Thanksgiving Day Sermon: "Filled with Good Things"

 + Thanksgiving Day – November 24^th, 2022 +

Psalm 104; 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.

 

Out of the many things Scripture reveals that God does for us, one of God’s favorite things to do is to feed and provide for his people. God loves to share a table and his gifts with his people. You don’t get far into God’s word – the very first chapter in fact – before we hear God setting up a feast for his people.

 

When God created the heavens and the earth he told Adam and Eve, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. 

 

When God visited Abraham and Sarah – even though it was Abraham and Sarah who prepared the bread and the calf for a holy barbeque – it was the Lord himself who came and dined with them that he might bless them.

 

When the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness, once again, it was the Lord who fed and provided for his people. He sent them manna and quail from heaven. Water from the rock. Later when the people of Israel were about to enter the promised land, the Lord reminded them… For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

 

Wherever you find the Lord in Scripture, you will find him feeding and providing for his people. Time and time again, this is what God does. He sits at the table with them and blesses them. Our psalm of the day is no different. 

 

These all look to you,
    to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
    when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

 

Passages like Psalm 104 certainly remind us of God’s goodness. So do days like Thanksgiving Day. These words and these days also remind us that without our Lord to feed, provide, and care for us, we have nothing. On our own we are in need. We are dependent upon him – certainly for forgiveness, but also for daily bread. On our own we are empty and need to be filled. One of the images that Scripture gives us of our sin is that of hunger. That we starve and waste away apart from the daily bread of God’s word. And in the absence of God’s gifts to us in his word we turn to anything and everything else that appears satisfying and good in our own eyes and a delight to our desires. It’s true…man does not live by bread alone…in fact cannot live by bread alone…but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

 

It’s no surprise then that when the Son of God takes on human flesh we find him eating and drinking with people all over the place. He dines with sinners and tax collectors and pharisees alike. He eats the Passover with his disciples. He enjoys a fish fry by the sea of Galilee after his resurrection. Many of his parables echo the Scripture’s constant theme that where God is present, there you’ll find him feeding and providing for and feasting with his people. 

 

It’s certainly true at our earthly tables, no matter how big or small they may be. Those gifts we give thanks for today are from our Lord’s hands. When he opens his hands, you are filled with good things. 

 

And it’s even more true of our Lord’s table where he gathers us together this morning. Where he opens up his hands – those hands that were crucified and pierced and glorified for you – and he pours out his body and blood for you. Where you are filled with the good things of his forgiveness and redemption in his body and blood. Where Christ our Lord comes once again, as he did for Adam, Eve, Abraham, and Israel, and he dwells with us and for us in a holy feast of life and salvation. Where he shares his table, and gives his very life for you. 

 

 

A blessed day of thanksgiving to each of you…

 

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