Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day 2019 Meditation: “Giving a ‘Fig’ about Thanksgiving Day”

Habakkuk 3:17-19

17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls —  

18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Dear Christian friends: If you don't give a fig you care absolutely nothing at all about a something. Don’t be tempted to see "fig" in this phrase as a euphemism for another word that starts with the same letter. The fig is symbolic of anything small, valueless, or contemptible; also, a dried fig or a fig’s end. This usage of fig goes back to the earliest days of modern English (or the end of Middle English). To care a fig is to care almost nothing; not to care a fig, or give a fig, is to care nothing at all. The gesture of placing the thumb between the first and second finger comes from the Spain (Spanish Hico). The gesture was common in Shakespeare’s time and was known as “The Fig of Spain”. The modern-day equivalent, at least in Britain, is the “V” sign and was most likely later brought down by one finger by Americana vulgar usage, showing extreme disgust and contempt for something. Or it more mildly could be compared with the thumbing of the nose or with an unsanitary Bronx Cheer.

Habakkuk mentions that the fig tree doesn’t give a fig. Yet Habakkuk talks about giving thanks to God, rejoicing in the Lord, “Though the Fig Tree Should Not Blossom.” The tree itself, without a blossom, will not give a fig. I believe that Habakkuk, writing of the fig tree, gives us something to think about on this Thanksgiving Day.

Habakkuk was a prophet who lived in Judah about 600 years before Christ. These were the closing years for Judah as a nation, before the Babylonians would sweep in and defeat them and destroy Jerusalem and take the people off into captivity. To say that rough times were on the horizon would be an understatement. The Lord let Habakkuk see what was in store for Judah and the thought of the coming destruction and devastation caused him great perplexity. How could the Lord let this happen? When a pagan nation like Babylon sweeps in and conquers a people, bad things are sure to happen: Violence, death, economic ruin, physical devastation. Not much to be thankful for in that list. More like a recipe for disaster.

Today is supposed to be a National Day of Thanksgiving! If you were to look at the facts of how our country is so greatly divided; the socialists fighting against the free-market economy; the impeachment hearings of our president; what is being done to our own country by her own citizens, you would mostly likely say, “I don’t give a fig for Thanksgiving Day” and “there’s absolutely nothing to be thankful for!”

This is nothing new. 2600 years ago, Habakkuk was having similar thoughts when considering what might happen to his nation. And in his case, they really would happen! Babylon would come in and devastate Judah. Ruin and misery would result. Listen to the distress in Habakkuk’s voice: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? . . . Destruction and violence are before me!” This is what Habakkuk could see looming on the horizon, and it was not pretty. 

But as a prophet of God, Habakkuk could see through that gloomy forecast and see God’s saving purpose and long-range plan at work. God’s mighty, and mysterious hand was at work in these strange and perplexing times. The Lord answered Habakkuk’s complaint: “Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” You see, when it looks like God doesn’t know what He’s doing, that we think we might do a much better job if we were God, when we begin to doubt God’s goodness and wisdom given freely to is in His Son, Jesus Christ, He reminds us that we are not in charge of things, He is, and He knows what He is doing.

And so, God had a plan at work even in the midst of the coming devastation brought on by Babylon. The Lord would work things out for his eternal saving purpose, even if seeing the end and outcome of that plan would have to wait. Salvation is coming; your deliverance is on the way! Waiting and weeping may last for a while, but I have not forgotten my promises, declares the Lord.  The Lord answers Habakkuk: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end – it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”

Trusting in the Lord’s promise, even though it means waiting. This is how you will endure the rough times. “The righteous shall live by his faith,” Habakkuk famously writes. And it’s as true now as it was then. Back then, the people of Judah had to wait 70 years for the end of the Babylonian Captivity. And then it would be another 500 years till the coming of the promised deliverer, the Messiah. But Habakkuk did see that salvation coming. He prays to the Lord: “You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed.” Yes, God has not forgotten his people. He has not forgotten his promise.

When economic crises produce fear in the nation and the thoughts of the nation being torn apart, remember what Augustine said in The City of God, Chapter 19, “Concerning the Difference Between True Glory and the Desire of Domination”, namely, that “power and domination are not given even to  such men save by the providence of the most high God, when He judges that the state of human affairs is worthy of such lords.” We, collectively as a nation, deserve such leaders because we have failed to obey the Word of God. And so we now have to wait repent and wait upon the Lord, and, above all, give thanks that He has sent us such a great Savior.

God’s promise of deliverance will ultimately be fulfilled in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our salvation and God Incarnate.  Jesus is the “Yes and Amen” to all of God’s promises. For what is this salvation that has come in Christ? It is forgiveness for all of our sins, our sins which deserve God’s judgment. That judgment fell on Christ, on that old rugged cross for our sakes. It is healing for all of our woes from our sin weary body to our sin weary soul.

This salvation that has come in Christ is the very resurrection of our bodies, restored and glorified if we suffer a little while with Him now.  You will enjoy eternal life with your Lord in glory, along with Habakkuk and Hosea and Amos and all the faithful prophets of God, as well as saints like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and, of more recent vintage, like the Luther, as well as a Christian parent or a Christian grandparent that might have taken you to church on a cold winter’s day: They will all be there, with you, giving unending thanks to your gracious God and Savior. And you all will be enjoying figs from the trees that produce twelve months a year along the river of the water of life in the New Jerusalem.

And that is why, Christian friends, you can and should give thanks this day, for though the fig tree should not blossom now, still give thanks to the Lord for creating the fig! Amen.

Personal Faith

Last Sunday in the Church Year 2019

“You Must Believe the Gospel for Yourself” Text: Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³ Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵ But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

⁶ “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ ⁷ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

¹¹ “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ ¹² But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

¹³ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

My Christian friends: In a direct Messianic prophecy, Psalm 45:7, states, “You (God, the Son) love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” Jesus was anointed of the Holy Spirit without measure. But just as the Holy Spirit does not operate without means, so it is that the lamps held by the virgins in our text represent the Word of God. It is written in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Our Lord Christ said that when the bridegroom approached the bride’s house with his friends, all would go out into the streets to meet him and greet him with merriment, song and dance. This was typical for a Jewish wedding in those days. Then the bridegroom would escort his bride to his house where the wedding festivities would last an entire week. In Jesus’ parable it is assumed that the bridegroom was delayed and still a great distance from the bride’s house. The hour, therefore, is uncertain; the bridesmaids, the virgins, were watching for his arrival. It wasn't unusual for the virgins to fall asleep.  However, five of the ten failed to keep vigilance with what they were given.

This is exactly how the Church is today; The Church isn’t listening for that “midnight cry”! It has the Scriptures; it has the preaching of the Gospel; and, it also has been given the Sacraments along with the Word of God. But it makes little use of the same except for reasons of tradition. For instance, while attending the first seminary to consolidate the LCA and the ALC church bodies, I remember the professor of a homiletics (i.e. preaching) class that although we know the truth about Adam and Eve, the Virgin birth, the resurrection and ascension of Christ, we dare not preach the truth in order to spare the older members of our congregations since they believed these things to be literally true. He said that we were to be patient and begin indoctrinating the children of our congregations.

Some people said that I was lying; and, yet I knew what I had heard to be true. This was the reason given to the students, namely, that we should not do anything to disturb the faith of the older people that they would, of course, not understand the real truth. And now it is that you see how many old people, a generation later, are holding on to their new “truths” of the Bible. In other words, the gifts of the Word of God and Sacraments given to the Church are now used only because they were traditionally expected to be done and for no other reason. In the meantime, we were to be in the process of redefining what these gifts to the Church really meant. Instead of using Matthew 25 to warn the people of the imminent physical return of the Son of Man, today’s societal church ignores the text’s real meaning in order to focus on earthly issues and those societal issues in which the churches are so engrossed.

We, friends, have a whole lot of foolish virgins in the church today. They just simply are not ready to hear that Midnight Cry telling of the Lord’s return. Foolish virgins today don't realize that the Holy Spirit speaks within the literal words of Scripture, the Living Words of the Bible, which can light their way to their heavenly homes.

You cannot believe for anyone else just as going to church and lighting a candle is adding an iota of credit to your life or gaining merit for anyone. As it is expressed in the 1943 Luther’s Small Catechism, question #104, in the Apostles’ Creed: Why do you say in each of the three articles, “I believe,” and not, “we believe”? Answer: Everyone must believe for himself or herself; no one can be saved by another’s faith. “The just shall live by his faith” Hab.2:4 and Romans 1:17).

Yes, it is that way: the foolish virgins think that they can be spared the judgment and enter the wedding feast by the faith of other people. “Give us some of YOUR oil, for OUR lamps are going out!” Therefore, keep constantly faithful and alert to the times; keep your noses in the Holy Bible, which can make you wise unto salvation. No matter what your age, all should be perpetual students in The Faith College of Bible Knowledge!

“It will be on that last and terrible day of the Lord that many will cry ‘Give us some of your oil’ but it will be too late.”

You cannot believe for anyone else and nobody can believe for you in order that you can be saved.  It is like being on a church roster as a baptized or communicant member cannot make you a citizen of heaven or bring you into Christ’s kingdom without faith. Conversely, those who lack this personal faith given by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), have no other mediator for them and remain in their sins and under the wrath of God.

As Moses found out on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32:32-33): “Yet now, if you will forgive their sin – but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.’” Yes, it is that way: the foolish virgins think that they can be spared the judgment and enter the wedding feast by the faith of other people. “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out!” Don't look to me, or to other pastors or to your parents or your parents’ church to give you oil for your lamps. All that anyone can do for you is to proclaim the Gospel promises that creates this justifying faith in you. But take this warning: You must believe for yourself!

Jesus finally pronounces this conclusion to His parable: “Be watching, therefore, because you do not know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” And because those who are faithful in their watching have the oil of the Holy Spirit, they need not worry about their own spiritual welfare. As Luther said in his explanation of the Third Article of the Creed: “The Holy Ghost has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” It sure doesn't make much sense to carry around lamps without enough oil. Therefore the wise virgins are to be watchful for this reason, namely, that they desire to be part of the jubilation when their Lord comes back for they know that they are called to be one with the wedding celebration and they would not miss it for the world.

You, Christian, need to hold to the faith that you will be with the Lord in that wedding feast. The faith that trusts alone in the Gospel promises tells you that your Lord Christ carried your sins to that old rugged cross of Calvary. When Jesus went into Galilee to begin his ministry, He preached: “Repent and believe in the Gospel!” (Mark 1:15)

When the Word of the Lord is taught in its purity and the Sacraments administered as Christ instructed, there you have the true Christian Church that is filled with wise virgins. And it is within the bosom of Christ’s true Church that you will reside in safety here on earth and in heaven above. For as our Epistle this morning reminds us, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”

“Oh, where are ye, ye virgins wise? The Bridegroom comes, awake! Your lamps with gladness take! Hallelujah!" 

Christians take their lamps, their Bibles, with gladness. They are not ashamed to be ridiculed as "Bible-thumping fanatics; neither by liberals who feign Christianity nor by any earthly government. Christians who take their Bibles as their lamps are not willing to mix anything worldly with the joy of knowing Jesus their Bridegroom and Redeemer.

Listen to how John the Baptist (in John 3:27-31) gives His testimony about Jesus: “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.”

Our very own government needs to stay out of the rights of the individual to practice their first amendment right to freedom of religion, and that includes Christianity; and, conversely, the Church needs to obey the laws of the government when they are not in direct conflict with the laws of God.  St. Peter and the early church knew about this dichotomy as well as Jesus Himself who said, “Render to Caesar the things of Caesar and to God the things of God.” The civil government rules by force; whereas, the Church distributes the treasures of heaven, which is the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments. Neither Church nor State should presume to usurp the power of the other.

So just as John the Baptist professed his gladness, although he was under great persecution from his earthly government, you also should be glad to hear the voice of the Bridegroom when you read His very words written for you in your lamp, the Bible, through which the Holy Spirit effectually works faith. It will be on that last and terrible day of the Lord that many will cry “Give us some of your oil!”, but it will be too late.

R.C.H. Lenski comments that we shouldn't ask why the five foolish virgins ignored the oil until the critical time; he says, “A foolish action has no explanation.” And just how true that is: It is only those wise virgins who will have no worry about being admitted into the wedding feast, for the bridegroom knows them and has welcomed them. They will never be caught without oil for the Holy Spirit works continually through Word and Sacrament. Nevertheless, this parable was still given to us as a warning.

The German poetry of Johann Walther in 1552, has been beautifully translated for us in 1880 by Matthias Loy and presented for our edification in our Lutheran hymn, “The Bridegroom Soon Will Call Us”. Listen to and hear the exhortation in the first verse:

“The Bridegroom soon will call us; come all ye wedding guests! May not His voice appall us While slumber binds our breasts! May all our lamps be burning And oil be found in store, That we, with Him returning; May open find the door!”

Amen.

Rev. James Shrader, 

Augsburg Lutheran Church

Sioux Falls, SD