Thanksgiving Eve, 11-26-08

The Church Season of Trinity
Thanksgiving Eve, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (November 26, 2008)

“THE GOOD LAND”

Readings:
Psalm 67
Deut 8:1-10
Phil. 4:6-20 (or 1 Tim 2:1-4)
Luke 17:11-19

Sermon Form Deductive

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Old Testament Lesson from the 8th chapter of Deuteronomy, especially the following verses:

Deuteronomy 8:1-10 (NIV)

1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

For Moses and the Israelites it was a long trek from Egypt back to the promised land. They had been gone for over 400 plus 40 years and now they stood waiting to cross into the promised land. God had said to them, “Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers.”(v.1) Yet with this advice, some did not make it into the promised land, they died along the way. Some were not allowed to go into that land because they did not follow the Lord’s commands. And all of these weary travelers at some point or another grumbled as they went along and they were ultimately humbled by God. They all had been on quite a journey guided by God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who spoke to their leaders Moses and Aaron, who in turn shared God’s wisdom with His people. For some of these travelers ahead of them stood the promised land, “a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;”(v. 8) God was indeed bringing them into,

THE GOOD LAND

This land filled with all these good things to eat, sounds a lot like tomorrow for most of us eh? Yet sometimes a meal is more than a meal, more than a chance to pacify your palate or stuff your stomach. Sometimes the meal takes on a life of its own. Some meals are special, Thanksgiving is one of those times. And you may not even like turkey or dressing, but I’ll bet most of you have eaten it, or at least cooked it, for more Thanksgivings than you care to remember. Eating is often about far more than eating.

Long before the Israelites reached “the good land,” in fact on their last night in Egypt and during their final hours of slavery, the Israelites partook of a meal that was far more than a meal. No serving was there just to pretty up the plate, no sprig of parsley on the edge, or pretty umbrella in the drink. Not a thing in that meal was chosen because of nutritional content or even because it happened to have a good flavor. In fact, one part of it was chosen because it tasted very bad! Bitter herbs the Israelites were to eat, yes, bitter herbs, for the taskmasters had embittered their lives with the daily grind of servitude. As cows chew their cud, so the soon-to-be-freed slaves were to chew these herbs, year after year, as an edible token of the bad taste left in their mouths from all those acidic years in bondage.

But this main course proclaimed a message that extended well beyond that night, a tradition which would reach well beyond one single night to the many Passover celebrations to come. Indeed, the whole meal – bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and roasted lamb – this entire meal was an edible prophecy. For, as the preachers of old uttered prophecies of the coming Messiah, so this meal also was a foretelling that they could sink their teeth into. It promised that what “now” the Israelites were eating was but a foretaste, an appetizer, that was to whet their appetite for a meal that was “not yet.” And this “not yet” meal would be one that would surpass their supper in Egypt both in wonder and excellence.

This surpassing meal is definitely more than a meal, and it’s more than about eating. It is a table where the things of earth are lifted up to the things of heaven and the things of heaven are brought down to the things of this earth. Here God comes down into the Egypt of our captivity, not to kill his enemies, but to place into our mouths His own body and blood given into death to save His enemies, to save the likes of us.

It may seem a bit plain-Jane, maybe even austere, but this food of the new and better Passover, is given to us in simple bread and wine. Nothing there to razzle-dazzle the palate, no turkey drumsticks, sweet potatoes, or apple pie. Nothing to make this world’s connoisseurs salivate. But so it was in olden times as well, when Israelites ate unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and roasted lamb. Nothing there to raise the eyebrows of Egypt’s Martha Stewart, or Rachel Ray, no pilgrims and no native American Indians either. But the Father did not send His Son into the world to impress the world but to save the world through Him. And the means He uses to save you are wrapped in the disguise of utter simplicity.

God’s eternal meal is not prepared by human hands, no need of plans days ahead of time, no cloth napkins or china plates. Just simple words are all that is needed to make this meal, they are Christ’s words, “Take, eat, this simple bread is My body.” And Christ’s body brings to you that heavenly “land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing”(v.9)

Take, drink, this simple wine is His blood. It is the life-blood of the Lamb who gave His life for you. He no longer slakes your thirst with, “streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills”(v.7) Now He refreshes your faith with streams of blood flowing from His side into the cup of redemption which you shall take and drink.

And tomorrow? Well it will be just like today for we will awaken into a world of turmoil, with stock markets in a tizzy, governments in transition, companies facing decisions that will affect the livelihood of multitudes of our population. Yet tomorrow we will pause for a few hours to stop doing what we normally do. We will stop and share a meal celebrating the fact that we are giving thanks for all that we still have, and giving thanks to God for all that He still gives us. And while the definition of what we still have may be better or worse in the coming days, or months, or years, there is one thing that is for certain. God will lead the faithful from this earthly land to His heavenly kingdom that flows with milk and honey. So, tomorrow, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.”(v.10) And pause to give thanks to God again for giving you His Son Jesus Christ. For through Jesus Christ you will be brought into God’s heavenly kingdom, and that, indeed is a very a good land. Amen.

+SDG+