Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
The word thank or thanks appears fourteen times in the four Gospels. While it's used only once to describe a response to Jesus -- in Luke's account of the Samaritan leper -- it is more often (eight times) used during several stories about the Eucharist. Jesus also thanks the Father (in Mt and Lk) for revealing "these things to infants:" once for hearing his prayer as he calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and twice in parables. (One of them in the prayer of a hypocrite.)
Speaking only for myself, I wish the preferred Gospel for today were one of the Eucharistic passages. It would better fit our celebration of Thanksgiving, which even in secular America is represented most often by a meal rather than by a parade or football game.
But if I take issue with this particular gospel appearing every single year as the preferred text for Thanksgiving Day, I also recommend our prayerful consideration of Thanksgiving's origin -- not in Puritan pilgrims in Massachusetts but in Abraham Lincoln's October 3, 1863 proclamation.
The tragic war, in which more Americans died than any other war, would not end for another six months, when General Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia. Nor would the president live to see the day. (For that we still grieve.)
In light of Mr. Trump's refusal to recognize the decision of the American people, we should recall General Lee's decision. Historian Jay Winik, author of April 1865, The Month that Saved America, said in a radio interview that Lee's Confederate army was still highly motivated and loyal to their general. He might have commanded them to scatter to the hills with their weapons and outrage, and maintain guerrilla resistance to the Union indefinately. In some places that resistance continued in the form of Jesse Jame's gang and the Ku Klux Klan.
But Lee was no fool. He had been trained in the art and ethics of war and he knew the suffering an endless war of terror would impose on all Americans, "white" and "black." Unlike Mr. Trump, who knows little of history and nothing of warfare, Lee surrendered. He is remembered today, even by his ancestral opponents, as a man of integrity, courage, and patriotism.
Our Thanksgiving this year must include an appreciation for the arts of democracy and the willingness to concede defeat and compromise with opponents. No one wins a war of attrition, as Mr. Trump carries out even against his supporters.
Setting aside that pathetic man, we should remember also how little the Civil War settled. Slavery continued in the forms of share cropping, tenant leasing, segregation, and Jim Crow. Prehistoric attitudes of racism, inherited from our European past, could not be uprooted even by the baptism of blood that was the Civil War.
Thanksgiving calls us to the altar of our feasting tables where everyone is welcome, regardless of their national origin or religious preference. No one is black, white, red, or yellow. All belong to this one race that still trembles in fear before a relentless pandemic. We come before the Lord as one family, grateful for every single member from greatest to least.
Dear God, show mercy to your people.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.