Thanksgiving That Pushes Back: Gratitude as Holy Rebellion

Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Another pastor once pointed this out in Romans chapter 1. Paul is laying out that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God—both Jews and Gentiles. And when he’s speaking of Gentiles, verse 21 says, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

I had never noticed that before. And this other pastor said, “Thanksgiving is subversive.”

It is subversive in the way that it goes against the world. It goes against the catechesis of the devil.

Black Friday isn’t as big as it used to be, but I remember back in its heyday how earlier and earlier stores would open. It went from midnight, to 11:00 p.m., to 10:00 p.m., to 6:00 p.m., to not even closing at all—just starting the sale in the store at a certain time. And the absolute fistfights that would happen over things like 500-thread-count bed sheets and 32-inch TVs.

Now, you think about it today—a 32-inch TV. I don’t even know if that would cost more than $100 now, but back then they were expensive.

We are geared not to be thankful. We are geared to focus on what we do not have instead of what we do have—and so, to be ungrateful. Anybody who has had to teach a child knows this. And then you realize, “Oh my gosh, what a brat I was for my own parents, because I used to do the same thing.” I don’t want that brand of jeans. That brand isn’t cool. I need this brand of jeans. Meanwhile, my parents are just thinking, “Jeans are jeans, right?”

Then maybe you meet someone, or you do a service project, and you realize how much you actually do have. And you correct your behavior, correct your attitude… but it lasts about a week. Because, I’ll be honest, our entire economy is based on selling you the idea that what you have is not enough.

This is why there are advertisements. In fact, there’s even a culture around advertisements. If you don’t like the teams playing in the Super Bowl, you still watch so you can see the commercials—because they’re “cultural events.” Things that are meant to sell you something are now cultural events in our society.

Your car isn’t good enough. Your dishes aren’t clean enough. Your house isn’t big enough. Your drink isn’t refreshing enough. But if you buy these things, you’ll be the coolest cat on the block. Women will adore you. Men will think you’re manly because you have the right type of car, the right type of truck. All your problems will go away… until, of course, you watch the next ad, and the cycle starts all over again.

“They neither glorified God nor gave thanks to Him.”
Giving thanks is upstream of idolatry. It’s upstream of self-worship, because when we don’t give thanks, we focus on ourselves. Luther called it “the god of our belly.” Scripture uses even harsher terms in the Old Testament.

So we pause. We always pause at Thanksgiving. We always pause in November and give thanks. We do food drives and look for those who are less fortunate. And we’ll continue this through Christmas.

Then Christmas will come. Pretty soon the decorations go down—maybe by January 1, who knows—and everything will be packed away. And we’ll forget about it for ten months of the year. We’ll forget about Thanksgiving, forget about praising God.

And the amazing thing about God is that He still gives us the good gifts.

That “stiff-necked people” line wasn’t just for the Old Testament. It’s for us today. And He still comes and gives us the good gifts. We don’t get manna anymore, but I think there are a lot of things we look at and say, “What in the world is that?” Manna literally means, “What is it?”

God gives us the good gifts. God still provides for us—body and soul—knowing that we will be ungrateful, knowing that we will look for “greater” things to fulfill us, things that aren’t greater at all but actually lesser. And He continues to give us the good gifts.

And the greatest gift He gives us is what the children told us: Christ on the cross, the forgiveness of sins.

Yes, you are ungrateful. But even that sin is covered in the blood of the Lamb. He invites us to His table to give us a feast—the foretaste of the feast to come. He reminds us that in the waters of baptism we are new creations, and that our focus has shifted from ourselves to Him.

We actually get to know what it means to be content. What it means to be happy when we lack. To trust in the midst of turmoil. To be forgiven children of God.

I always hated going fourth when the family would go around giving thanks, because someone is going to take “family.” Someone is going to take “friends.” Someone is going to take “God.” So that fourth person has to come up with something new, right? “What are you grateful for?” And the three easy ones are all gone.

But that is the wrong way to think about Thanksgiving. Everyone should give thanks for God. Everyone should give thanks for friends. And I hope your family is whole enough that you can give thanks for family—because not everyone can.

God is an amazing God. God is a forgiving God. God is a loving God. And He comes to us over and over and over again, even though we are ungrateful children—and He calls us beloved children.

He gives us the good gifts, and we slowly begin to change our mindset. I think it takes age. Part of it is responsibility, realizing, “I can’t give my kids everything they want, but I can give them what they need.” And when that thinking happens, you start to reevaluate your approach to life and what you’re grateful for. You start to think back—like I said—about how you were as a kid and how right your parents were. You won’t tell them that, of course. At least not until much later. But I know your children, once they hit adulthood, will think it. Because I’m pretty sure you probably thought it as well.

So let us give thanks with a grateful heart. Let us give thanks for what God has given us. Look around you—the people here, and the people who aren’t here whom you will see in heaven. The food on your table. The clothes on your back. The Word of God—the life-giving Word.

Let us give thanks. Thanks and praise to the holy God who comes to us and pours out His love for us. Let us be that lone leper—even if it is just one of us—who turns back to the Lord and praises Him with a loud voice.

In Christ’s name, amen.