to get by. They lived as the poorest in society, since they were unable to work but could only beg. So Jesus heals them and sends them on their way. But only one came back to him. Why?

On the surface, this is another classic example of human nature - when life is hard, we pray to God to make it easier, to ease our burden, to help us when we need help. And that’s not a bad thing. We’re SUPPOSED to ask God for help, and bring Him our prayers and supplications and cares and worries. It is good and appropriate for us to do so.

But then as soon as that prayer is answered, what do we do? Life has gotten easier, and so now we can go have fun. Now we can get back to work. Now we can press on with what *we wanted* to do… whatever that is. It’s not in our nature to think immediately “thank you, God, for answering my prayer!” We aren’t wired to do that because of our fallen, sinful nature. Because we were made to have free will, we will most likely choose a selfish action or response. We will likely ignore God and focus on ourselves and what’s best for us… or so we think.

That’s exactly what the 9 lepers did. They had a life-threatening, life changing, debilitating, crippling disease that cost them everything good in their lives… or so they thought. In merely a spoken sentence, Jesus fixed that. They would reveal themselves to the priest, who would verify their cleanness, and they would be able to rejoin society, their family and friends… their lives were about to be restored, and they couldn’t wait to get back all the good in their lives.

Why did Jesus heal them? Because they deserved it? Because they were entitled to it? No. He healed them because he loved them. They had not lost that. That was something they already had, and always had. And they took it for granted - they forgot that they had it. It’s that same cycle - life is good, you don’t need God. Life is bad, you beg God to make it better. That’s about 2/3 of the Old Testament right there. That’s what our first lesson tonight is about. Don’t forget! Don’t forget what God has already done for you. Don’t forget the blessings that you *do* have.

Again, thinking about modern society - in a people who lack gratitude, what does that look like? Are we happy? Are we peaceful? I can’t help but think of that bit of wisdom that says “happy people are not thankful because they are happy; they are happy because they are thankful.” If you are not thankful for what you have, you’re not likely to be happy. You’re going to focus on what you want, what you don’t have, and you won’t be happy until you get it. You might even get violent to get it. Any violence in our society right now? Yeah. People who want what others have, but have no gratitude for what they *do* have.

Martin Luther gives us a good explanation of this in his thoughts on the first article of the Creed:

“What is meant by these words, ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker,’ and so forth? Answer: I hold and believe that I am a creature of God; that is, that he has given and constantly sustains my body, soul, and life, my members great and small, all the faculties of my mind, my reason and understanding, and so forth; my food and drink, clothing, means of support, wife and child, servants, house and home, etc. Besides, he makes all creation help provide the comforts and necessities of life—sun, moon, and stars in the heavens, day and night, air, fire, water, the earth and all that it brings forth, birds and fish, beasts, grain and all kinds of produce. … All this is comprehended in the word ‘Creator.’ Moreover, we confess that God the Father not only has given us all that we have and see before our eyes, but also daily guards and defends us against every evil and misfortune, warding off all sorts of danger and disaster. All this he does out of pure love and goodness, without our merit, as a kind father who cares for us so that no evil may befall us. … Hence, since everything we possess, and everything in heaven and on earth besides, is daily given and sustained by God, it inevitably follows that we are in duty bound to love, praise, and thank him without ceasing...” [Tappert, from the Large Catechism, p. 412]

Thank Him without ceasing. When we really take a moment to think about everything that God has truly given us, it’s hard to wrap your head around all of it. Everything we have. It’s all from God. How can we *not* be thankful?

And so we start there. We start our prayers and our worship with gratitude and giving thanks. The most important part of our Sunday worship - the Sacrament of Holy Communion - is also called the Eucharist, which is taken from the Greek word eucharistia, which is translated as “thanksgiving”. It is not coincidence that event in which we come closest to our savior is named “thanksgiving”.

As you gather your families on Thursday and take part in this tradition, please remember not only what it is that you have to be thankful for, but where it has come from. And *then* take a moment to consider how you can respond faithfully. How can you be like the one leper who *did* give thanks, and not like the others who did not? Let’s all pray that our thanksgiving would be contagious, and that our thanks to God would help us to show the world the Gospel of Jesus Christ…the Good News that the world so desperately needs. Then the world will realize what they all have to be thankful for.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.