Luke 19: Gratitude Lights Up Even the Dark Days

Introduction

"What am I thankful for in my life?" That is the question Carin Dernulf puts to Immanuelskyrkan in Stockholm on what the church calendar calls Thanksgiving Sunday. The theme of the day is praise.

Most of the time, she says, life simply goes on until something turns everything upside down: a personal crisis, a crisis in society, an encounter that touches us. Then we see our everyday life in a new light. But do we really need an upheaval to notice what deserves our gratitude?

Starting from Luke 19:37-40, Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, the preacher shows that praise is our natural element, that nothing can silence it, and that gratitude can shed light even on the darkest chapters of life.

Message Outline

1. God's Wonders Hidden in Everyday Life

What stirs Carin Dernulf's gratitude is not first of all the spectacular, such as a trip or a party. It is very ordinary things: a slow Saturday breakfast with fresh rolls, a walk in Vasa Park when the autumn trees are ablaze, a movie night with a friend.
"I believe God's wonders are often hidden in what we find ordinary and obvious."
For many people, having food on the table seems a given, even though it is not so for everyone. Those who live closer to nature understand that every meal is a gift from God, who sends rain and makes the sun shine on the earth. People sow, tend and harvest, but nothing would work without the rhythm of nature.
When we stop and take that in, which we do far too rarely, we are filled with wonder.

2. The First Potato Patch

This year, for the first time in her life, the preacher harvested her own potatoes, at their small holiday house in Ockelbo, in Gävleborg County.
It all began with a summer radio program in which the actress Ida Engvoll explained that the country needed to become more self-sufficient: in Gävleborg County, only 1% of what is eaten there is produced there. Her advice: start growing things, especially potatoes, in balcony boxes, buckets and gardens.
Carin Dernulf only had the strength to dig a patch of two metres by three. With the help of her phone, she learned about row spacing, planting depth, which way up to plant, and hilling so that the tubers do not turn green.
"Something happens when you put your hands in the soil, watch something slowly grow and then harvest the fruit." It seemed almost a miracle to her, so much so that she wanted to burst into praise for the potato.
Barely a week ago, the artist Laleh happened to sing a "potato song": "I put one potato in the ground, ten came up," with these words as well: the last will be first, the smallest will be the greatest. Her 12-year-old son found the lyrics ridiculous, but the preacher felt that the singer and she had seen the same wonder: the growing of the potato.

3. Created to Praise God

It is precisely the miracles the disciples had seen Jesus perform that make them praise God loudly on the road to Jerusalem: "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Luke 19:38).
What this text reports is entirely natural: human beings, and all of creation, exist to praise God.
The preacher cites a study on gratitude. For six months, one group wrote down each week what made them thankful, a second group what stressed them, and a third simply the notable events of the week.
The first group became more attentive to reasons for gratitude, but also more optimistic, more energetic and more determined. Its members felt less stress and less jealousy, and they were quicker to spot situations where they could help others.
"Perhaps it is precisely because gratitude is our natural element. We are created to praise God." The Psalm says so: "Let everything that has breath praise Yah!" (Psalm 150:6).

4. If We Keep Silent, the Stones Will Cry Out

The Pharisees think this noisy praise has gone too far. They ask Jesus to tell his disciples to calm down, even to be quiet. Jesus answers: "I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out." (Luke 19:40).
"Whatever happens, praise will ring out. Nothing can stop it."
The people had long been waiting for the Messiah, the great deliverer. Jesus is that deliverer, but not in the way they expected. They hoped for a political king who would restore the nation's greatness. Jesus' kingdom is a different kingdom, where whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11) and where the first will be last (Matthew 20:16).
We know that this praise would soon fall silent. When Jesus does not meet their expectations, they turn their backs on him, and even those closest to him will betray him.
Yet the stones do not stay silent. What struck the preacher at Easter: on Good Friday, when Jesus breathes his last, the earth shakes and the rocks split. The stones cried out, and a Roman officer declares that this man must have been the Son of God (Matthew 27:51-54).

5. When God Does Not Meet Our Expectations

In our own lives too, when God is not who we expected or we do not get what we want, it is easy to turn our backs on him.
"None of us has been promised that life would be easy. But what we are promised is that we are not alone."
A friend of the preacher, who has not had an easy life, keeps a thank-you notebook in which she writes a few thank-yous to God every day. Not to escape, but because actively looking for gratitude helps her come to terms with what is not as she would like it to be.
There are also seasons when gratitude is impossible and when such a notebook would sound like mockery in the face of pain. What we may need instead is a notebook of disappointments, in which to write down our questions. "The truth is our only point of contact with God," and we need to speak to him truthfully.
Yet many people say, often afterwards, that they look back on certain difficult passages with gratitude. An old hymn from 1891 sings it: "Thank you for the roses along the path, thank you for the thorns among them," and then: "Thank you for what you have revealed, thank you for what I do not understand."
Looking at her own life, she admits there are things she does not understand and may never understand. But in some of the hardest passages, God also revealed to her who he is. This is not gratitude for the circumstances, but the kind that comes from the certainty that someone is holding our lives in his hand in the midst of it all.
Among people who were grieving or going through difficult situations, she has seen praise rise where only anguish and pain seemed to have a place. The one who sings knows that the one he sings to is comfort in mourning, light in the darkness, strength and healing when life is broken.
"Gratitude is like a flashlight. If you switch it on in a dark place, it lights up things that have always been there, but that you had never really seen."

6. Peter Caught by Jesus' Love

The disciples sing so loudly one day that people are annoyed, and a few days later they betray Jesus, what they believe and their own dream. Peter, one of the closest, claims not even to know him. How do you recover from that?
We can recognize ourselves in that feeling: so much has not gone as planned since the day we were singing. Is there even a way back?
The preacher quotes a poem by the writer Christina Falkenland, one she often returns to: "Once I was a cathedral ringing with hymns. Everything is silent in me now." But this silence has a strong voice that says: "Go your way without looking back." Whichever direction she takes, "he will catch up with me, take me by the hand and draw me to him." Even when she no longer feels or understands anything, "I am his."
Peter must have felt empty and defeated. He went back to fishing, but Jesus catches up with him. On the shore, after the resurrection, Jesus says nothing about the betrayal. He simply asks: "Do you love me?" Peter had denied him three times, so Jesus asks three times, and Peter answers: "Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you" (John 21:15-17). Jesus then entrusts him with leading the Church.
Back to the potato patch: for a long time, nothing happened. Her husband came up with the idea of a homemade fertilizer, grass left to ferment in the sun, which smelled truly awful. They spread it, and she believes it contributed to the big harvest that followed.
"Often, God works like that in our lives." When we give him that foul-smelling mixture, what we see as our greatest failures, he can use it to make something grow. It is often in those situations that she has truly experienced God's love.
"It is one thing to know in theory that you are loved, and quite another to truly taste God's love and grace in your life." That is what happens to Peter, and it is what makes him fit to lead the Church.

7. Every Day a Thanksgiving Day

From the experience of being loved and forgiven comes a gratitude rooted in humility. "Gratitude and humility are like twins. They go hand in hand."
When we understand that all of life, every breath, is a gift, we are filled with gratitude toward the Creator God who gives life. And from this gratitude often comes the desire to give to others, a way of saying thank you.
"One potato in the ground, ten come up." Perhaps it is like that with everything: if you give one thing, it multiplies tenfold. "It sounds like the secret of the kingdom of God."
Thanksgiving Day comes only once a year. But what if every day could be a day of thanksgiving to the God who sent his Son so that we may have life in abundance (John 10:10)?
"Whatever your situation, you are not alone." Standing with you is the one who said: "Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). "And that changes everything."
The preacher invites us to live out the epistle reading of the day: singing to God in our hearts (Colossians 3:16), right in the middle of what our life is. "That is where he wants to meet us."

Key Takeaways

God's wonders are often hidden in everyday life: a meal, a walk, a harvest. Stopping to see them fills us with wonder.
Gratitude is our natural element: we are created to praise God, and nothing can silence praise.
In hard times, we can speak to God truthfully, including about our disappointments. Gratitude then comes from the certainty that someone is holding our lives in his hand.
As with Peter, God can use our failures to make something grow. Tasting his love and forgiveness gives rise to a humble gratitude.
Gratitude moves us to give in turn, and every day can become a day of thanksgiving.

Personal Reflection

What are you thankful for in your life today, especially among the ordinary things you take for granted?
Do you need a thank-you notebook right now, or rather a notebook of disappointments in which to speak to God truthfully?
Looking back, in which difficult passage did you come to know better who God is?
What failure, what part of your life that "smells bad," can you hand over to God so that he can bring growth out of it?
Who could you give to this week, as a way of saying thank you to God?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Jesus mean by "the stones will cry out" in Luke 19:40?

When the Pharisees ask Jesus to silence his disciples, he answers that if they were silent, the stones would cry out. For Carin Dernulf, this means that nothing can stop praise. She points out that on Good Friday, when Jesus dies on the cross, the earth shakes and the rocks split: the stones cried out, and a Roman officer acknowledges that this man was the Son of God.

How can we stay thankful when life is hard?

Carin Dernulf reminds us that nobody promised us an easy life, but that we are not alone. A friend keeps a thank-you notebook every day, which helps her come to terms with what is not as she would like it to be. In some seasons, a notebook of disappointments may be more fitting, because we need to speak to God truthfully. Gratitude then comes from the certainty that someone is holding our lives in his hand.

Why did Jesus entrust the Church to Peter after he denied him?

On the shore, after the resurrection, Jesus says nothing about Peter's betrayal: he asks him three times whether he loves him, then entrusts him with the mission of leading the Church. For the preacher, this is because Peter tasted God's love and forgiveness in his failure. From that experience comes a gratitude rooted in humility.