i awoke and i imagined the hard things that pulled us apart
will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts
Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last gathering of the church year. After today, we begin another trip through the wild ride of counting our days as the church would have us. But that’s not all today is, is it? Today is also the last Sunday before Thanksgiving. And then Black Friday. And then that mad dash to Christmas. Until, finally, we come to that heap of exhaustion on New Year’s Day.
Today, then, is something of a tipping point. We stand at the precipice of those last moments before the holiday season falls entirely into the clutches of the advertising world. In just a few days, each day will be little more than one more occasion to buy more stuff and accumulate more goods. All in the quixotic bid to ‘have yourself a merry little Christmas.’
So how about it, then? On these last moments before the season of overpriced gadgets, jammed airwaves, packed parking lots, and even more crowded calendars, shall we pause and just give thanks? That would make for good Christian behavior. Wouldn’t it?
But, to appeal to this impulse is to fail to attend to how gratitude actually comes about! After all, who has ever become thankful because they decided to? Who has ever gotten off the treadmill of conspicuous consumption because they kicked the habit?
The answer to these rhetorical questions, of course, is a resounding no one. This is because that’s patently not how it works! Gratitude isn’t contrived. It’s sparked! And the only way you ever become thankful is to stand on the receiving end of a promise so sweet, made by someone so good, you can’t help but count their largesse as your good fortune!
You may tell someone “thank you” because you’ve been brought you up to be polite. To say “please” because that’s what you ought to do. But that’s not the same thing as having a thankful heart. Is it?
Demands like “Be thankful!” can get us to drum up some outward action, like shaping air and teeth and tongue into the sound “tha-nk you.” But they simply can’t make you thankful. Catch the distinction? Something as good as saying, “thank you,” doesn’t touch your heart! All the shoulds and oughts in the world have never been able to accomplish this, and neither can a well-meaning, but misguided, pastor standing here, before you, today.
So then, if today isn’t one more admonition, a demand to be thankful, then what is it? Well, here’s what the prophet Isaiah offers up: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined!”
The aim of God’s Word today, and every other day, isn’t to tell you to be thankful. No, the Word of God intends to make you thankful! To give you something you can’t help but give thanks for! In a word, the Word of God means to deliver you! Deliver you from the devil, the world, and even your own sinful self!
We just heard from God’s prophet that God’s going to do the heavy-lifting this year. And God’s going to hand over all the goods this Christmas, too! And then, you will go from here and curse inflation! You will give too much thought to your own budget and not enough to God’s promises. You will make a to-do list longer than your arm, and then turn around and resent everyone around you for everything that’s on it! In other words, you will not only utterly fail at being thankful. You will also turn your nose up at everything God has given you to be grateful for!
Now, perhaps, at that moment, you will see your gloomy predicament for what it is. You will see all too clearly how all you bring to the table this Thanksgiving is a heaping helping of gloom, darkness, and despair. When you see that, though, you will also finally be able to see just how radiant the light of Christ really is!
When you know you can’t pull yourself out of your anguish by your own bootstraps, only to hear that God intends to increase your joy anyway, you won’t be able to do anything but give thanks to this kind of God! And there it is. Isn’t it? What Isaiah prophesied! “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!” Not your zeal.
This Thanksgiving, and all the days ahead depend, not one whit upon your own zeal! No, Christ intends to shine his light on your life all by his own power, his own holiness, and his own zeal! The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!
This is why a sermon saying you ought to be thankful doesn’t do the trick! It misses the truth of everything Jesus, the Word of God and light of the world, has accomplished for you! If all you needed was just to learn how to give thanks, you wouldn’t need anything more than a how-to manual. A copy of “Godliness for Dummies” would suffice for you. But you wouldn’t need a savior, would you? You wouldn’t need to actually be rescued from your darkness, gloom, and despair. In other words, you would have nothing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Well, beloved, hear this: Christ is absolutely unafraid of your darkest secret or your deepest shame! Your anguish is no match for the joy of Christ. You belong to Jesus, despite what you’ve brought to the thanksgiving feast this year or where you land on the naughty and nice list! You are valuable to God by the mere fact that in your baptism, Christ has claimed you forever and ever. Amen!
Now, no longer does your future depend on either your past or your resolve to make a better one. For Christ comes to shine his light upon you and give you his salvation by his own zeal! No longer do you need to decide to be thankful, for our Lord has given you everything, and eternity, too! You have been given something that elicits your gratitude, makes you thankful, and even creates saving faith, to boot!
And in that radiant light, suddenly all God’s good gifts come to be seen as your Lord’s horn of plenty! Your sweet potatoes with marshmallows. The warmth of your bed on a crisp November morning. Your beloved family gathered around the table and those you’ve lost who are gathered around God’s heavenly table. Your future. Your past. Your every single breath and heartbeat. These come, not just as another thing you should be grateful for, but as an actual part of the salvation God has set out for you from the beginning of time!
The word for you today is not “be thankful,” But, “a child has been born for you, a son given to you, authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace!” And he is named all this, not on account of his own merits, although he has indeed earned such accolades. No, he is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace because that is who he’s determined to be for you! Christ is your Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace! Yours.
How’s that for something to be thankful for?
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