Sermon for Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving Eve

November 22, 2023

 

Counting on His Blessings

Luke 17  ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.

 

Before medicines were developed to treat the several diseases known in the Bible as leprosy, those infected were forced to stay apart from society -- isolated so they wouldn’t spread the disease. Lepers could get together with each other. For the company and support groups of lepers would stick together. There’d be leper colonies. Here a group of 10 lepers were hanging around together. I’m not sure if 10 is enough to be a colony, but it’s a good size number. Some of you know what it takes to feed 10 people, or find a place for 10 people to sleep, or to manage how 10 people can get along without getting upset with each other. 10 can be a crowd.

But notice this: There was one who didn’t just go along with the crowd. The crowd was heading off on their way, now cured and cleansed from leprosy, they were happy to go and not turn back. One didn’t go along with the crowd. He stopped and turned back Praised God, worshipped the Son of God, Jesus and gave Him thanks.

This Thanksgiving and on through the rest of the holidays even up to Easter, let’s not go along with the crowd. But let us pause to praise God, worship the Son of God, Jesus, and give Him thanks.

The crowd is satisfied with all the trappings of the holidays, the food, the special events, the decorations, and so forth. No harm in these things. But let’s pause from the crowd’s rush from time to time in these days, and remember God our Redeemer, Creator.

Everyone strives to be their own person; we all strive to be true to ourselves. But you realize, there’s too many times when we just go along with the crowd.  Why go with the crowd? Maybe it’s fear of being ridiculed or rejected. There’s been a strong pressure on us since we were children to behave like the rest are behaving. There’s the peer pressure that we warn young people about, but peer pressure works on all ages. Christians have to learn to stand out, to stand up for their believes.

Often a person just goes along with the crowd because it’s the easiest thing to do. It takes little thought, little effort. Jesus pointed out the Samaritan leper’s faith. That faith was demonstrated in the intentionality of his actions. He paused, thought about it, and worshipped the Lord.

The Puritan Pilgrims of Plymouth were ones who didn’t just go along with the crowd.  The crowd in England in the early 1600s led by King James were oppressive to the Puritans. They said the Puritans were being “Non-conformist” in their religion. Whether King James and the Official Church of England was right or wrong on the issues at stake is a question to consider later. But the thing is the Puritan Pilgrims didn’t want to have an earthly king tell them how to worship and pray. Neither would we.

A couple of hundred years later, German princes were declaring laws on how Lutherans should worship and pray. Especially the powerful King of Prussia was telling Lutheran churches that they needed to compromise with non-Lutherans, just go along with the crowd. Because of this oppression, many German immigrants came to the United States in the 1830s, and this immigration led to the organization of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

The Puritan Pilgrims of 1620 and the Lutheran Pilgrims of the 1830s are positive examples of faith. They are good examples of actively, intentionally confessing the faith in words and actions.

True Christian Thanksgiving is an act of faith. It is an admission that the good we have comes from the Lord. When the Samaritan leper stopped and turned back Praised God, worshipped the Son of God, Jesus and gave Him thanks he was making a bold statement, a powerful confession of his faith.

For this one leper, everything else could wait. This one thing mattered, his faith in Christ, and the worship of his Lord.

For the Puritan Pilgrims they faced the dangers of primitive sea travel and the uncertainties of entering a new land. But they did so in faith, counting of the blessings that the Lord would provide them.

Our Lutheran forefathers immigrated to this land with faith in the Lord, knowing that come what may, the Lord would provide.

You can give thanks. You can admit that you are thankful to God and His Son Jesus Christ, your Savior. You can confess your faith, with boldness and confidence, counting on the blessings of God.

Amen.