Thanksgiving Eve
Today we gather together in particular to give our holy Triune God thanks for all His gifts and blessings to us—both material and spiritual. And, in fact, by the proclamation of our government, we are being called upon to give thanks to God especially for all the blessings He has bestowed on our nation. It is a true blessing that in our nation we have the call, duty and reminder that we are to give God thanks, because, after all, it is so easy to forget to give thanks. Just look at what the Lord said to the Israelites through Moses just before entering the Promised Land: Be very careful so you do not forget the Lord. And he repeats it several times in his instruction. Think also to today’s Gospel. There is the account where ten men are healed from the dread disease of leprosy. They were literally rescued from a slow and agonizing death. But what happened? Only one came back to thank Jesus for healing him. Were the other nine happy they were healed, even having that feeling of thankfulness? Certainly! But how they needed a reminder to “say thank you”! Although they were healed and certainly grateful, they didn’t think to come back to Jesus to say “thank you”--except the one. Why do you suppose that is? And then there’s the question that each of us must ask ourselves: Am I thankful? Do I return to the Lord to give Him thanks? Is our thought and attitude like that of the psalmist who asks in today’s text: What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? When something good happens, is my first thought to thank the Lord--or do I simply take the good/ the blessing for granted? Or even more: do I think that I earn or deserve that good thing/ that blessing? The thing is, remembering does not come natural or easy to us because of our old sinful nature. Our old sinful nature wants us to think that we have earned or deserve everything. And if we earn or deserve everything, what do I owe God?
And not only is there ingratitude toward God, but then we ourselves become unhappy and discontent. Because what is the next step? Even though we are showered with blessing upon blessing from God, we are not happy because why? --We think we do not have all that we should have or want to have. And if I do not have all that I should have or want to have, what do I have to be thankful for?
That’s why our national day of thanksgiving is so vital. It is a subtle reminder even from the state that all that we are and have is from the Lord and from His free grace and mercy toward us. To be sure that message is drowned out by all sorts of extraneous add-ons, but it’s still there because the word “Thanksgiving” implies giving thanks to Someone--and we Christians know that that “Someone” is the holy Triune God.
So again, our national day of Thanksgiving is a great reminder to us--even us Christians-- to ask as the psalmist does in our text: What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? And as we examine our text tonight, we will see that we render thanks to the Lord--that we have a right and proper Thanksgiving Day when we come before Him in humility; when we come to Him in faith and when we live a life of thanksgiving every day, not just once a year.
What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? Humility! --Like we see with the leper who came back to Jesus to thank Him. Then one of them, 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. This is just a simple recognition of who God is. He deals with all of us in grace, not giving us what we earn or deserve. Instead He shows us mercy. In the Gospel, we read that the one who returned to Jesus was a Samaritan, the arch-enemy of the Jews. But Jesus healed him anyway. Perhaps it was precisely this great mercy that drove this foreigner, this enemy of God’s people to return to give Jesus thanks. After all, he really felt and experienced the grace and mercy of God. All ten men received the same grace and mercy in that healing, a healing from certain death. Even our psalmist before our text writes: I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. Yes, our psalmist gives the Lord thanks; the one Samaritan returned to give thanks--but out of how many who received help and blessing from the Lord?
With each blessing from the Lord, we are seeing that God does not deal with us as we deserve. After all, we are sinners--born and conceived in sin, adding to that sin all the time throughout the day. We don’t deserve anything good from the Lord; we don’t deserve blessing upon blessing from Him. We deserve only His wrath and damnation. But He shows us mercy and grants us His rich blessing. So, yes, thanksgiving is very humbling when we realize that God is not dealing with us as we deserve. When we go to the Lord in thanksgiving, it is an act of humility from us. We are saying that we don’t deserve or earn it--so thank you Lord. It is a confession of our faith in a gracious Lord.
For the Christian, thanksgiving has a special blessing. As we go before the Lord in humility, as we like the returning Samaritan, [turn] back, praising God with a loud voice; and … [fall] on [our faces] at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks, we are recognizing and confessing our new spiritual condition. We recognize that God is gracious and merciful to us as He gives us every earthly gift and blessing that we enjoy; and that points us to the heavenly and spiritual gifts and blessings we have in Jesus. Since God deals with us sinners in grace and mercy and shows it by giving us earthly blessings, we can be sure that He is gracious and merciful and in Jesus has forgiven us all our sins and gives us eternal life; we can be sure He is our dear, loving heavenly Father and we His dear children. When we in thanksgiving, joy and faith ask: What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me, we are recognizing our new spiritual condition. We have been given faith and truth to know God rightly; that means we are God’s dear children and heirs of heaven. We know who has given us every earthly and heavenly blessing and recognizing who and what we are, we go to Him in humility and say “Thank you.”
Thanksgiving is really a beautiful picture of faith. In thanksgiving, we simply receive what we are given, recognize it as a gift, and say “Thank you”. That’s what the leper did in the Gospel! Our psalmist exclaims after receiving help and rescue: What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? The idea being: what can I give back to the Lord? I can’t. There’s nothing! All we can give Him is our thanks. And that’s precisely what the Lord expects. Jesus expected thanks from the ten, but only received it from the one: Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? For all His gifts and blessings to us our Lord expects thanksgiving that flows from faith in Him.
That faith is beautifully portrayed by the psalmist in our text: I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. Here our psalmist directs our thanksgiving to God’s greatest gift to us, the cup of salvation. As Christians, in faith we joyfully receive that salvation the Lord gives us fully and freely in Jesus. And we show that thanksgiving and joy as we continue to seek out His salvation where the Lord offers it to us--namely, in His holy word and Sacrament. The thing is, the Lord is not cheap nor does He skimp when giving His salvation. And faith rejoices in that salvation and goes and seeks it out in the word and sacraments, where the Lord has promised it. And not only does faith seek it out, but faith humbly receives it and as it receives it in all humility, it gives the Lord thanks for it.
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. Who among us cannot also see the holy Sacrament of the Altar here. The cup of salvation that is held up, is the cup holding the precious blood of Jesus that was poured out for the forgiveness of our sins. In the holy Sacrament, is the remembrance and proclamation of Jesus’ work for our salvation and distribution of His gifts and blessings He won for us. As we see that blood in the cup and as we drink it and unite with Jesus, faith grabs ahold of it, receiving all its blessings of forgiveness of sin and eternal life with joy and we break out in thanksgiving. That cup of salvation is lifted up for all to see so that all will want to hear and receive what Jesus has done for us and our salvation. Faith will draw us to it to receive its blessings with thanksgiving.
This faith, which in joy and thanksgiving wants to seek out and receive God’s gifts to us in the word and sacrament, will celebrate and proclaim our appreciation for God’s salvation: I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. By calling on God’s name, faith is leading us to continue to go to the Lord for His continued help and blessing and gifts; it continues to come before Him as a beggar seeking both spiritual and earthly blessings in prayer--first and foremost the forgiveness of sins. In joy and thanksgiving, faith seeks to do the Lord’s will: What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. In thanksgiving, we make known His grace and mercy in our prayers and hymns of praise and as we live a life of thanksgiving by striving to live a life in accord with His holy will. The psalmist puts it this way in our text: I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.
A life of thanksgiving of [rendering to the Lord for all His benefits to me] is a life of praise and the confession that I have everything from Him and He needs nothing from me; I can only give Him my love and thanksgiving. In living lives of thanksgiving to the Lord who gives us every heavenly and spiritual blessing, means that in that thanksgiving we fight against and strive to put down our old sinful nature. It means striving to live a life in accord with God’s will; striving to live a life more and more free from sin. It means that since we are His dear children and He is our dear Father, we strive to resemble our Father in our thoughts, words and deeds. Our thanksgiving means being His own in body and soul and reflecting that in our everyday life.
I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. Our lives of thanksgiving means that in joy and faith and thankfulness we strive to remain faithful to the vows of our baptism and confirmation of renouncing the devil and all his works and all his ways; of forsaking everything, even our own lives rather than turning away from faith in Jesus. So, yes, we too will pay [our] vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. And as we do so in faith and love of the Lord, that’s living a life of thanksgiving. And the wonderful and glorious thing is that our lives of thanksgiving, which we live now, will not end. That’s because the thanksgiving that begins now will continue on into the eternity of heaven. St. John, describes the scene of heaven filed with the voices of the angelic creatures and the redeemed giving thanks to God.
So, what can we now render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? Humility, recognizing who we are and who God is; faith, to receive His grace and mercy; and a life of thanksgiving, in love and joy striving to do His will and praising Him. All this, too, is His gift and blessing to us. Thanksgiving is not a one day thing but an entire life. INJ