Pentecost 12
Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Isaiah 55:1 – “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“You get what you pay for.” This is advice I received early on, and as life has continued now upwards of thirty years, it’s proven itself time and time again. It seems if you take the cheaper way out and buy the less-expensive model of something, all too often you’re wishing you’d have spent just a little more on the next model up. Buy that sale television of the no-name brand and a week later the joy of the sale price has vanished and you’re left looking at a screen where you can’t tell the Tigers from the Brewers. You got what you paid for. $4.99 for all you can eat steak and shrimp? Sure… and when you need a magnifying glass to find the shrimp, and there’s more to cut off the steak than to cut up, you realize you got what you paid for.
It seems that with so many things in our lives, there’s always a catch. There’s always fine print, always that little asterisk next to things that forces your eyes to look to the bottom of the page to find out what they really mean. “If it’s too good to be true,” we say, “then it probably is.” Let the buyer beware. And so we’ve learned to be careful when we see good deals. What’s the catch? Where’s the fine print? What am I really getting myself into here? Take it from someone who just closed on his first house: fine print is everywhere, and if I didn’t have such an incredible realtor to help, I’d still be there, reading through every word in those contracts.
Nowhere is this more true than with free things. Every time someone calls the church office to offer something free, I’m not the only one whose eyebrow raises. We always wait to hear what we have to do or pay in order to get the “free” item. How often is it simpler and easier to go out and buy what we need than to jump through the hoops to take advantage of the free offer. You do indeed get what you pay for, it seems, whether the cost is money, time, or whatever else.
So when we read an Old Testament lesson like what we heard today from Isaiah, our 21st century American sensibilities are immediately alerted. “Come to the waters, everyone who thirsts.” Free water for everyone! If you’re thirsty, all you have to do is come, and you’ll be quenched. “Oh, sure,” I can just hear you saying, “and how much is that going to cost me?” Free? All I have to do is listen to an hour-long presentation on how much I need a timeshare in the U.P. or how much money I can make selling goods online, right? There’s always a price to things, isn’t there?
In this world in which we live, it seems you never get something for nothing. We’ve become so good at covering ourselves, at watching out for our hard-earned money, and we have to be in today’s economy. Today’s Old Testament words from Isaiah seem like a child’s fantasy, or like something that exists only in heaven. But these are your Lord’s words for you: Come to the waters and drink. Come and receive food and wine and milk, and get them for no money at all.
Our God really does things backwards, doesn’t He? “He who has no money, come, buy and eat!” How does that work? “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” What? That doesn’t make any sense, especially to those living in 2008 America. But that’s the beautiful thing about our God, isn’t it? He operates on His own rules, and doesn’t fit with our society or our thinking… and that’s a wonderful thing. Come and eat, come and drink, and you won’t spend a dime of your own money.
And this is most certainly a great blessing: that we don’t have to spend our money on what the Lord offers. Because if we did, how many of us would have money left to buy what we need from Him? How often we spend the time, talents, and treasures from our Lord on things that are fleeting, things that are of this world, things according to our text, “that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” It is so incredibly easy in this society of ours to spend your time and money on all manner of things which are fleeting and temporary. We are a disposable society. If something breaks, is defective, or outdated, throw it away and get a new one. We have television ads, magazines, celebrities, and movies all telling us what’s important, or what we “need” to be happy. But there’s always a catch, isn’t there? When we have whatever we want the most, there’s always something bigger, something better, or something newer. That’s what our human nature is all about… broken, needy, sinful.
Praise be to God that He doesn’t operate like our world does. Praise be to God that He operates in a way that is in fact completely opposite to the way the world does. Where the ads tell us to buy now and pay it off for years to come, where our world tells you to buy the latest version or model for true happiness, or Lord simply says, “Come.” You who hunger and thirst, come to Me. You who have no money, who are poor and needy, come. Come and take the food I have to offer, and you will know true contentment and fulfillment and peace!
When Cheryl and I were living in St. Louis, we had access to a bountiful blessing called the Seminary Food Bank. Living on our small full-time-student income those years, I’m not sure how we would have been able to afford groceries without access to the Food Bank. We’d come in, and have our pick of all sorts of grocery items from the shelves, which had been donated by people around the country. It was a great blessing to us, and helped us make ends meet. We’d walk out with bags full of groceries, and never have to pay a single penny for any of it. What a wonder from the Lord and His Body the Church.
But one did not go to the Food Bank for top-of-the-line items, or to be picky. Lots of canned foods, and you never really knew what to expect from month to month. Good food, and we’re very grateful for it, but not exactly gourmet. But it was free, and we were poor, so we were thankful.
So is that the food that our lesson talks about today? Here again, our God operates in a way that is completely backwards from that of our world. The food which He offers to us free of charge is not some surplus, not some expired goods, not some clearance items. The food He offers us is what He has prepared for us Himself. Our text tells us, “…eat what is good, and delight yourself in rich food.” This is the top of the line, five-star, choicest cuts available. This is food which He has lovingly prepared for us. This is the best, and there’s nothing less that is good enough for Him to give.
Just look at what He did for the more than 5,000 people gathered on the beach to hear Him preach. In our Gospel lesson today, Matthew tells us they had been there all day, and the people were hungry. It was too late to send them to the towns to buy food, so they were stuck with trying to divide five loaves and two fish between thousands of people. An impossible job, for sure… but there’s always a catch, isn’t there? Jesus takes the meager offering of a boy’s lunch and does an amazing thing: He manages to feed all those people so they are not only fed, but they’re satisfied! And there’s twelve baskets full left over when He’s done. Overflowing with an abundance: That’s our God for you!
Just look at the meal that He’s prepared for us today on this very altar. This is not some cheap, chinsy thing thrown together at the last minute. Oh no, this meal which we eat today took many thousands of years to bring together. At just the right time, Our Lord gave not only bread and wine for us to have, but is Himself the sacrifice. He gives us of His very own body and blood, given and shed on the cross of Calvary for you and for me. This meal not only satisfies our weary souls with strength, but it forgives us all our sins and cleanses us completely.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, there is nothing you can buy or earn that compares to what our God gives freely. Be fed by His Word regularly in personal and family devotions, in group Bible study, and in the worship of the Church. Eat and drink of the food He gives us that unites us with Him and with the great cloud of witnesses that has gone before us. In the words of Isaiah 55:3, “Incline your ear and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.”
In so doing, you’re not only partaking for yourself, that you may live, but that others may see you and follow. Call out to those around you, stop looking for the fine print, stop buying into the line this world is selling at every turn. Come to the Lord’s waters and be satisfied, let your cup be filled to overflowing with the water that gives eternal life. Get what you paid for? No, thanks be to God. Get what HE paid for, with His very life.
In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.