Having worked four years as Director of
Development at Berkeley Food and Housing Project in California, one of the
state’s largest homeless service providers, I can tell you that not everybody
spends the fourth Thursday in November with family. Thousands of
Americans eat Thanksgiving dinner at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, church
basements and other fine establishments. Pilgrims from every side of the
political pendulum serve these down-and-out diners. That said, we put aside
politics to look at Thanksgiving’s history, a leper’s healing and how we can
enjoy a happier Thanksgiving. History, Healing, Happy.
First, Thanksgiving’s history. For some,
Thanksgiving commemorates a heritage of false memory. Internet myths of
Thanksgiving range from fundamentalists’ invention of a fake 1623 Thanksgiving
Proclamation – to prove that God was being thanked and not the Indians – to Libertarians,
who used the same fake proclamation to claim that “the real reason for Thanksgiving
is that Socialism does not work.”[i]
Puritan Pilgrims celebrated the first
Thanksgiving after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. The feast
lasted 3 days. 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims attended. The Pilgrims were
accustomed to regularly celebrating thanksgivings – days of prayer thanking God
for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.
Thanksgiving became an official Federal
holiday in 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln
proclaimed the last Thursday in November a national day of “Thanksgiving and
Praise to our Father … in the Heavens.”
As a faith community, we celebrate
thanksgiving when we gather for the Lord’s Supper. Eucharist means we give
thanks because the gift is nothing less than forgiveness of sins for which we
can never atone. We give thanks because we have nothing else to give but
gratitude.[ii]
When we genuinely receive God’s gracious
gifts, we cannot help but be eucharistic or thankful to God. Such thanksgiving
shows up in our worship, and in daily life – an attitude of gratitude revealed
in how we live with those around us. Let us take that attitude of gratitude and
turn to the Gospel where health and salvation go together like turkey and
stuffing.
To the 10 lepers requesting that he have
mercy on them, Jesus replied, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”
Jesus was following the Law, specifically Leviticus, chapter 14. Was the
Samaritan, who lived outside the requirement of Judaism, included in the
command to go to a priest? Moreover, why did Jesus reproach the other nine for
following the Law and his command? Furthermore, why did Jesus say, “Your
faith has made you well,” when all were cleansed?[iii]
Questions demand further exploration
because the Gospel of Luke is richer than pumpkin pie and Cool Whip – but not
that fat free, sugar free kind that my wife buys. Note that Luke opens this
story by telling us that on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing between
Samaria and Galilee. Mentioning Samaria is significant, since only the Samaritan responded with
grateful faith and praise.
Initially, the Samaritans rejected
Jesus’ disciples because he was going to Jerusalem; but when the disciples
wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy them, Jesus did not allow it.
In fact, a Samaritan showed the Jews how to be a good neighbor according to the
law.[iv] And now, by contrast with
nine others, a Samaritan embodies the conditions of salvation.
For salvation to be realized, the healed
person must respond in faith, a gift that is open to all. The grateful
Samaritan reminds us that salvation is not limited to the Jews, but is
universally offered to all people.
Like the nine lepers who did not return
to praise God and Jesus, the Pharisees failed to recognize that the kingdom of
God was already in their midst. It was manifested in Jesus’ healing, but they
looked elsewhere for it. Without faith, miracles are opaque. If the other nine
and the Pharisees were not blind, they certainly suffered from glaucoma.
Whatever the case, something prevented nine
lepers and many Pharisees from seeing the Kingdom of God in their midst through
the words and deeds of Jesus. Imagine how happy they would have been if they grasped
that insight. Well, we can do nothing about their happiness, but we can do
something about our own happiness. That leads me to my final point – how to enjoy a
happier Thanksgiving.
How do I recognize the kingdom of God is
in our midst? Through a recent healing? When encouraged by seeing down-and-out
diners served by well-heeled waiters? By confessing my sins and receiving
absolution through the pastor? When I show mercy to another sinner, as Jesus
showed mercy to the lepers? Even when we mourn our losses – as our family did
last month – we recognize that the kingdom of God is in our midst.
Folks, when we recognize God is truly in
our midst, and we praise Him for that, our thanksgiving feast around the table
of our home and around the table of the Lord will be truly happy.
Notice, Jesus instructs the grateful
leper, “Rise and go on your way.” After our final hymn, as you rise
and go on your way, journey to
your homes and dinner destinations, and journey with Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit move you where God wants you
–Pennsylvania, California, Oklahoma or Illinois. For when you go with God, the
peace of God that surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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