THANKSGIVING EVE
25 November Anno + Domini 2009
"Are We Thankful?â€
Luke 17:11-19 (Deut. 8:1-10; Phil. 4:6-20)
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
We should be thankful for indoor plumbing, hot water, and microwave ovens. But we're not. Not really. Not normally. We don't really notice them until something goes wrong. We should be thankful for the spice aisle and a wide variety of fresh produce all through the winter. We should be thankful for penicillin and band-aids. Are you? How about asphalt, co-axial cables, and synthetic rubber? What about soap, toilet paper, and teflon?
That is the
problem with making lists of things for which we are thankful. If we made an honest list, it would be empty. To fill it up, we have to rename it: Things for which we should be thankful, but
mostly aren't. And even then we'd only
hit a few highlights. We'd say family,
friends, food,
Man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Yet how many hours have you spent daydreaming about what you'd do with a windfall of a million dollars? Money does not buy happiness. But it can buy a lot of opportunities, security, beauty, and peace of mind. That is why the love of it is the root of all evil. Money itself is not evil. Having money - even lots of it - is not evil. But, loving it is the root of all evil, for the love of money leads to greed and coveting. The love of money is love of self and the desire to make one's own way in this world, rather than to trust in the One who supplies all your needs. The love of money is a focus on your wants and desires, rather than being content with having your needs fulfilled. That's why the love of money is not only the root of all evil, but also the opposite of thankfulness.
In the Christian heart, thankfulness is not expressed in saying "thank you†so much as in saying "I, a poor, miserable sinner.†For any thought of all the good things in our lives immediately brings to mind our daily ingratitude and our unworthiness. As many and as innumerable are our sins, so also are the good things in our lives, the things like synthetic rubber that we take for granted. We cannot possibly list them all. We have not noticed them all.
Thus does the
Lord warn
Woe unto us, brothers and sisters, for we, like the children of God long ago, have forgotten! We have grown complacent. We have been bitten by the serpent of greed, pride, and vanity. Has there ever been a people more blessed with material goods in the history of mankind than we 21st-century Americans? Even during an economic recession, and even with obvious corruption and greed within our government and among our people, the poorest among us would have been counted rich in ancient society. Oh yes, to one degree or another, we have forgotten, every single one of us, how blessed we are. Why else would we not include toilet paper and asphalt on our thanksgiving lists? How could we forget to thank God for Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, and Jonas Salk? We have been like teenagers, who think that if they throw their dirty clothes on the floor, fairies will come and clean them and put them in their dressers. We have forgotten that our refrigerators do not fill themselves. What's worse, we often fall under the delusion that we're responsible for filling our fridges. We have so much and we have been so blessed that we have taken things for granted, and forgotten Who it is that provides for all our needs. It may sound silly to be compared to teenagers, but it is an apt comparison, for our view of creation has been no less self-centered and vain. Repent.
But do not be afraid. For if earthly mothers keep doing laundry and keep grocery shopping, even buying the junk food that some teens think is the only substance that qualifies as "real food,' then God is more faithful, more loving, more devoted to your well-being. He does not love you because you say "thank you.†He does not love you because you are lovable. He loves you because that is who He is. It is what He does. He is love. While you were still a sinner, while you hated Him, He sent His Son. He sent His Son because He loved you. And this is the revelation of His love for you: He sent His Son to live and die in your place; to suffer and pay the price for all your sins, including your forgetfulness and ingratitude, on the cross. This is Love, dear friends! Shouldn't we be thankful for it? Of course. But our thanks does not add to it, and our thanks does not cause God to love us. God does not need our thanks or praise. He does not need someone to love, but He loves to love, He loves to give, He loves to forgive. And since it is not Mother's Day, I'll even dare to tell you a secret: He loves you more and better than your mother does, or ever did!
We pray then that God would fill us with thanks and praise, that we would bless His Name, that we would be served by Him. We pray that He make us thankful not only for the mundane things of this world, co-axial cables and fresh fruit all winter; but that we would look in awe at the Bible; that God Himself would cause us to realize that we are privileged to hold His holy and infallible Word in our hands. We pray that He make us thankful for pure doctrine, for the revelation of the Holy Gospel of His Son, for Martin Luther, and all the faithful who have gone before us. We pray that He make us thankful for having a place to gather together in His Name to hear Him speak with us, comfort and encourage us, guide and protect us. We pray that He make us thankful for what we receive from this altar, nothing less than the very Body and Blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We pray that He make us thankful for allowing us, still afflicted with the leprous disease of sin, to come here to His House and cry out for mercy to His Son, always receiving that for which we plead. We pray that He make us thankful for one another, that we have brothers and sisters to share our sorrows and our joys, that we belong to a family which extends even beyond these walls to include all the saints of all time. We pray that He make us thankful for the holy angels who protect us from the demons and join their worship to ours.
Of the things for which we should be thankful there is almost no end, least of which is certainly not the freedoms and blessings we enjoy as Americans. Thank God for them. But what God has done, and continues to do, for us through His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, our hearts cannot contain, our thanks and praise cannot express - not fully, not yet. For our cups truly runneth over. God is good. His mercy endureth forever. He loves us and forgives us. Even us, sinful as we are. More than that, He remembers our sins no more. Ponder that, dear friends. Here in His Holy House, we leprous sinners cry out, "Lord, have mercy upon us,†and He does. As surely as He cleansed the ten lepers long ago, He cleanses us with Holy Absolution, wiping our slates clean, erasing all of our sins from the record, as though they never existed in the first place. And He sends us forth with His blessing and the promise that He will soon bring us home, to live with Him and all the saints and angels in the promised land, free of serpents and forbidden fruits, free of pain, suffering, and sorrow, free of tears and mourning - forever! All thanks, praise, and honor be to God our Father and to His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
Now the peace of God that passes all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting. Amen.