The Lutheran Hour
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"Swollen Feet"
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Text: Deuteronomy 8:3-4
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Christ is risen! He is risen. He is risen, indeed. Rich or poor, young or old, healthy or ill, the risen Christ comes, and by God’s grace offers forgiveness of sins and His assured hope of heaven. Today we rejoice and give thanks for the living Lord, our cause for true thanksgiving. Amen.
Without having taken a look at the calendar, I know that this week the United States is going to be celebrating Thanksgiving. I don’t have to take a look at the calendar because there have been certain telltale signs that Thanksgiving Day is coming. For example, the Butterball Hot Line, the 800-number which will answer 100,000 questions from troubled turkey cookers is up and running. More than 50 people who man the hotline will deal with questions like, “Can I thaw the turkey using the high setting on my electric blanket?” “Can I put the turkey through the rinse cycle of my dishwasher to clean it?” “Is there enough steam in my dishwasher to cook it?” And “I cleaned my turkey with bleach, is it OK to eat it?” The answer to those questions is, “no.” The turkey hotline will deal with people like the lady who gave her children a bubble bath in the same tub, at the same time she was thawing her turkey. She wanted to know if bubbles had hurt her bird. They may end up helping people like the restaurant owner in California who wanted to know how to prepare turkey for a vegetarian menu. Without looking at the calendar, I know Thanksgiving is coming.
And, there is one other thing I know; I know it’s not normal, it’s not natural, for a sinner to say thanks. Contrary to popular opinion, the first Thanksgiving in what would become the United States was not celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621. The first recorded Thanksgiving took place in Jamestown, Virginia, more than 11 years earlier. The winter of 1610 in that colony had reduced the number of settlers from 409 to a mere 60. Without knowing when or how it might come, the survivors prayed for help. That help showed up when a ship loaded with supplies from England dropped anchor. A prayer meeting was held to give thanks to God. As far as I have been able to find out, that prayer meeting of thanks was not repeated. It’s not normal or natural for a sinner to give thanks.
A moment ago I mentioned the Pilgrims. Their first winter was devastating as they buried 46 of the 102 who had landed at Plymouth Rock. Fortunately, the harvest of 1621 was plentiful and the survivors celebrated with a feast, a banquet to which they invited 91 Native Americans who had helped them survive. The feast, which may, or may not have included wild turkey, did have venison and boiled pumpkin. Since there were no domestic cattle there was no butter or milk; and since most people considered potatoes to be poisonous, they probably didn’t show up on the table. The feast lasted three days and was not repeated the following year. It’s not natural; it’s not normal for sinners to be thankful.
Now this is where I could tell you of the work of Sarah Hale who tried to get the whole nation to join together in a national day of thanks. Tirelessly she worked, keeping a steady stream of letters being sent to newspapers, congressmen, and Presidents Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan. I could tell you how it took until 1863, when the country was deeply divided before President Lincoln declared such a holiday. Since then every President has followed Lincoln’s example. Of course there was the time when Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week so there would be a longer Christmas shopping season. It’s not normal; it’s not natural for a country to give thanks.
Of course, you don’t have to examine U.S. history to discover that truth. The Bible says the same thing. If ever a couple should have had thankful hearts it should have been Adam and Eve. Placed by a perfect God in a perfect garden which boasted perfect food, perfect weather, and provided perfect health, their days should have been filled with equally perfect, and unending, thanksgiving. But thanksgiving isn’t normal or natural. It didn’t take too long before Adam and Eve forgot their thanks and became dissatisfied with their perfect situation.
The Children of Israel should have been thankful. They had a God who, through mighty miracles and powerful plagues, managed to procure their release from the slavery of Egypt. But it’s not natural; it’s not normal for sinners to be thankful. When the Egyptians came looking to bring them back to slavery, God’s people complained to Moses saying, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us … Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone…'” (Exodus 14:11-12). When God, in a most spectacular way delivered them from the Egyptians, you would think God’s chosen would have learned to give thanks. They didn’t. They kept complaining. They complained about food; they complained about meat; they complained about water. God heard those complaints and He provided by sending miraculous food, miraculous meat, and miraculous water.
In spite of these daily and numerous examples of Divine intervention the Children of Israel didn’t learn thankfulness. When they reached the place God had promised, after they had investigated the wonderful land, they continued complaining. Scripture records their whining words: “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in the wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” Because of their lack of thanksgiving you can understand why God let that generation die off and 40 years later started over.
As this new generation stood poised to take possession of the land of promise, God stopped them and gave them a reminder. He said: “When you get to where I’m taking you, I want you to remember all that I’ve done for you. I want you to be thankful for the daily food and water I’ve provided. I want you to be appreciative of the clothes which haven’t worn out. I want you to be grateful for the fact that during the last 40 years your feet haven’t swelled up.” How’s that for a list? Be appreciative of water? Just water? No Earl Grey Tea, no Starbucks, no Budweiser, Diet Coke, Mountain Dew, or Dr. Pepper? Be thankful for 40 years of quail? In most homes, three days of turkey leftovers have people complaining. And how about manna? How long would your table prayers sound sincere if, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, for four decades, you had manna for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? You probably would have had manna baked, boiled, breaded, and broiled; there would have been pickled manna, barbecued manna, stuffed manna, manna under glass, manna shish kabobs, and manna fondue. How long can a person be thankful for manna? And do you know anyone who can be thankful for clothes that didn’t wear out? I don’t. Forty years of wearing the same robes that come in a one-size-fits-all is not going to make anyone in my family thankful. When your wife says, “Oh, this old thing?” she would really mean it. Did the Lord really expect people to be thankful to Him because their feet hadn’t swollen up like watermelons? That’s got to be one of the most unusual verses in all of Scripture.
God must have known better. He must have known that as soon as His people were in possession of the land of promise they would forget He had given it to them. The Lord must have known that their unthankful hearts would turn away from Him and follow after other gods. He must have known that when Jesus healed ten lepers, nine would forget to say thank You. He must have known the priests of Jesus’ time would be jealous of Him, not thankful for Him. God must have known that it’s not natural; it’s not normal for sinful people to give thanks.
The answer to all of those obvious questions is: “Of course God knows.” On this day of national Thanksgiving the Lord knows that many people, people whom He has slathered in stuff, whom He has inundated with blessings beyond counting, will remain ungrateful. He knows they will disavow His existence; He knows they will disavow their dependency; and He knows they will deny any need to show Him any gratitude. That’s why, for many, this Thanksgiving Day will be nothing more than Turkey Day. That’s why this Thanksgiving will be nothing more than people getting together to drink, talk, eat, and go home, better known as giggle, gabble, gobble, and git!” No one knows better than God that it’s not normal, it’s not natural, for sinful souls and self-satisfied countries to give thanks. Even so, the Lord doesn’t feel uncomfortable, doesn’t think He is asking too much for us to have grateful, thankful hearts.
Indeed, we will have these things if we truly understand that thanksgiving has very little to do with what you have or what you own. True thanksgiving is not based on the tonnage of your turkey, or the quarts of cranberries, or the plethora of pies, or the pile of potatoes that have your Thanksgiving table groaning. True thanksgiving is not based on whether the bird is unburnt, whether your favorite college football team is victorious, or whether your Christmas shopping is completed during the first two hours of Friday morning’s early-bird specials.
True thanksgiving, real, lasting thanksgiving comes from knowing that God loves you. The Old Testament’s King David wasn’t truly thankful because Samuel had anointed him to be the future king. He became thankful when his murderous, adulterous, repentant heart was brought to the realization that God loved him and forgave him. The Apostle Peter became truly thankful, not when the Lord hand-picked him to be His disciple; not when the Lord reached down and pulled him from the stormy Sea of Galilee; not when Jesus allowed him to help feed the 5,000. Peter became truly thankful when the Holy Spirit told his deserting, denying, repentant heart that the crucified and risen Christ still loved him. Paul became truly grateful when the Lord told him that his life, once dedicated to persecuting Christ’s people, had been forgiven.
Please know, the list of thankful hearts doesn’t stop with the disciples and the apostles – it begins there. Watch the joy of the jailer at Philippi. His heart was filled with thanks when his suicidal hand was stayed by the message of the Savior who had been born, lived, died, and loved him. Go to the monastery cell of Martin Luther. There was no joy or thanksgiving there as the earnest and sincere monk lived in fear of an angry God who was never pleased with his fasts, his scourgings, his countless and endless confessions. There was no thanksgiving as Luther constantly worked to please a God whom he thought was unpleasable. Thanksgiving came to Luther only when Scripture revealed his Savior had won complete and total forgiveness for him on Calvary’s cross. Thanksgiving came only when Luther realized Jesus loved him.
It’s thanksgiving time, which means it’s time for you to know it’s not things, or the people around you, that bring forth heartfelt thanks. Thanksgiving comes with the knowledge that God loves you. God loves you not because you’re well dressed, not because you’re good looking, and not because you’ve tried to lead a good life. God loves you not because you are successful, not because you are admired, not because of anything you are or that you’ve done. God loves you because of what His Son has done.
True thanksgiving comes when thankless, disobedient, degenerate sinners are brought to the realization that God, perfect God, holy, sin-hating God has looked down from heaven and decided to save them. True thanksgiving comes when a person knows God’s innocent Son gave Himself, completely and totally so he might be saved; it comes when an individual acknowledges Jesus shed His blood so he might be cleansed; it comes when he believes Jesus rose from the dead so he would never have to face or spend eternity in the fires of hell. Thanksgiving comes when we know that when nobody could love us, Jesus has; it comes when we know when we are at our worst, our baddest, our meanest, our cruelest, God continues to love us. Thanksgiving comes when we pray, “God, be merciful to me a sinner, – and we know He is.
True thanks comes in the knowledge that there are no sins you have committed which God, through His Son, cannot, will not, has not forgiven. True thanks comes in the knowledge that God sent His Son to this hospital ward that we call the world and has shown us His love. True thanks come when we see Jesus living, suffering, and dying so that we might know we are loved. True thanks come in knowing that God loves you, twisted, torn, and terrified. When He has no reason to love you, God loves you the most. That’s what Paul meant when He said, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). That’s what John meant when he wrote: “This is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). When you know that, then, for the first time, you will be really, truly thankful. You will be thankful for water, and food, and clothes, and feet that don’t swell. You will be thankful, because you can’t help yourself.
It’s not natural or normal for sinners to be thankful. If you have any doubt about that fact, I’d encourage you to look at your children and grandchildren. I’d like to point out as wonderful as our children and grandchildren are, nobody has ever had to teach them to say, “No;” nobody had ever had to teach them to grab something and say, “Mine.” No one has ever had to instruct them to say, “That’s not fair, my brother always gets what he wants, but I never…” and you can fill in the blank. Our children, our grandchildren, we ourselves, learned these things all on our own. It’s natural for sinners to be self-centered and selfish.
Now, let me ask, how many of your children and grandchildren learned to say “Thank you” all on their own? How many, all by themselves remember to say a word of appreciation for the gifts they get at Christmas or on their birthdays? How many times do you have to urge, “What do you say to your Auntie for the nice socks?” It’s not normal for sinners to be thankful; but it’s natural for Christians who have a Savior who is worthy of our gratitude. Which is why it is the prayer of everyone at The Lutheran Hour that this Thanksgiving Day will become a day of undying appreciation to Him who died for you. If we can help in your thanksgiving, please call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR: 75-10
AIRS: November 18, 2007
TOPIC: Keeping His Miracles SecretANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. A mother called with a question from her 10-year-old son who said, “If Jesus wanted people to believe in Him, why did He tell them not to tell anyone else about His miracles?” What do you think?
KLAUS: I think we ought to give the young man an answer.
ANNOUNCER: And his mother, too.
KLAUS: And probably a lot of other people out there who know “it pays to advertise.” In truth, a lot of good church folks have been brought up short by such an account in the Bible. After all, it pays to advertise, doesn’t it? We know Jesus wanted people to see that He was their Savior. If so, then why not encourage anyone and everyone who has seen Him perform a miracle, to go out and spread the word?
ANNOUNCER: Right! Talk about a selling point! But first, let’s give some background to this particular story.
KLAUS: Of course. The Gospel writers record several instances when Jesus, after performing a miracle, gave strict instructions to the people who were there, not to say anything. I think one of the best examples of Jesus doing that took place when He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
ANNOUNCER: And, of course, having seen a miracle like that, they would almost be compelled to go out and tell everyone.
KLAUS: Which, sometimes, Jesus didn’t want.
ANNOUNCER: Now you’ve got me asking why. Why wouldn’t Jesus want people to know? Why sometimes did He stop them and other times not?
KLAUS: You know, I’ve heard some people say that Jesus was practicing a form of reverse psychology. Sort of like hanging out a sign which says “Wet Paint – Do Not Touch.” You hang out that sign, you can be pretty sure everybody is going to want to touch the thing, just to see if the paint really is wet. But that explanation seems to make Jesus a little bit deceptive. I feel kind of uncomfortable with that kind of explanation.
ANNOUNCER: So then, why did Jesus do what He did?
KLAUS: Mark, I remember when my children were young and we were on vacation headed for Denver. We got to the middle of Wyoming and we came across a sign that said, “Denver, 127 miles away.” I made the mistake of telling the kids, “Well, Denver’s coming up soon.” For the next 60 miles, all Pam and I heard was, “Are we there yet? Are we there, yet?” We weren’t there yet. Thankfully, they took a nap and we continued on in peace. And when I saw the sign that said, “Denver, 40 miles” – I didn’t tell them.
ANNOUNCER: And how do you relate that to our question for today?
KLAUS: Well, this way, Mark. Jesus wanted people to know he was… what?
ANNOUNCER: That He was their Savior.
KLAUS: Getting people to see Him as their Savior – that was the destination Jesus wanted people to reach. He did His miracles to show these folks that He was the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
ANNOUNCER: But the people, instead of seeing that miracle as a signpost pointing to Jesus the Savior, they thought that with the miracle they had already reached their goal.
KLAUS: Right. And Jesus, the Miracle-Worker – feeding thousands with loaves and fishes, healing the sick of all their diseases – is not the place where Jesus wanted them to stop. He wanted them to keep on going all the way to His cross and empty tomb.
ANNOUNCER: So, He encouraged them to keep quiet about the miracles. But, why do the miracle at all then?
KLAUS: Well, you see there was this dead girl and some heartbroken parents. Mark, Jesus never came across a funeral that he didn’t wreck. Jairus’ daughter, the young man of Nain, Lazarus, His own. Jesus loved people and He was often moved by compassion to do something special for them. But once again, He didn’t want them to stop there. He wanted them to be led by the Holy Spirit to faith in Him as their Savior.
ANNOUNCER: Now, was there ever a time when Jesus told people to share His miracles with others?
KLAUS: You would think that would be the case, wouldn’t you? Well, if you think that, you’re right. Take a look at Mark 5:19. Jesus healed a man who had been possessed by demons. He cast those demons into a herd of hogs that ran down into the sea and drowned themselves. The man who was healed acknowledged Jesus as his Savior and wanted to follow Jesus. Instead, Jesus told him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”
ANNOUNCER: And He was confident that the man wouldn’t stop just talking about the healing, but he would tell people about Jesus the Savior.
KLAUS: Exactly.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Come, You Thankful People, Come” From Hymns for All Saints: Adoration, Praise, Comfort (© 2004 Concordia Publishing House)
“Now Thank We All Our God” by John Behnke. From For All Seasons, vol. 2 by John Behnke (© 2001 John A. Behnke) Hope Publishing Company/ASCAP
“Voluntary on Old Hundredth” by Henry Purcell, arr. James Curnow. From Light of My Soul by the Wind Symphony of Concordia University-Chicago (© 2007 Concordia University-Chicago) Curnow Music