A Day of Thanks...the Wayfarer 11/19/14

A Day of Thanks
11/19/14

“And he took bread, and gave thanks and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”

(Luke 22: 19)

The Passover meal shared the night of the Lord’s greatest angst, and the night of his betrayal, was a meal dedicated to thanks.

Normally, that thanks was given in remembrance of the freedom given through Moses, the freedom given from the slavery of Egypt, and through the law given Moses by God.

This night was different! The thanks that was to be offered was for a new covenant, one given through the sacrifice of Christ to liberate us from sin, and from the circumlocutions of the law that was making the law of no effect, and no means to achieve salvation once and for all from the sin that would separate God and man.

Once, many years ago, I shared a Thanksgiving Holiday, and meal, with soldiers from another country as well as those from my own.

The young American soldiers that were in attendance found it odd, in fact incredible, that the foreign soldiers had no knowledge of, or concept of this Holiday that is unique to the society from which they came.

Expectation was that because this day was celebrated by us, that celebration was shared by the world.

Though it took time, and myself doing a lot of translation, those soldiers finally understood the meaning of the holiday, and were indeed able to give proper thanks, not only for the comradeship and sharing of a meal, but the common blessings received that merited thanks to God above, not just men.

Blessings lie within the lives of all, no matter how persecuted, no matter how indigent, no matter how wealthy, no matter how poor.

The greatest blessing of all is that that was given by Christ Jesus on the cross when he allowed himself to be crucified so that through His resurrection, we too could be resurrected to life eternal, and spend that life basking in the love and glory of His Father, our God.

As Jesus met with His disciples, He gave thanks!

As He prayed in the garden, he continued those thanks for what had been given and what was yet to be given, despite the fact that He knew the suffering that He had to endure to assure the final and most important blessing that He would give to mankind.

“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who thou hast sent.

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

And now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou has given me are of thee.

For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

And for  their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

That they all may be one; as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; even as we are one: and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedest me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.”

(John 17:1-26)

As we sit down soon to share a meal, the comradery of a day spent with family and friends that is unique to this people, thanks should be at the center of  our purpose for this special day, thanks for the benevolence of a Grace full God that granted us the time and means to enjoy that day, no matter how others may waste it in revelry, gluttony and sport, thanks for the many blessings of simply having life still within a body that is destined for physical death, thanks for each breath as well as each bite, but most of all thanks for the promise given us through Christ Jesus, His Son, that of eternal life, of salvation, of forgiveness for simply remembering and honoring the admonition to:

“Repent:  for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”   

Thanks should be given for the entire promise, and for the warning given if not reached or taught, and for those still reachable and teachable as the hour draws ever closer to  the closure of the final Chapter of that  promise, to include the promise given at the end of our scriptures:

“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

(Revelation 22:12)

This sinner saved by grace through faith in His promise, soldier in His service yet and still while giving thanks to be allowed the time given on this battlefield, warrior and exhorter to reach those reachable and teach those teachable, gives thanks also for the time soon when that service is finished and reward is given as merited.

Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen
the Wayfarer