225 years ago this year (2014) President George Washington proclaimed a national Day of Thanksgiving in the United States for the year 1789, the year in which provisional independent government ended and a permanent federal government took effect under a document, called a Frame of Government at the time but now known as the Constitution, ratified by all the states.  74 years later, in 1863, as the country was in a civil war, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Day of Thanksgiving.

If you were to go back and look at what Washington or Lincoln said in their proclamations in a national day of thanksgiving, you would see a great many references to God of the Bible, and to our duty as recipients of His good graces. What you wouldn’t see is a single thing about Pilgrims or turkeys in either of those proclamations.  Or watching sports or Black Friday sales.  Things have changed a little in our culture.  But not for us.

For a Christian, Thanksgiving isn’t about us giving something to God, as in our thanks.  No, it is about God giving us something in Christ, namely healing from our sinful condition. Not just this, but everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body and this life.  All this He does only out of Fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us.  For all this, it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.

This is why each Thanksgiving we hear the story in the Gospel according to Luke about Jesus healing the 10 lepers.  While Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, He was passing through the lands of Samaria and Galilee. This could sometimes be a dangerous area since Jews and Samaritans did not always get along with each other very well.  According to the laws of both Jews and Samaritans, lepers had to be separated from the rest of the community, and so they would hang out at the outskirts of town. After Jesus tells them to show themselves to the priests, they are healed. We know how the story goes, with only one, a Samaritan, turning back to Jesus. Jesus commends the faith of a Samaritan leper who alone gives thanks for his healing.

One of the key parts of this Scripture reading is right at the beginning, on what the lepers cry out: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” This has become part of our cry, part of our liturgy, the Kyrie.  Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. We call out to Jesus with the same cry. Have mercy on us.  The Kyrie confesses misery and a world of hurt.  It is a confession of need. But the cry for mercy also confesses the One from whom mercy comes: Jesus who is Lord. 

In the New Testament, when people called upon Jesus to have mercy, He did. He healed, He cast out demons, He forgave sins. People called upon the Lord to have mercy because He was present, right there, to be merciful.

Most of us probably don’t have leprosy of the skin, but we do have it of the soul. We have a sickness that makes us unclean. That sickness is our sin.  We cry out to the Lord, Have mercy upon us!  When we do so, we are holding God to His promise to be gracious and merciful to us for Jesus’ sake.  

When we call upon Jesus to have mercy, we know that He will keep His promise and have mercy upon us, too. When we call upon the Lord in the Divine Service, it is a confession that the Lord is present in that place to have mercy. It is a confession of faith that the Lord is present in His means of grace to grant forgiveness, life and salvation. The Kyrie is not abstract: it is not, “Lord, wherever You are, have mercy on us.” It is, “Lord, because You have promised to be here with us by Your Word and Sacraments, have mercy upon us through these means.”

How can we not be thankful for such mercy that the Lord gives to we who are unworthy?  When we go home today to get ready for a big meal, with family and friends, or even if it’s just a day like every other, our thanks overflows in our words and actions.  We return to our lives in recognition that Christ has had mercy on us today.  We pray over our food giving thanks to God for His bountiful goodness of body and soul.  We show our thanks in the ways that we treat one another, and the way in which treat Jesus on this day.  For as we leave here, mercifully fed and nourished by His Word, by His body and His blood,  we do so with Jesus words, “Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well.” Amen.