Genesis 32:22–31; Romans 8:31–39; Matthew 14:22–33
Introduction
Every New Year places us on a threshold. Behind us lies a year marked by joys we did not earn and trials we did not anticipate. Ahead of us stretches a future we cannot control. At such a moment, thanksgiving is not just a feeling motivated by the masses, but a Christian act. Thanksgiving to the Lord at the turning of the year is to confess that God has been faithful when we were engulfed with fear, present with us when we were vulnerable, and gracious when we were undeserving.
The biblical call to thanksgiving is not grounded in comfort but in covenant. According to Karl Barth, “Gratitude is the basic human response to the grace of God.” Gratitude flows not from ideal circumstances but from encountering the living God who binds Himself to His people. Our Sermonette today focuses on human encounters with divinity: Jacob wrestling with God, Paul proclaiming divine grace, and Jesus showing up in the storm. We are summoned at this New Year to give thanks to the Lord with our whole lives, sealed at the Table of Communion and renewed in His Covenant Commitment.
Thanksgiving Born in the Night of Struggle
The Genesis text is situated at a transitional moment in Jacob’s life. Coming from his self-induced exile for many years to meet his only brother, the one he deceived. He stands between past guilt and future uncertainty. Esau looms ahead with flash memories of his brother's deception, which gave him restlessness. It is precisely this moment of darkness that "Jacob was left alone" that he encountered God.
The narrative is quite interesting as Jacob wrestles with “a man” (’ish), later recognized as God. The wrestling lasts through the night, showing persistence, desperation, and vulnerability. Importantly, Jacob is wounded at the hip, a permanent testimony that blessing and brokenness often arrive together.
Jacob’s demand, “I will not let you go unless you bless me,” reveals a transformed posture. The deceiver becomes a dependent. God’s question, “What is your name?” forces confession from him, Jacob must name himself truthfully as the "deceiver" (Jacob) before he can be renamed Israel, “one who perseveres with God.”
For Jacob, his thanksgiving is not verbalized as a psalm, but embodied in total surrender. Jacob names the place Peniel, “the face of God,” testifying, “my life is preserved.” Gratitude arises not because the struggle was easy, but because God was encountered and life was spared. Let us give thanks to the LORD for our "Peniel."
Israel's gratitude to God is born from the embrace of both bruises and blessings. At the New Year, we give thanks not only for victories but also for holy struggles through which God has reshaped and transformed us.
Thanksgiving Grounded in Unconquerable Grace
If Genesis shows us a thanksgiving emerging from struggle, Romans 8 declares a thanksgiving grounded in assurance of grace. Paul’s rhetorical crescendo in Romans 8, "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" moves the thankful Christian to unconquerable security. Who? I mean, who? "No one" because the ever living Christ "Is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." (Romans 8:34)
With all these assurances, Paul brings to mind our enemies to this assurance, to separate us from the Love of Christ; "Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" (Romans 8:35) In times like these, just like Jacob, our dark times should draw us more closer to encounter God instead of separating us.
In my dark moments, I cling to this faith declaration from Romans to say, in all these circumstances, I am more than a conqueror because of His love, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate [me] us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) Amen!.
The depth of our covenant is clearly understood here as God’s love precedes human response and sustains human weakness. While we were still sinners, God sent His begotten Son to die for us. As St. Augustine wrote, “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” Our thanksgiving becomes a faithful gratitude to a love that cannot be nullified by circumstance or time, including the uncertainties of a New Year.
We give thanks not because we foresee a trouble-free future, but because our future is secured in Christ.
Thanksgiving Born from the Storm
Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on the water presents to us the disciples in obedience, “Jesus made the disciples get into the boat,” and still, they were caught in adversity. Remember that obedience does not insulate believers from facing the enemies seeking our separation from God.
The disciples are battered by waves, straining at the oars, when Jesus comes to them “early in the morning,” walking on the stormy sea, which is a biblical symbol of chaos. His words, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Matthew 14:27), which shows how Christ identifies with us during the storms of our lives to reveal His divine authority.
Peter’s response is both bold and fragile. He steps out in faith, but falters when fear envelops his faith. Jesus’ immediate rescue and gentle rebuke, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” can not be seen as condemnation but an invitation to deeper dependence in trust.
When Jesus enters the boat, the storm ceases, and the disciples worship Him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Thanksgiving here takes the form of worship born from deliverance and revelation.
Our thanksgiving as Christians in worship is not dependent on moods, crowds, sound, or the preacher but on our in-depth knowledge of God’s word and His faithfulness to His covenant. The storm of our lives becomes the classroom in which thanksgiving is learned, and we express this in worship.
Thanksgiving Sealed at the Table
Today's Sermonette leads us to converge at the Lord’s Table. Communion is the covenantal act of thanksgiving par excellence. The word Eucharist (εὐχαριστέω) means thanksgiving. In the Holy Communion, we remember the broken body and shed blood of Christ as a thanksgiving.
Like Jacob, we come wounded and dependent on His mercies. We come to His table assured of inseparable covenant love. Like the disciples, we come rescued from our doubt through storms to a total dependence on His rescue. The Holy Table proclaims God's bound covenant with His children in a restored relationship, not temporarily, but eternally.
In our New Year Covenant Renewal, let us respond with gratitude expressed as commitment to His worship. John Calvin wrote that in the Lord's Supper, “Christ is not only offered to us, but given to us.” Our gratitude this New Year, therefore, must move beyond words into faithful living action.
Conclusion
As we stand at the beginning of
a New Year, our thanksgiving should not occasional act but a covenantal way of life. We give thanks to the Lord who meets us in the night of our struggle to give us hope, secures us in unfailing love, and comes to us amid the raging storms in our lives. The future may hold uncertainty, but gratitude anchors us in divine faithfulness.
As we come to the Holy Table and renew our covenant, let us do so with hearts shaped by gratitude that remembers, trusts, and commits. And let our thanksgiving this year be but lived out, “to the praise of His glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6). Amen!
Thanks Papa, for this. Happy New year.
ReplyDeleteYou are always welcome.
DeleteA Prosperous New Year to you