Harvest Festival (11.26.2014)
Deuteronomy 26:1-11/2 Corinthians 9:6-15/St Luke 12:13-21
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
When St Paul describes why God is full of wrath for man he gives this reason: For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him (Rm 1:21). The failure of man to give thanks to the Creator is no mere breach of etiquette; not a simple failure to send a cosmic thank you note. At the heart of man’s ingratitude toward God is unbelief and the attempt to seize the good gifts of God and assume that they belong to us by right. And this cannot be corrected by the establishment of a National Holiday or the overconsumption of turkey.
When our first father grasped that which was not given to him, the Lord evicted him from his home in Eden. Man became a wanderer, a sojourner. He became homeless, and men have been homeless ever since - a band of pilgrims.
A different kind of pilgrim is associated with Thanksgiving in the minds of Americans. The 1621 harvest festival in Plymouth County was held by a group of English Christians known as Separatists. They had broken away from the Church of England, coming to America in search of a new home, free from the authority of the Anglican Church government.
But we Christians, we pilgrims, ought to identify more with the descendants of a wandering Aramean than the settlers in Massachusetts.
When the trickster Jacob seized his brother’s birthright for the sale price of a bowl of stew and then deceptively took the blessing as well, he fled to Aram. For two decades he suffered hardship and injustice under his uncle Laban. He later moved to Egypt with his twelve sons. There his descendants were forced into slavery and for over four hundred years had no land they could call their own.
But the Lord brought them up out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders. He redeemed them from bondage to slavery. He brought them into the Promise Land, which He gave to them as an inheritance. He gave them the fruit of the ground. For it is the Lord who gives daily bread to everyone, apart from their prayers, even to the wicked and evil, even to unbelievers and pagans.
The liturgy of the first fruits recites this history; your history. Not a history of Indians and Pilgrims, but a confession of God’s entrance into human history, His saving deeds on your behalf. This liturgy is a Creed; speaking back to God what He has said to us and done for us. For the great goodness of God ought always to lead us to repentance and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
This is what is so deeply disheartening in the posture of the rich fool. It was the land that produced plentifully; the rich man had nothing to do with it. It is gift. Good gift from the Good Giver. Yet he presumes that such plentiful production, the ample goods, are his own, the labor of his hands, his by right. It is the Lord who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food. He multiplied the rich man’s seed and increased his harvest. Yet he did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but became futile in his thinking and his foolish heart was darkened.
And worse than the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like other men, this atheist farmer prays to himself; giving thanks to himself for a job well done. For the fool says in his heart, “There is no God” (Ps 14:1). He is a god unto himself. His deity is his own heart!
It is truly meet, right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. And on this Day of Thanksgiving and everyday repentance is needed. For the hubris of Adam is our own; the foolishness of the rich man displays the thoughts of our own hearts. Take care, dear ones, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, through Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, who came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was made Man. He wandered this earth as a stranger, a pilgrim. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head (Mt 8:20). He did not turn stones to bread or take for Himself that which His Father in heaven had not given; but received with thanksgiving everything from the Lord, both good and bad.
And then, wicked men seized Him, the Good and Perfect Gift come down from the Father of lights, strung Him up on a Tree, and killed Him.
The Cross is the mighty deed of terror by which our Lord has brought you out of slavery, rescued you from bondage. Not with worthless beads for an easterly island, but with His holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death He purchased and won you. While you were yet His enemy, idolators and unbelievers, Christ died for you.
This is how He makes you His brother. And He shares the inheritance with you; makes it yours. As St Augustine once preached on this text, “The man asked for half an inheritance on earth, the Lord offered him a whole inheritance in heaven. The Lord gave more than asked for” (NPNF 6:437).
Indeed this is the superabundance of our Lord’s Gospel - His great goodness toward us in Christ, who bestows upon us in faith more than could ever ask or desire; grace upon grace. He daily and richly provides you with clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, family and friends, and whatever else is necessary - not only for this body and life, but for body and soul, for the life everlasting.
All of this is out of His great goodness and mercy leads you to repentance. For as you continue to wander in this wilderness, through the valley of the shadow of death, Christ your Lord leads you and catechizes you in the way of repentance and faith, of prayer and thanksgiving, through life and death by the way of the Cross. He has come down from heaven to lead you through all harm and danger, even through death and the grave, through the baptismal waters of the Jordan, into the good land flowing with milk and honey.
He is the Word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father by which you live. For in truth His Word has been sown bountifully and you are the fruit fruits of His harvest. Everything is gift. What do you have that you did not receive? Everything comes from the Father through the Son to you. Dear children, there is nothing for you to give Him, but to return thanks unto Him for He is good and His mercy endures forever.
Indeed your whole life is offered as a living sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, that you might praise Him with your body and soul, living in faith toward Him and loving your neighbor as the Lord your God loves you in Christ. For He is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
Here then, beloved, is His Sacrifice, His Feast of Thanksgiving, His Eucharist. Here God is Himself the cheerful Giver, making grace abound to you in the free distribution of the Body and Blood of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. This is the meal of reconciliation and peace. Here history comes to its fullness in the signs and wonders of the Lord on behalf of your redemption and salvation. Here wandering pilgrims are welcomed Home and given a seat at the Table.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11/2 Corinthians 9:6-15/St Luke 12:13-21
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
When St Paul describes why God is full of wrath for man he gives this reason: For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him (Rm 1:21). The failure of man to give thanks to the Creator is no mere breach of etiquette; not a simple failure to send a cosmic thank you note. At the heart of man’s ingratitude toward God is unbelief and the attempt to seize the good gifts of God and assume that they belong to us by right. And this cannot be corrected by the establishment of a National Holiday or the overconsumption of turkey.
When our first father grasped that which was not given to him, the Lord evicted him from his home in Eden. Man became a wanderer, a sojourner. He became homeless, and men have been homeless ever since - a band of pilgrims.
A different kind of pilgrim is associated with Thanksgiving in the minds of Americans. The 1621 harvest festival in Plymouth County was held by a group of English Christians known as Separatists. They had broken away from the Church of England, coming to America in search of a new home, free from the authority of the Anglican Church government.
But we Christians, we pilgrims, ought to identify more with the descendants of a wandering Aramean than the settlers in Massachusetts.
When the trickster Jacob seized his brother’s birthright for the sale price of a bowl of stew and then deceptively took the blessing as well, he fled to Aram. For two decades he suffered hardship and injustice under his uncle Laban. He later moved to Egypt with his twelve sons. There his descendants were forced into slavery and for over four hundred years had no land they could call their own.
But the Lord brought them up out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders. He redeemed them from bondage to slavery. He brought them into the Promise Land, which He gave to them as an inheritance. He gave them the fruit of the ground. For it is the Lord who gives daily bread to everyone, apart from their prayers, even to the wicked and evil, even to unbelievers and pagans.
The liturgy of the first fruits recites this history; your history. Not a history of Indians and Pilgrims, but a confession of God’s entrance into human history, His saving deeds on your behalf. This liturgy is a Creed; speaking back to God what He has said to us and done for us. For the great goodness of God ought always to lead us to repentance and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
This is what is so deeply disheartening in the posture of the rich fool. It was the land that produced plentifully; the rich man had nothing to do with it. It is gift. Good gift from the Good Giver. Yet he presumes that such plentiful production, the ample goods, are his own, the labor of his hands, his by right. It is the Lord who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food. He multiplied the rich man’s seed and increased his harvest. Yet he did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but became futile in his thinking and his foolish heart was darkened.
And worse than the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like other men, this atheist farmer prays to himself; giving thanks to himself for a job well done. For the fool says in his heart, “There is no God” (Ps 14:1). He is a god unto himself. His deity is his own heart!
It is truly meet, right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. And on this Day of Thanksgiving and everyday repentance is needed. For the hubris of Adam is our own; the foolishness of the rich man displays the thoughts of our own hearts. Take care, dear ones, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, through Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, who came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was made Man. He wandered this earth as a stranger, a pilgrim. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head (Mt 8:20). He did not turn stones to bread or take for Himself that which His Father in heaven had not given; but received with thanksgiving everything from the Lord, both good and bad.
And then, wicked men seized Him, the Good and Perfect Gift come down from the Father of lights, strung Him up on a Tree, and killed Him.
The Cross is the mighty deed of terror by which our Lord has brought you out of slavery, rescued you from bondage. Not with worthless beads for an easterly island, but with His holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death He purchased and won you. While you were yet His enemy, idolators and unbelievers, Christ died for you.
This is how He makes you His brother. And He shares the inheritance with you; makes it yours. As St Augustine once preached on this text, “The man asked for half an inheritance on earth, the Lord offered him a whole inheritance in heaven. The Lord gave more than asked for” (NPNF 6:437).
Indeed this is the superabundance of our Lord’s Gospel - His great goodness toward us in Christ, who bestows upon us in faith more than could ever ask or desire; grace upon grace. He daily and richly provides you with clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, family and friends, and whatever else is necessary - not only for this body and life, but for body and soul, for the life everlasting.
All of this is out of His great goodness and mercy leads you to repentance. For as you continue to wander in this wilderness, through the valley of the shadow of death, Christ your Lord leads you and catechizes you in the way of repentance and faith, of prayer and thanksgiving, through life and death by the way of the Cross. He has come down from heaven to lead you through all harm and danger, even through death and the grave, through the baptismal waters of the Jordan, into the good land flowing with milk and honey.
He is the Word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father by which you live. For in truth His Word has been sown bountifully and you are the fruit fruits of His harvest. Everything is gift. What do you have that you did not receive? Everything comes from the Father through the Son to you. Dear children, there is nothing for you to give Him, but to return thanks unto Him for He is good and His mercy endures forever.
Indeed your whole life is offered as a living sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, that you might praise Him with your body and soul, living in faith toward Him and loving your neighbor as the Lord your God loves you in Christ. For He is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
Here then, beloved, is His Sacrifice, His Feast of Thanksgiving, His Eucharist. Here God is Himself the cheerful Giver, making grace abound to you in the free distribution of the Body and Blood of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. This is the meal of reconciliation and peace. Here history comes to its fullness in the signs and wonders of the Lord on behalf of your redemption and salvation. Here wandering pilgrims are welcomed Home and given a seat at the Table.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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