Thanksgiving Day 2024

Text: Luke 17:18-19 “18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.””

May I suggest to you that Thanksgiving is not about ‘counting your blessings’? Not for Christians. It should not be about ‘counting’ or ‘giving thanks’ for your blessings.

That is what most people in our country are doing today. They may literally be going around the table, listing the things that they are thankful for. That is not wrong. It is not necessarily even bad. But that is certainly not what you are here for.

Let me explain what I mean by that. ‘Giving thanks for their blessing’ is what 9 of the 10 lepers in the Gospel reading did. They went off giving thanks. They had a huge blessing to count that day. They had a huge blessing to give thanks for. Again, it is not a bad thing. It is good that they were grateful. But notice that they are not the ones you are invited to focus on. They are not the point of this reading from Luke’s Gospel.

The focus is on the one. The Samaritan who came back, fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, and gave thanks ‘to’ rather than ‘for’. He was thankful for being healed, but he is remembered because he gave thanks to Jesus.

Now, you may be thinking, “Pastor, all you did was change one little word— and not even one of the main ones (the nouns and verbs)— you changed a preposition. What difference does that make? I’m glad you asked.

It is not a bad thing for our nation to set aside a day to give thanks. Some families will go around the table today and take turns listing the things which they are thankful for. It is definitely good to remember how blessed you and I are before you run out tomorrow to bring home bags and bags of new stuff— or, these days, spend the day in your pajamas arranging for Amazon and Walmart+ to deliver boxes and boxes of new stuff to your door. But that is not the same thing as giving thanks to the giver of those good gifts.

That kind of thankfulness is healthy, but only to a point. Think about the things you list.

Our typical litmus test that determines whether or not something is a blessing is this: Does it make us happy? If it makes us smile, it’s a blessing. If it makes our lives a little easier, elevates us on the social scale, or simply makes us feel better about ourselves, then it qualifies as a blessing.

On the other hand, if something multiplies problems in our lives, makes us question our ability to maintain control of a situation, sullies our reputation, leads to heightened stress, or generally makes us feel worse about ourselves, then it’s no blessing. We may not label it a curse, but it’s certainly not something we’re going to humblebrag about on Facebook. (Bird, Chad. “Your God Is Too Glorious: Finding God in the Most Unexpected Places.” Posted to Facebook by author. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=217512109744519&id=100044571933306)

Did you notice the common theme through that whole description? You. In typical ‘American’ fashion, you and I still make this day about you and your stuff.

But you, as God’s people, follow the example of that one leper who did not just give thanks for his healing; he gave thanks to his Healer.

Now, I don’t know if you have noticed, but I am in danger of committing the same sin that the author of the song “I Love to Tell the Story” committed. (Have you noticed that, for as much as the song talks about loving to tell the story, it never actually tells the story?) I’m still spending a lot of time talking about giving thanks to rather than for. But I have not actually talked about who the to is to. And that is what makes all of the difference.

You give thanks to God, the giver of all good gifts.

He has given [you your] body and soul, eyes, ears, and all [your] members, [your] reason and all [your] senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives [you] clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all [you] have. He richly and daily provides [you] with all that [you] need to support this body and life. He defends [you] against all danger and guards and protects [you] from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in [you]. For all this it is [your] duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true. (Luther’s Small Catechism, Explanation to the 1st Article of the Apostles’ Creed.)

But today is about more than just doing your duty. Because, before He gave you your body and soul, let alone your clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, He gave you Jesus.

He, Himself, took on a body and soul, eyes, ears, and all its members, reason and all its senses. He did it so that He would have a body to offer as the perfect sacrifice for sin. Not only has He created you, He has redeemed you, body and soul.

Not only has He given you clothing and shoes, He has clothed you with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. He has given you His Holy Spirit as a deposit and guarantee of the day when you will be clothed with immortality.

Not only has He given you house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all you have, He has adopted you as His child and given you an inheritance in the new creation.

That changes thing here and now, too, doesn’t it? Christian Thanksgiving looks different from Thanksgiving for everyone else. It looks like Job, losing not only all of his great wealth and his servants, but losing all 7 of his sons and all 3 of his daughters in a single day. And when he got the news, he mourned, but Job thanked God. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Because Job knew that His Redeemer lived and that, in the end, He would stand upon the earth. And, after Job’s skin had been destroyed, yet in his flesh he would see God with his own eyes.

It looks like St. Paul, writing from prison, “4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 ...The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).

The list goes on and on. The Macedonians, who barely had enough for themselves, insisting on giving to help the church in Jerusalem during a time of famine because they were so grateful for the message that they had received from the missionaries the church in Jerusalem had sent. God’s people rejoicing and giving thanks as they’re martyred for their faith. We give thanks in all circumstances because you and I give thanks by faith.

How is it possible to be so blindly trusting? How is it possible to trust in God’s goodness no matter what? How is it possible to insist that “no poison can be in the cup that [your] physician sends [you]”? Because Christ suffered for you.

You might even say that Jesus is the reason for this season, too.

There are many cynics in our day who would actually challenge the leper from our gospel reading by asking why he owed Jesus any thanks. God allowed you to be sick in the first place. Why does He deserve any thanks for taking it away?

He deserves your thanks because the One who allows both joy and sorrow to come upon you is also the One who sent His beloved Son to this earth to suffer and die on the cross for you. He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for [you], how will he not also with him graciously give [you] all things?” (Romans 8:32).

The One who allows moments of suffering to come to you is also the One who prayed, “Father, if it is your will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). He did, in fact, drink the cup of God’s wrath in His suffering and death so that you would never have to.

That reality is embodied here in our worship. If you want to see the true Thanksgiving feast, look to this altar; look to this communion rail. For millennia, the heart of Christian worship, the essence of it, the pinnacle of what every true Christian worship service built up to was The Lord’s Supper. Holy Communion. It has many names, and one of those names is the Eucharist— a word which literally means ‘Thanksgiving’. “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread.” And when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them saying….

Isn’t this, arguably, the perfect picture of Christian Thanksgiving? …the true Thanksgiving feast? God’s redeemed children, eating and drinking the Eucharist— the very body and blood of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which He gave and shed for you? Assuring you that, in spite of the devil’s deceptions, in spite of the world’s attacks, in spite of your own weakness, Christ suffered for you. His strength is made perfect in your weakness. He feeds you, from this altar, with all the riches of heaven which He purchased for you on the cross.

Our Father’s blessings… are not as easy to spot as [the list you compile around the Thanksgiving table might suggest]. [Your Father’s blessings are] often covered in brown paper under the bloody tree of the cross. They often don’t seem good at all but burdensome, perhaps even defeating.

Such “blessings” look like a burned-out bridge on the highway to [your] personal happiness.

This is an invaluable truth: trials and temptations, burdens and losses, are where God is most active to bring his grace into our lives. Counting your blessings includes counting your crosses, for Christ is hidden in suffering to lead us toward the blessings he desires for [you]. (Bird)

Christian Thanksgiving looks like a dear Christian woman I knew years ago who was so thankful for the long list of serious health concerns she had experienced throughout her life because she could look back and see God strengthening her to face each day; because she felt so deeply the compassion that she learned for others who were suffering; because she knew that she never had been— and never would be— without hope.

Christian Thanksgiving looks like another dear Christian I knew years ago who sat in a nursing home in constant misery and used it as a constant reminder that Jesus chose to suffer far, far worse for her.

Christian Thanksgiving looks like you seeing God’s hand leading and guiding you even through the most bitter disappointment.

Because Christian Thanksgiving is not just for. It is to. That is the sort of Thanksgiving that allows you to hear Jesus say to you, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.