Today we gather to give thanks for many things, for our family, our friends and parishioners and for our country. The most important thing that we give thanks for is the gift of God’s grace incarnated or made concrete or real in our Lord Jesus Christ. In today’s second reading Paul reminds the Corinthians and us of God’s great gift given to each one of us:
“I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The gift that God has given to us is Christ Jesus who shows us the Father. We are “enriched in every way” and are “not lacking in any spiritual gift” because in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we have full knowledge of the one true God, of God’s Will and of God’s Way as Jesus has both taught us and shown us during his earthly life.
How should we respond to this great gift of God’s healing love and compassion? We respond by living lives of thankfulness. This message is shown by a “foreigner” a “Samaritan” in today’s Gospel. Jesus’ question challenges us to live thankful lives:
“Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
As we celebrate Thanksgiving today, we glorify God who heals our “leprosy,” our divisions and polarization. We give thanks to Jesus who teaches us that in God’s eyes no one is a foreigner or outsider. Jesus calls us to see the goodness in all and to learn from the “foreigners,” the lepers, the immigrants, and the outcasts in our society. We truly give thanks to God for the great love he has shown in his Son Jesus Christ by showing that love to all people.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)
“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35).
Image: “Thanksgiving Cornucopia” by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.