(audio only)
Sermon for Thanksgiving
Small Catechism Review: Lord’s Prayer, Fourth Petition
In the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, we’ve asked our Father in heaven that His name may be hallowed among us, that His kingdom may come to us also, and that His will may be done among us, so that the will of all who oppose God’s will, like the devil, the world, and our flesh, may be defeated. I found it convenient to plan the Fourth Petition specifically for this Thanksgiving service of ours, because in it we ask for all those things for which we give thanks today, all wrapped up in the simple little phrase, Give us this day our daily bread.
What does this mean?
God surely also gives daily bread to all evil people without our petition; but we ask in this prayer that He would allow us to recognize this, and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
What is meant by daily bread?
Everything that pertains to the needs and necessities of this life, such as food, drink, clothes, shoes, house, yard, land, animals, money, property, a godly spouse, godly children, godly servants, godly and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, trustworthy neighbors, and the like.
Our catechism students recently memorized that list of 22 examples of daily bread, of the things that we need for our life on earth. It isn’t just bread we’re praying for. Because, as Luther points out in the Large Catechism, to pray for bread, means to pray for rain, and for sunshine, and for good soil, and for harvests, and for the farmer who does the harvesting. To pray for bread means to pray for healthy bodies, or at least healthy enough to digest our daily bread. To pray for bread means to pray for a safe place to eat it, and for the necessary people with whom to eat it, and for the security and the peace in which to eat it, which requires good government, or at least good enough to keep at bay those who would steal the bread right out of our mouths. To pray for bread means to pray for all that we need, not for eternal life, but for this life.
Because our Father in heaven cares about the bodies and the life He has given us. It’s His will to provide for our earthly life, to give us what we need, even in this sinful world, even to us poor sinners. That’s what Jesus teaches us in this petition, first, that it’s God’s will to provide for us.
Second, that our Father in heaven is the Giver of everything we have and everything we need. The sad, sad reality of the American holiday of Thanksgiving is that most people who celebrate it may speak of thankfulness, but they fail to give thanks to the true Giver, to the true God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thankfulness is not a virtue if it isn’t directed to the true God; it’s just another form of idolatry that arouses our Father to jealousy as He watches the people of the earth giving the thanks that belong to Him to false gods, including themselves. But we know better. We know that all we have comes from our Father in heaven, and so we know to thank Him properly, as we have gathered here this evening to do.
But that little phrase in the petition, give us “this day,” and that little word “daily” teach us something very important. They teach us to turn our eyes away from tomorrow and next week and next year and to focus them on the needs only of today. They teach us to ask the question at the end of each day, Has my Father in heaven given me what I needed for today? You’ll find that the answer is always, yes. He may not have given you everything you wanted, or everything you asked for beyond your needs of today. He may not have removed all the troubles and hardships from your life today. But did He provide what you needed? You know He did. And so let us receive all these things with thanksgiving at Thanksgiving.
Now, what’s the opposite of thanksgiving? It’s not malice or hatred toward God. It’s taking all these things for granted. It’s a terrible but common sin. It doesn’t harm anyone physically, but it does harm your relationship with others and with God. Children are very good at taking things for granted. They tend to assume they’re entitled to all the things they have, from the clean clothes in their drawers, to the food in the pantry or the fridge, to the plates in the cupboard to the furniture on which they sit, to the heat or to the air conditioning in their homes. How did all those things get there? Children often don’t know and, honestly, don’t care what mom or dad or someone else had to invest or spend in order for them to have what they have. It’s a sign that a child is growing up when he or she can finally think about the good they have instead of the good they don’t have, and when he or she can finally appreciate the giver more than the gift.
But, in some ways, we’re all still children in that regard, aren’t we? Except that we (adults) don’t have the excuse of being children—although even the thanklessness of children is sinful and a sign that they, too, carry around a sinful flesh. The Lord provides us with everything we have and need, every moment, even though we don’t fear or love Him as we should. And still, how much of it do we take for granted? How much do we feel entitled to? Sin keeps us from recognizing the Giver of all that we have, and sin keeps us from trusting in Him to provide what we need. Sin has us looking around, seeing everything we need for today and so much more, and saying, “Yeah, but, I had that coming.” Or worse, “Yeah, but, that’s all worthless. Because, what about tomorrow? What about next week? What about next year? God hasn’t provided all that yet. And I don’t know if He will.”
Take this opportunity to repent of such thoughts and attitudes, to take all the entitlement, all the taking for granted, all the distrust—in short, all the thanklessness of your heart—and lay it on Jesus. See our Father in heaven punishing His Son for it—His thankful Son, His Son who always praised His Father for every good thing. And trust your Father’s faithful promise to forgive all who look to Christ in faith. That right there, that’s the source of all true thankfulness, what God has done for you through Christ and in Christ, forgiving you every sin and choosing to see you as His beloved child, with a perfect record of obedience and with a perfect righteousness in your thoughts, words, and deeds.
Considering that gift of God, we turn toward Him in thanksgiving in a special way this evening as we’re about to celebrate the Eucharist, that is, the great Thanksgiving of the Lord’s Supper. Here we give thanks to God for His greatest gift—for the body and blood of Christ that won our forgiveness on the cross and that are given to us for forgiveness in the Sacrament. Here our Father provides both for our earthly needs and for our eternal needs, in giving us the forgiveness we need to enter the kingdom of heaven, and in giving us the strength we need for today to face this earthly life with peace, with joy, and, yes, with thanksgiving.
We’re facing various trials in our congregation at the moment. Some of our regular members couldn’t be here this evening due to sickness or frailty. Some are suffering bodily pain, others emotional pain, others anxiety of spirit. We would all like to see the problems go away. We would all like to see our church and our diocese bigger, to see these chairs filled with new brothers and sisters in Christ. But now, at the end of the day, in spite of all the challenges, ask yourselves, has our Father in heaven given us all we needed for today? You know that He has. And so, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer in a few moments, pray it with thanksgiving in your hearts. And when you go to pray it tomorrow on your own and you come to the Fourth Petition, Our Father, Give us this day our daily bread, know that He has, and that He will, and let that fill your hearts and your homes with thanksgiving. Amen.
