The Christian celebrates Thanksgiving quite differently than the unbelieving world. For most other religions, bounty and abundance are signs of their god’s favor, a reward for having done right. Plentifulness is a sign that their god or gods are smiling upon them. Therefore, the thanksgiving and gratitude comes back to them. “I thank myself for all the good I have done that has impressed the gods, such that they have delighted in me.” I don’t know how atheists and agnostics celebrate Thanksgiving. I sometimes wonder how such celebrate Thanksgiving. For that matter, to whom do they give thanks? Themselves? Contrary to the unbelieving world, the Christian trusts that, whether in luxury or need, abundance or poverty, the Lord is the provider of our souls and bodies, and that all that we have comes from His loving hand.

The Small Catechism is quite helpful here. In the Fourth Petition of the Lord's Prayer, the Lord Jesus has us pray for daily bread and to receive it with thanksgiving. In the First Article of the Creed, the Lord graciously gives us everything that we need for our bodies “only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.” Then, in the 5th Commandment, we’re taught what to do with our daily bread and everything that God has given out of His divine fatherly goodness. That is, look up from our own bellies and “help and support [our neighbor] in every physical need.” This puts us in the cycle of pray, receive, love. Pray to God, receive from Him, and love our neighbor. In fact, the reason why the Lord continues to cause it to rain on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45), the reason why the Lord gives daily bread to everyone, not just Christians, is that Christians continue to pray, “give us this day our daily bread.”

Of course, we fail to pray to God, we fail to receive our daily bread with hearty thanksgiving, and we fail to love our neighbor. None of us are worthy of the Lord’s gifts, none of us are truly thankful enough. Rather, like Israel of old wandering through the desert, we grumble at the Lord’s provisions. We’ve become spoiled and ungrateful. When we complain or are disappointed about the food put in front of us, we’re not just grumbling about the person who prepared it; more importantly, we grumble against God who provided it. Thus, we are found to be worse than Israel. They had no food at all until God provided it. We have refrigerators and cupboards full of food, and yet, it’s not just teenagers who stare into a well-stocked fridge and lament that there’s nothing to eat. We all have need to repent.

So let us repent of our thanklessness, our ingratitude, and our spoiled nature. Let us repent of our lack of prayer and failure to serve our neighbor. Let us rejoice in the God who serves us, who provides for us, who hears our prayers, and who has given us neighbors to love.

We need not worry or be anxious about our bodies. (Matthew 6:25-34) Whether the Lord provides for you burnt toast, a crust of bread, or a 20-pound turkey, let us give thanks to the Lord who provided it. For we confess in the first article of the Creed that the Lord  “richly and daily provides me with all I need to support this body and life.” All this He does “only out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey HIm. This is most certainly true.”

Here is where our daily bread truly flows: the cross. Apart from the cross, there is nothing for us but damnation and punishment. For we were enemies of God, hostile to Him in every way. But the Lord’s blood has reconciled us to the Father. The Lord shows His love for us in this way: He gave His beloved Son into death for you. Jesus on the cross is the height of God’s love for you. So from the cross comes forgiveness for our ingratitude, our grumbling, our pride. And from the cross flows our daily bread, all that we need for the sustenance of our bodies. So if He gives the life of His Son to win salvation for you, can we not trust Him to provide what we need for this life?

The God who loved us to the end, and His mercy which sent a Substitute and Atonement in the person of His Son in our flesh to die our death and win us back for Himself, this is the fount of Christian thanksgiving. God doesn’t punish us as the Law would demand, as our thanklessness and ingratitude and failure to pray without ceasing, and love our neighbor would demand. Instead, He has mercy on us for Christ’s sake. He welcomes us to Himself and feeds us, not only bread for our stomachs, but He feeds us with manna come down from heaven - His own body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins, the means that brings the fruit of the cross us us. Let us pray that God will lead us to recognize and give thanks for what’s before us, and grant to us a faith that looks to our God for all good things. The Lord Jesus died on the cross; therefore, He will also “richly and daily provides me with all that we need to support body and life.”