“Are We Grateful?

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November 21, 2010

Jeremiah 23:5-6 Luke 1:67-79, 23:33-43 Colossians 1:11-14

As we enter into this season of thanksgiving, I thought it might be good for us to remember that we have much
for which we should be thankful as well as the ugliness of ungratefulness.

The Ungrateful Lion

In a dense forest, lived a fierce lion. He was very cruel. One day the lion was caught in a hunter’s trap. One
by one many animals passed by. “Please helped me!” pleaded the lion. But none of the animals listened to
his plea.

After a while, a man happened to come into the forest. He saw the lion. The lion said, “I will die of hunger
and suffocation. Please help me out, O! Kind man.” The man was thoughtful. “I assure you I will never
harm you. Please help me now. The hunter will be anytime now,” said the lion.

The man felt sorry for the lion and set the beast free. As soon as the lion was free, he let out a fierce roar. “I
have been trapped in the cage for a long time. I am hungry. I will have to eat you,” said the lion, looking at
the man. “But you promised that you would not harm me,” said the man, in a meek tone. “Yes, I said that.
But only to convince you to free me. Now, I am terribly hungry,” said the lion.

The terrified man thought quickly. He said, “Alright, you can eat me. But let a judge decide if you are right
in eating the person who has rescued you.”

The lion agreed. He was sure that no animal would speak against him. Just then a jackal came that way and
the lion asked the jackal to be the judge. He addressed the lion, “Sir, would you please show me how it all
happened?” The lion was only too willing. He entered the cage and closed the cage door. The jackal
immediately bolted the cage from outside.

“Now the lion is trapped again. Run away, you foolish man! And never offer help to anyone without
thinking,” said the jackal. The frightened man ran for his life. And the ungrateful lion was trapped in the
cage again. The hunter came and took the lion away to his circus.

We also remember Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant from Matthew 18. In this parable, a man is forgiven
a great debt (worth many lifetimes of income) by the king but abuses those who owe him only a few months’
wages and seeks to have them thrown into prison. In the end, the king hears of this man’s ungratefulness and
has him thrown into prison.

Most likely, most of us have encountered ungratefulness in our lives. We have met ungrateful people in many
places and whether it was in the mall, in our neighborhood or even in our own in church and on our own homes;
we are often both surprised and hurt by ungratefulness. Today, we begin by opening scripture to Jeremiah
23:5-6, where we learn of God’s plan to send a savior and rescuer to Israel…

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“The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
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In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The LORD Our Righteous Savior.

God has promised that he would send a king who would rescue and restore his people and who would reign
with wisdom and justice. As we draw close to the Advent season we know that much of this prophecy has
already been fulfilled and we hear much of its fulfillment in the words of Zechariah, the father of John the
Baptist… (Luke 1:67-79)
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His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
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“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
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He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
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(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
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salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
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to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
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the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
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to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
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in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
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And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
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to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
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because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
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to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
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And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to
Israel.

Zechariah knew that his son, whom we know as John the Baptist would announce the arrival of God’s promised
rescuer, redeemer and king. Of course, Jesus is the king that God had promised and the king whom Zechariah
knew John would announce. In Zechariah’s prophecy we hear that God has sent a powerful king to rescue us
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from our enemies, a king who will show us mercy and who will remember the promises of God. We have been
sent a king whom we can serve without fear and who will forgive us when we fail. In this season of
Thanksgiving, we should take the time to think about just how momentous an idea this really is.

In the history of the world there have rarely been governments that could reliably be depended upon to be
merciful, and just, and who would watch over the best interests of the people. Of the few governments that
might have been described this way, fewer still could be said to remember the promises of God, and virtually
none could do all these and say that that the people could serve without fear. Don’t get me wrong, I love my
country and I think that the United States of America may well be the best nation that has ever existed in the
history of the world, but to say that we do not react with fear when we think of things like the IRS, Immigration
and Naturalization, Homeland Security, and any number of instances of corruption on the part of politicians,
federal agencies and even abuses by various local police departments. In our part of the world we have no need
to fear gun wielding gangs or jack-booted government thugs but we cannot yet say that we absolutely do not
live in fear of those who rule over us. Because what we have is good, we give thanks to God for what he has
given to us, but yet, we look forward to what has been promised because we know that it will be better still.
Even as we acknowledge that these things are true, how should we respond? In Colossians 1:11-14, Paul
reminds us how we might spend the time that God has given to us…
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For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask
God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10
so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work,
growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that
you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to
share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion
of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins.

Living under the rule of the Roman Empire, Paul had much to be thankful for, but not nearly as much as we
have. Still, Paul tells the people of the church that he and his friends spend their time praying for the church in
Colossae and for others. Paul encourages those in the church to use what they have been given to live lives that
are worthy of the Lord and to give joyful thanks for what God has done for them. As we remember the
promises of God, his Son Jesus Christ, and the blessings that we have been given we too should remember these
things. Too often we forget. Too often we look at our blessings every day and we begin to lose sight of them
because they begin to seem ordinary. Sometime we get so consumed with what is happening around us that we
lose sight of what it is that we are seeing. In Luke 23:33-43 two men are presented with the same evidence and
yet only one of them sees what is right in front of them…
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Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place
called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes
by casting lots.
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The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save
himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

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The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king
of the Jews, save yourself.”
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There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
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One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
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But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same
sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing
wrong.”
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Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
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Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Both men obviously knew who Jesus was and had heard of the miracles that he had done and the things that he
had been teaching. Jesus himself is there in front of them and yet of the two men, only one truly sees what is
there. On the calendar this week, we have marked out a special day of Thanksgiving, a day that we set aside to
remember and to give thanks. I hope that we will take that time to remember to see the things that are right in
front of us. As much as we complained about the partisan bickering and the endless television commercials, let
us be thankful for a government where we have a voice. As much as we sometimes fear that freedom of
religion isn’t what it used to be, let us remember that in other parts of the world, even today, Christians live in
fear that roving bands of armed warriors will enter their villages, beat them, kill them, kidnap them and sell
them into slavery simply for being Christian.

We are a people who have been blessed by God. This week, let us see and remember what we have been given
and let us, in gratitude, not only give thanks, but act like we are grateful.

This week, I hope that we will take the time to pay attention and really see the blessings that we have been
given. I hope that we will follow the example and the teaching of Paul and do three things...

1) Give joyful thanks to God for his son Jesus and the many gifts and blessings that he has given to us.

2) Pray continuously for one another and for those who do not have the blessings that we enjoy.

3) Live lives worthy of God.

We are a people who have been blessed by God. This week, let us see and remember what we have been given
and let us, in gratitude, not only give thanks, but act like we are grateful.

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