“Do not worry…about what you will eat or what you will drink…”
Now what kind of instruction is that to offer folks on Thanksgiving morning? Surely worrying, or at least thinking, about what we’re going to eat and drink is exactly what we do today. The meal is the whole focus – getting the turkey done in time, making sure the rolls are fluffy, deciding how many pies we need – all of that is central to the proper observance of Thanksgiving.
Fortunately, our Thanksgiving gospel lesson does not stop with the admonition against worry. In fact, Jesus admits that our concerns about food and clothing have some merit. They are important, because we do need these things. But Jesus also says that we have things backwards. The most important thing is the kingdom of God, and God’s righteousness. If we have these two things, the food and the clothing will be there when we need them.
So what is this kingdom of God? What is God’s righteousness and how do we achieve it?
Jesus never defined the kingdom of God exactly. He only pointed to it. When someone was healed, Jesus would say, “Look, the kingdom of God is among you.” When someone found freedom, Jesus would say to those who were nearby, “Today the kingdom of God has come near to you.”
Apparently the kingdom of God is not so much a place as it is a state of being, of being healed, of being whole.
Several times, Jesus said that people with lots of possessions would have trouble entering the kingdom of God. That fits with the notion that we should stop worrying about the things of our lives. In the kingdom, that which we need will be provided. That which we do not need simply doesn’t need to be there.
And, on more than one occasion, Jesus said that in order to enter the kingdom of God we would have to become like little children. It’s hard to know what he meant by that exactly. We regard children very differently today than folks did in Jesus’ time. But one thing is surely the same. Children live in the moment. To a small child, yesterday and tomorrow have no meaning. Tell a little one you’re going to go visit Grandma next week and he will immediately pack his bag. Next week might as well be next minute in the world of a child.
So, here is what we know about the kingdom of God: it is a way of being well and whole, it is in the moment, and it exists where healing, new life, and freedom happen.
What we know about righteousness is that it means to live in right relationship with God, a way of being that is more than simply keeping God’s commandments. As the rich young man found out when he asked Jesus about eternal life, God’s righteousness also involves God’s justice. The hungry must be fed, the lowly must be lifted up, the prisoner must be set free.
When Jesus told the young man to sell all he had and give it to the poor, the young man hung his head and went away. The price of righteousness was too high.
I think most of us understand his response. That is why we worry about what we are going to eat and drink. Those worries are so finite, easily contained. What do you do when you meet a beggar on the street? Give him a gift card to get a meal at McDonald’s. Problem solved.
But the bigger problem, the problem of why a country as rich as ours has people who live on the streets and beg for food…well, that problem is just too big to worry about. Sometimes the price of righteousness is just too high.
Jesus’ disciples followed him day and night for a long time – two or three years at least. But when they went up to Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus knew that his friends still did not understand. Jesus knew his disciples were still dreaming about a real king, with a real crown, and a real army to overthrow the hated Roman rulers. That was the immediate, finite problem. Jesus knew his friends couldn’t imagine anything more complex than that. His disciples simply weren’t ready to deal with the larger issues of human greed, or the human lust for power.
So in the end, without trying to explain anything, Jesus simply took his friends to dinner. Sitting with them, he broke the bread and gave thanks. Then he told them, “whenever you do this, you remember me.” Jesus knew that human beings cannot sustain the reality of the kingdom in a broken world. So he gave his friends, he gave to us, a simple, easily repeated action that would recall us, that would help us be who God created us to be.
We give thanks, we break the bread, we share the bread. And then we leave. We go out to BE bread. We gather at other tables, with friends and family, and we are recalled to ourselves. The act of giving thanks reminds us that we are loved, and that we are able to love others. We become who God created us to be.
May this be the truth of your Thanksgiving. May you know that you are loved. May you know the healing presence of the kingdom and may you be in right relationship with God and all whom God has given you. Amen.