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Life was hard for those who first came to our land and settled here. Out of 101 people who arrived, 45 died that first year. Their crop very poor. And yet, on December 13, 1621, they paused and gave thanks to God, their Creator and Redeemer.
More than two hundred years later, President Lincoln declared the fourth Thursday of November a National Day of Thanksgiving. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a bill establishing this date as an official U.S. holiday.
So, on Thursday, November 27, our nation recognizes this holiday. Kids are off school. Many families gather around turkey, dressing, parades, and football.
But giving thanks to God is not something to be done only once a year. Receiving gifts from God and giving Him thanks is the pattern of every Sunday.
First: To whom should we give thanks? We give thanks to our one true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the giver of all good gifts.
The ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19) should have given thanks to Jesus who healed them. Their pain was gone. Their quarantine was lifted. They were free. They could once again eat with their families. But only one returned to give thanks. The other nine did not. They had other higher priorities. They used Jesus only for their own selfish gain.
Even today, God remains the giver of all good gifts. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. He feeds both the righteous and the unrighteous. He provides daily bread to everyone even without our prayers, even to all evil people. He does this purely out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in us. By nature, God is a giving God.
Best of all, God sent His only begotten Son to be our Savior. We have been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. We are redeemed with the blood of Christ. Our sins are forgiven in Christ and heaven is open.
Yet as sinners, we often misuse God’s gifts. We take credit for the good and blame God for the bad.
Like the nine lepers, we neglect the Giver of all good things. We resist acknowledging our dependence on God. We like to be gods to ourselves.
We also abuse the Gospel when we think that heaven is earned by our works, or when we treat God’s grace as permission to sin freely.
Just as the ten lepers cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us,” so we cry out in repentance, “Lord, have mercy upon us poor sinners.” These words are on our lips every Sunday. And as Jesus had mercy on the ten lepers, so He has had mercy on us. He died for our sins, and in Christ, we are forgiven.
So, to whom should we give thanks? We give thanks to God the Father for giving us our body and soul, eyes, ears and all our members; for giving us clothing and shoes, food and drink, house, and home. We give thanks to God the Son, who redeemed us with His precious blood. We give thanks to the Holy Spirit, who has given us faith in Christ.
Secondly, where should we give thanks? We can thank God anywhere, but His house is the best to do so.
The one leper went to the right place for giving thanks. He went to Jesus. He recognized that the real presence of God was found in Jesus. He believed that Jesus is the true temple and priest.
We certainly thank God at home and around the dinner table. But the most important place to give thanks in in His house, Sunday after Sunday where He gives us His Word and Sacrament.
Thanksgiving should not occur only once a year on the fourth Thursday of November, but giving thanks to our Lord happens every Sunday in His house. We can give thanks anywhere, but the right place is where God gathers His people on Sunday morning. There He gives us gifts of life and salvation.
Finally, how should we give thanks? We give thanks to God with our hearts and hands and voices.
The one leper gave thanks to Jesus by praising Him with a loud voice and by falling at Jesus’ feet. He knew that both his physical and spiritual healing came from Jesus.
A beloved hymn says, “Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices” (LSB 895:1). Psalm 104:33 says, “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being,” Psalm 92:1 says, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.”
Every Sunday we have the opportunity to give thanks to God by lifting our voices in hymns and liturgy. We give thanks with our hands by serving God and our neighbor. We give thanks through our offering. And the highest form of thanksgiving is faith itself, acknowledging that everything we have is a gift from our Heavenly Father.
Just as a child shows gratitude by gladly eating the meal provided, so wo show our thanksgiving by receiving God’s gifts in the Divine Service. He feeds us with His saving Gospel in Word and Sacrament. This is the one thing needful.
So, who should we give thanks to? We give thanks to our one true God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for blessing us in body and soul. Where should we thank God? We can thank God anywhere, but His house is the best place to do so. And how should we thank Him? We give thanks to God with our hearts, our hands, and our voices.
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 118:1). Amen.
