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Thanksgiving Day - year C

This year's Thanksgiving texts all deal with the human response of gratitude to God, our Provider and Defender.  While Deuteronomy stresses the importance of returning a portion of what God has blessed us with in the past, Paul reminds us in Philippians that the reason we can be joyful and eternally grateful is the very fact that the Lord is near--no matter what.  In John, Jesus--the Bread of Life--leads us to a deeper spiritual understanding of gratitude. Our thankfulness should come foremost in response to God's feeding of our souls and only secondarily from this-worldly blessings.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11--Thank-Offering
On first blush, one might ask: "What does giving thanks to God have to do with bringing one's first-fruits to the altar?" But as the Scripture text unfolds it becomes clear that bringing gifts to the altar is to recount the blessings of God in the past with a grateful and generous heart.  The worshiper is to reflect the generosity of God in such a way that God's kingdom of peace and justice is continually established (acc to verse 13 the offering is designated for the Levites, the aliens and the widows) and future blessings are thus ensured.  Furthermore, by participating in the drama of the sacred offering, the believer is woven into the growing quilt of God's Salvation history.

Philippians 4:4-9--Joyful Gratitude
The apostle Paul draws a connection between rejoicing and gratitude;  when we give thanks, we do so out of the joy in the Lord.  Paul's expression of gratitude is not a once and done altar call, nor is it an annual event, but rather a life-style ("Rejoice in the Lord always (4)...in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (6)").  For Paul this "superhuman" attitude of gratitude and joy is possible because of the fact that "the Lord is near. (5)" No matter what will happen to us in life or death, we can relax in God's gracious and loving hands.
 

John 6:25-35--Christ, the Bread of Life
In the reading from the gospel of John, Jesus is dealing with a crowd that wants to express their thankfulness for his show of hospitality in the miraculous feeding of the five thousand.   Jesus picks up on a motivation for this "thank you" that he apparently thinks lacks spiritual depth.  He tells the crowd in so many words: don't just be thankful for this-worldy blessings, but be grateful for the spiritual blessings God gives you.  For John, the ultimate expression of God's spiritual blessings is Jesus himself--the Bread of Life--whose life and sacrifice becomes our salvation and daily spiritual nourishment.