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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
When it comes to observing Thanksgiving, whether as a Harvest Festival or as a special Day proclaimed by one’s nation, it seems most people focus on the food. Nearly everyone has a favorite food, though which is a favorite may differ. Some may prefer green beans smothered in cream of mushroom soup and topped with French‑fried onions. Others might like most yams whipped with butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar and then topped with marshmallows and pecans. Still others could crave cranberries cooked with citrus, spices, and nuts. No doubt the stuffing or dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, crescent rolls, and pies (pumpkin and/or pecan, topped with Blue Bell’s Homemade Vanilla ice-cream) all could be close runners‑up on the list of favorite thanksgiving foods that give our hearts the most pleasure. There is a different sort of thanksgiving pleasure in tonight’s Gospel Reading. More than an account of one of Jesus’s miracles, we heard how a miracle moved one person’s heart to thanksgiving. Was the pleasure of that thanksgiving that person’s or the Lord’s? Tonight this sermon will consider that and other matters under the theme “Thanksgiving Pleasure”.
Although we will also hear this divinely‑inspired account of the cleansing of the ten lepers in the regular course of going through the Gospel according to St. Luke in the upcoming church year, the account is appointed for this Day of National Thanksgiving precisely because of its emphasis on thanksgiving. In all likelihood you are already at least somewhat familiar with this account and its details about the Samaritan cleansed of leprosy who gave Jesus thanks.
Parents rightly teach their children to give thanks. After something nice is done, we might ask them, “What do you say?” Or we might say, “Don’t I get a thank you?” After either of those questions, children are likely to respond with a “thank you” that is anything but heartfelt and genuine. When President Obama yesterday officially declared tomorrow to be a “National Day of Thanksgiving”, he did so “by virtue of the authority vested in [him] by the Constitution and laws of the United States”. Yet, even thereby he can only encourage the people of the country to give thanks; he cannot require them by law to do so. God’s law, however, does require people to give thanks. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther’s explains that the Second Commandment regarding not misusing the Name of the Lord means that we should call upon His Name “in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” Similarly, Luther explains that the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed regarding God the Father creating heaven and earth means that, for all that God has given us and does for us, it is our “duty” to thank Him. And, Luther also explains that our praying the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer asks for God to lead us to know that He gives us everything and for us to receive it with thanksgiving.
Perhaps too often like children, we give God thanks that is anything but heartfelt and genuine. Perhaps we only give thanks under what we think are pleasurable circumstances. Perhaps we even fail to give thanks to God at all. We might expect Him to continue to bless us despite our ingratitude, but then we might criticize others for their ingratitude towards us. We might even go so far as to only be willing to do things for others whom we know will thank us in return. We sin in these and countless other ways. As with the leprosy from which the ten in the Gospel Reading suffered, sin is a great equalizer that cuts across people of all races, age, and gender. As with leprosy, sin puts a great distance between us and everyone else, including God. We deserve nothing but death now and for eternity. So, we repent of our sins against one another, and we repent of our sins against God. As with the lepers, we lift up the weak voice of our sinful nature and say, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When we so repent and seek God’s mercy, then God forgives our sin for Jesus’s sake.
President Obama’s full Thanksgiving proclamation this year made reference both to “the God‑given bounty that enriches our lives” and to “the grace bestowed upon us by God”. Yet, the President made no reference to the “bounty” that is salvation, such as that the leper received, nor did the President make reference to the basis for God’s bestowing us with “grace”. Furthermore, “places of worship” were just one of many places where the President said we might join together to give thanks, and, as last year, he did not specify at all to whom such thanks should be given. In the Gospel Reading, the Samaritan cleaned from his leprosy praised God in the flesh of Jesus Christ, giving Him thanks. Jesus tells the Samaritan his faith saved him (what the English Standard Version translates “made you well”). Of course, faith saves because it has as its object the God-man Jesus Christ, Who lived the life we fail to live and died on the cross for our failure. As the Samaritan had faith that saved Him, so we have faith that saves us. By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, God forgives our sins against one another. By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, God forgives are sins against Him. By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, God forgives our sins in very specific ways.
Coming back to Kilgore this morning from my visit to Longview Regional Hospital to see four members or friends of the congregation, I noticed the Whataburger sign at the intersection of McCann Road and Marshall Avenue. The sign said, “Thank God for our Christian Nation”. At least the sign got right Whom we should thank; I am not so sure about the “Christian Nation” part. The Church is Christian: it belongs to Christ and is built on Him. The Church is where believers are found, and the Church is found where the Gospel is purely preached and the Sacraments are rightly administered. Here believers live, as tonight’s Old Testament Reading said, “by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”—whether “every word” is preached, or whether “every word” is administered with water in Holy Baptism, by called ministers in Holy Absolution, or with bread and wine that is Christ’s body and blood in Holy Communion.
God’s Word purely preached and rightly administered in its Sacramental forms is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. As with the Samaritan saved by faith, we, who are saved by faith, rise and go our way, bearing the fruits of faith that saves. We rise and go our way giving God thanks that are heartfelt and genuine. We rise and go our way giving God thanks even under circumstances that are less than pleasurable. We rise and go our way doing good to others whether or not they are grateful to us. And, we rise and go our way praising God with the loud voice of our redeemed nature. Yet, since our redeemed nature is still joined to our sinful nature right now, we will still fail to do as we should, and so we live in the forgiveness of sins—forgiveness of sins both from God and with one another.
If you know a little Spanish or French, you may know that their usual response to a “thank you” is to say “de nada” or “de rien”—literally “of nothing”, like the English response “Think nothing of it”. More often in English after a “thank you” we say, “You’re welcome”, which at least originally had the sense of “The pleasure is mine” (like the Spanish and French responses “El gusto es mio” or “Le plaisir est por moi”). In the Gospel Reading does the “thanksgiving pleasure” belong to the Samaritan giving thanks or to God receiving the thanks? Or, perhaps the “thanksgiving pleasure” belongs to both! The Samaritan certainly had pleasure in being cleansed and saved, and, as tonight’s Epistle Reading says, God certainly desires all people to be saved. As you and I observe our Day of National Thanksgiving tonight and tomorrow, let us find “thanksgiving pleasure” not only in our favorite food item, whichever our favorites may be, but let us also find thanksgiving pleasure, in the words of the Collect, acknowledging God’s goodness, giving thanks to Him for His benefits, and serving Him in willing obedience all our days.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +