Sermon: Thanksgiving Eve – 2022

23 Nov 2022

Text: Luke 17:11-19, Phil 4:6-20

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

In our Gospel, we see ten men healed by Jesus of leprosy.  Nine of them go on their way, but one of these men “when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks.”

We see what gratitude looks like, how one acts when one is grateful – especially to Jesus.  If we are grateful for what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us, then that gratitude will involve seeking Him out, going to where He is in His flesh, and expressing that thanksgiving with one’s voice and one’s body.  In other words, it is not merely an attitude or state of mind, but manifests itself in action, in worship, in confession and expression, and in a posture of humility to Jesus.  Interestingly, the Greek word for “thanksgiving” is “Eucharist.”  It is a meal of thanksgiving for the grace of God in Jesus Christ – who is both the host of the meal, and the meal itself.

We also see what ingratitude looks like, how one acts when one is ungrateful – especially to Jesus.  If we are ingrates toward God, we will take what He has given us without coming back to say, “Thank you.”  We may well feel happy about being created, being redeemed, being set apart in Holy Baptism, being given the free gift of salvation by Christ at the cross – but it is easy to take it all for granted, to diminish in faith, to become inwardly oriented, and to fall away from saving faith in Jesus. 

Jesus points out that the one grateful among the ten was a “foreigner” – a Samaritan.  This is a man who was used to being excluded.  He did not take his standing before God for granted.  The other nine perhaps feel entitled because they are “the chosen people.”  But let us be wary dear brothers and sisters, for ingratitude and having an entitlement mentality before God is a sure way to fall from grace.  We see it again and again in the Scriptures. 

So if you really are grateful, if you know how gracious the Lord Jesus is in suffering and dying for you, then you live out that life of thanksgiving by being here: where the Word is proclaimed, and where the Eucharist is celebrated, both by His authority.

This is why our worship is liturgical, dear friends.  It is orderly and bodily.  The liturgy is not a show or a concert.  It is not centered on us or what we like.  It is not designed to whip us up into emotional frenzy.  Rather it provides for us poor, miserable, but forgiven, sinners to come to Jesus with grateful souls and thankful bodies, using our voice to give Him praise, using our bodies to give Him worship.  There is a humility in liturgical worship that does not exist in entertainment worship.  We kneel at the rail like the healed lepers that we are.  We cross ourselves like the beggars for God’s grace that we are: acknowledging both the cross of our Lord and His healing us from sin’s leprosy by the waters of Holy Baptism.

We sing hymns.  We receive His forgiveness.  We eat His flesh and drink His blood.  We speak our requests.  We sing His praises.  And at the end of it all, we receive His solemn benediction in the words God gave to Aaron to speak over the people of Israel.

And so we see a contrast between gratitude and ingratitude.

But what does a life of thanksgiving look like beyond the walls of the church?  St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians paints a beautiful picture, dear friends: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Ironically, when we make requests of God with a thankful heart, we are living the life of grace.  For there is a promise attached with this prayerful life, dear brothers and sisters: For, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

For when we pray in faith, and faithfully, “with thanksgiving,” we are given the gift of an anxiety-free life, knowing that all things are in His hands, and He has the power even to cure leprosy. 

As unworthy people, but grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ for His mercy, we are encouraged to think about things that are “true… honorable… just… pure… lovely, [and] commendable.”  We are to ponder that which is excellent and praiseworthy.  And of course, meditation on such things fosters an attitude of thanksgiving for all that God has done, and continues to do, for us.  For in so doing, we learn, like St. Paul, to be “content.”  Whether we have plenty, or whether we are in hunger, whether we are enjoying “abundance” or suffering “need,” we give thanks to God.  And that is how it is that we can “do all things through Him who strengthens me.” 

It is fitting that in this time of year when we are in a season of harvest we should especially give thanks to God for all that He does for us.  For how often we give His providence no thought at all.  How often we take credit for our own work.  How often we behave like the nine healed lepers, who perhaps take the Lord’s grace for granted, instead of returning like the foreigner to “return and give praise to God.”

And let us remember, dear friends, that Thanksgiving is not just a day on the calendar for food, family, and football, but it is rather an entire way of life focused on forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Let us be Eucharistic people, people of thanksgiving, those who return again and again to where Jesus is to fall on our knees, to present our petitions before His throne, and to receive His gifts – including the Eucharistic feast of His true body and blood, the “medicine of immortality” that cures us of the leprosy of sin.

Let us give thanks and praise to our Lord, in body and soul, on this Eve of the Feast of Thanksgiving in our country, and every day of our lives in which we “pray, praise, and give thanks” to Him in the feast in the kingdom, which has no end!

Thanks be to God!

Amen.

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