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Just out of curiosity I typed the word “Thanksgiving” into Google, just to see what would
come up. The majority of the articles were about recipes, sales, movies, tv, more sales
and more sales. Clearly we have moved far from what was the original idea of
Thanksgiving. The feast of Thanksgiving has become another excuse for excess in all its
forms. On this feast day we are invited to pause for a moment to give thanks for all our
blessings. That is hard to do because we are inundated with so many blessings that it is
hard to differentiate a blessing from a need.
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We know that we have too much. The commercial world makes us want everything and
therefore we assume we are going to have everything. I listened to a group of people
talking about buying presents for Christmas. They all acknowledged that it is very hard
today to buy presents for anyone because we all have so much. Even though I know that
you have 100 sweaters in a thousand colors I am buying you another one because I feel I
have to buy your something.
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We are far removed from the people of the past who were filled with thankfulness and
praise just for surviving another year. People in olden time lived a very hard life
compared to ours. They did not enjoy the comforts of the present age. They hunted for
food. They sowed and they harvested. They gathered their wood into barns for the long
winter. They pickled everything so that they would have some variety of food during the
winter. When sickness came there was little defense against it and people died all the
time. It makes complete sense when Winter was over to say thanks to God for surviving
another year.
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In our time and place it takes a catastrophe to get us to appreciate what giving thanks
means. I am sure those people who lost their homes to storms and floods are giving
thanks today that they survived their destruction. I am sure those military men and
women who came home from war are giving thanks for their families today. I am sure
that those who have little are giving thanks to God that people were happy to share their
bounty with them. I am sure that those who drove through ice and snow to visit their
families are thankful to God that they got to their destination safely. It seems to take a
catastrophe to get us to pay attention and to appreciate what we have.
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Let us then be thankful to God for all His blessings. We are thankful for our freedom to
worship God without fear. We are thankful for our way of life that is filled with comfort
and plenty. We are thankful for our families and friends who love us and take care of us.
We are thankful for our good health, for the things we have, for the land that we love, for
the pleasures we enjoy. God gives us gifts from His bounty.
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The gospel reading is interesting today. Jesus healed all the lepers and only one came
back, a Samaritan. We notice when Jesus tells some of his stories that the Samaritan is
often the hero of the story. We notice in Jesus’s preaching how often he made the
Samaritan the hero of the story. Jesus took a hidden swipe at the prejudice of the Jews.
We strive to do good. We search for God but we are contented to hate our neighbor
because that is what we have always done. To be a leper in ancient times was a terrible
thing. As soon as leprosy was declared you had to extract yourself from the community
and live in the leper colony. Survival among the lepers depended totally on the charity of
good people in the community.
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It is interesting that once placed in the leper community all divisions ceased. Leprosy
became that which united them as a community. What is interesting about the grateful
leper is that he had to contend with a double prejudice. It was bad enough to be a leper
but to be a Samaritan leper was even worse. Jesus applauds the gratitude of a Samaritan
leper. He casts shame on his society because they should know better.
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The Jews were always preaching about how to live a righteous good life according to the
Law of Moses but when they were put to the test they were found to be lacking. So, what
is the meaning of the quality of gratitude?
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Rabbi Benjamin Blech is a Professor of the Talmud at Yeshiva University near New
York. He defines a Jew in his article “Judaism and Thanksgiving” like this: The reason
we are known as Jews is because most of us are descended from Judah, the son of Leah.
When Leah, his mother gave birth to him she said, “This time I will give thanksgiving
unto the Lord; therefore she called his name Judah” from the Hebrew hodah, meaning
giving thanks.
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A number of Jewish commentators believe that the reason why the tribe of Judah
survived and the others disappeared stems from the meaning implicit in the name Judah.
Rabbi Blech goes on in his article to ask “what is the best way to define a Jew?” Do not
define us by our nose as anti-Semites would have it, but by our name. Jews are the people
who gave to the world, in addition to the awareness of God, the concept of gratitude.
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Every single day the devout Jew recites one hundred blessings, one hundred times to say
thank you to God. One hundred times we emphasize not what we are missing but we are
grateful for what we have. The lepers who were also devout Jews failed to give thanks to
God. The leper who was the Samaritan, the one we all hate, the devout opposite of a Jew
was full in his thankfulness and praise. That to the Jewish mind is ironic. It makes them
feel uncomfortable.
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I want to finish with the Gospel acclamation for today: “In all circumstances give thanks
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.