+ Day of Thanksgiving – November 28th, 2019 +
Deuteronomy 8:1-10; Philippians 4:6-20; Luke 17:11-19
Beautiful Savior Lutheran
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If New Year’s is about making resolutions and the future, Thanksgiving is about remembering and the past. As we sit around the table, pass the stuffing, load up our potatoes with gravy, and reach for our favorite dark or light turkey meat, we remember.
There are the joyful memories: new friends at school; added family members around the table; kindness of friends, family, or complete strangers; simple moments of life, love, and laughter shared with your spouse. Even the ordinary things of daily bread: food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, beloved pets and good friends.
Sadly, there are painful memories too: an empty chair or two around the table where grandma or grandma, or mom or dad once sat; words spoken that were better left unsaid; illness in body or mind that just won’t seem to go away or get better.
Thankfully, our Lord gives us memories that are far greater than even our best memories, and far deeper and more comforting than even our most painful memories. These are the memories of God’s mercy and grace. The love of Christ shown to us in simple act of kindness by a friend or a stranger. God’s word of forgiveness shared and reconciliation made with friends or family. Jesus’ daily work of drowning our sin in and raising us to new life in our Baptism. The Holy Spirit who dwells with you and in you and points you to Jesus. Even the simple things ordinary bread and wine where Jesus feeds us an extraordinary feast of forgiveness in his body and blood.
Yes, Thanksgiving is a day of remembering.
This is what Moses is saying to Israel, and to us, in Deuteronomy 8: you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness
Moses reminds Israel who they are, where they came from, and everything the Lord had done for them. Remember, Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Remember the Passover lamb whose blood covered your doorpost. Remember how the Lord parted the Red Sea, drowned Pharaoh and his army, and rescued you from slavery in Egypt. Remember the water from the rock, the manna and the quail. Remember the Lord who spoke to you at Sinai, and made his covenant and promise with you. Remember that man shall not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. And above all, remember the Lord who has done all this for you by his grace. For I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of slavery.
Today, God is telling us the same thing through Moses’ words. Remember who you are, where you have come from, and everything the Lord has done for you. Remember how God sent you a prophet greater than Moses – His only begotten Son Jesus – to die and rise for you. Remember how Jesus’ side was split open like the rock, pouring out blood and water into the chalice and the font for you. Remember how he calls you and names you his holy child in water, word, by the Holy Spirit. Remember how Christ our Passover Lamb was sacrificed for us. Remember how he feeds you, a pilgrim and stranger in this land, with his own body and blood, precious manna from heaven. Remember the Lord who does all this for you by his grace.
Thanksgiving is a day of remembering.
And yet, as good as it is for us to remember, it is far better that God remembers. We may even foolishly think, like Israel did time and time again in the wilderness, that God has forgotten us. Or fear that the Lord won’t provide for us as he promised. Like Israel, we often fail to remember that anything good we have is all God’s doing. We forget.
Not so with the Lord. The Lord never forgets you. Never fails to remember you. He always remembers. Always keeps his promises. Always gives us what we need and more. For God to remember is for God to act. When Scripture says “the Lord remembered Israel, or David, and so forth” it’s not that God was simply thinking nice thoughts about his people. No. more than that. For God to remember is for God to act on behalf of his people.
Remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness…
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
God did not forget Israel, neither will he forget you. The Lord remembered. He acted. He brought Israel into the good land where they settled. Generation after generation, through judges, kings, and prophets, through exile and return, the Lord remembered again and again and again, until that great, glorious day when the Lord who led Israel in the wilderness took on human flesh to save us.
And what’s truly remarkable is that the Lord who knows all, sees all, and remembers all, promises to remember our sin no more. He takes all our forgetfulness of his promises, all our failures to keep his Word, all our sinful and selfish fears, our thoughts, words, and deeds – he takes it all, heaps it on His Son Jesus, who dies on the cross for us, buries it all in his tomb, and rises again. All so that he will remember our sin no more.
God gives and we receive. So we remember the Lord best by receiving his gifts. Jesus’ daily bread on our table, and his: true bread of life come down from heaven to earth to feed you in this wilderness. Jesus’ word, water, and promise to give you an eternal garment that will never wear out in your Baptism. Jesus’ word that will feed you, satisfy you, and give you life.
So as you’re scooping the green bean casserole and hosing down your pumpkin pie with cool whip, remember that Thanksgiving is a day of remembering. God’s redeeming, rescuing, and remembering you in his Son Jesus crucified and risen.
A blessed Thanksgiving day to each of you…
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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