Come all who are thirsty
A meditation from:
Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21
There is no such thing as a free lunch–TINSTAAFL. TINSTAAFL is one of the first lessons one learns in high school economics. I took economics the spring of my junior year at Lancaster Mennonite High School. It was an unruly class with a teacher that cared greatly for his students but didn’t have the most disciplined of classrooms. TINSTAAFL is one of the few concepts that I remember from that class, it looks at the factors behind “free” and counts the hidden costs. It’s the idea that somebody always has to pay whether it’s money, resources or time. There are always costs and why they might be negligible; they are always greater than “free.”
Isaiah 55:1-5 has a basic philosophy on money. Why spend money on what is not bread and labor on what does not satisfy? That’s the first thing that stands out to me. It is a validation of simply living which reminds me of another thing that happened in the spring of my junior year. I and a group of other students asked the question how much is enough? For one month we limited ourselves to 5 outfits of clothing, 2 electrical appliances and shorter showers. We looked at the disparity of wealth between ourselves and the majority of the rest of the world and asked how best to be stewards of what God has blessed us with? I still take things away from that learning experience. In this passage I find justification for that lifestyle. A biblical answer for the question we asked matching what we had decided. If you spend your money on food and labor on what satisfies that is enough.
That is not the whole passage though. This statement is parenthesized by an invitation to those who have no money to buy wine and milk without cost, a request to eat what is good and that flows into a restatement of covenant. This is free lunch, and an extravagant free lunch at that. Wine and milk were and are not basic foods. Wine without cost is a Mennonite dilemma. It’s not a bad bargain. We who are thirsty, downtrodden, come and listen and we are blessed. We are promised faithful love, we will summon nations not for any reason of our own right but because of the Lord our God–The Holy One of Israel, that endowed us with splendor. Yet this gives me pause. I have questions. Why would I want to summon nations and what is good to eat.
Summoning nations is difficult, I have an easier time with the eating. It’s both literal and figurative. Literal in the sense that God does give us our daily bread, but I’m also reminded of Daniel asking for vegetables rather than food sacrificed to idols and dietary law laid out in Leviticus. At the risk of preaching a social gospel, I wonder if this might be partially a call that we should try and eat properly: 4 food groups, 8 glasses of water, 3 meals a day, that sort of thing. While it might be wise to do those things, we cannot forget another meaning, one more spiritual and philosophic; eating referring to our consumption of life and what is good, to our choice of activities, conversations, and yes even careers. There is a difference between good and happy. Our constitution guarantees the freedom to pursue happiness. That quest does not always involve good actions and things that are good don’t always make us happy. Good leads to Joy. Good builds up ourselves and those around us. Good uses our talents for the kingdom. Good is simply loving and caring for others.
I don’t have to wonder how well my own life measures up to this. I must that confess that this week I wasted time, I didn’t labor anywhere near 6 days and I probably didn’t get a full day of rest. I didn’t eat breakfast most days and I very possibly buried some of my talents. Some of my motives weren’t pure and I didn’t trust God as much as I ought. I made more money than I needed, spent some of it on things other than food and food preparation and yes even took more than one long shower. My life is busy with stuff.
Come all who are thirsty. Our salvation is not from works. I remember Psalms 145:8-9, 14-21 and I paraphrase:
The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and rich in love. He has compassion on all that he has made.
The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food at the proper time. The Lord is near to all who call on him it truth. My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
These are the promises God made to his chosen. I notice the food again and also an invitation to come and call on him in truth. Time and time again these promises are made. Come and I will bless you. Yet I don’t have to point to you to very much of the Old testament to show evidence of their disbelief. It seems too simple really, and maybe that’s part of the problem, we don’t feel like we’re doing enough. We feel we need to earn our blessings. Isn’t that the definition of a blessing: something we didn’t earn? In Romans 9:1-5 I think Paul feels this desperation at the plight of the Jews.
For I wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race.
These are drastic words and they seem selfless. He offers his life for many. He sounds so noble, but Paul is not Christ. For all that he taught, he cannot save others, the only sacrifice of life he could make was his own. Only he could choose to come. Only he could choose to eat what is good. Paul sacrificed his life in labor for the church, he was cursed as he tried to win the Jews, but he also was blessed and certainly not cut off from Christ. He is right though. Theirs were the promises and blessings. It is from Abraham, from David that Jesus came. It was the Jews that could enter the inner court of the temple. How callous are we to forget what a privilege to worship. It shouldn’t be a chore, a burden but celebration of privilege. It is only because of Jesus that we can gain a closer proximity to God than any Levite in the Holy of Holies. We can choose to worship. No one can force us. In that choice lies the beauty, that I can choose to come to Christ. It is individual choices that make up this amazing bride of Christ. I can do many things in the name of Christ—for Christ. Though ultimately the only certain thing I can control is my own Choice. I choose to come and eat that which is good.
The 5000 came. Jesus has withdrawn privately by boat to a solitary place. He is in the wilderness because of the death of the John the Baptist. Despite this shadow, the people refuse to leave Jesus to his lonesome. They come and listen. They come and Jesus heals their sick. They have come to the point of forsaking food. The disciples are feeling despair. They want Jesus to send the people away. Jesus doesn’t send them away though. He gives them something more. He takes 5 loaves and 2 fish blesses it and some how there is a feast.
It’s ripe with symbolism 12, 5, bread. 12 tribes, 5 books of the law. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, you Israel, 12 tribes, I am taking your law, your 5 books of bread, breaking them and through me I am restoring Israel. But the crowd doesn’t see that, they see Free Lunch.
The 5000 are blessed as a result of seeking out Jesus. It’s fulfillment of drawing close and listening. God is faithful. They receive food that was bought without cost. There is a cost, the cost that Jesus pays with his death. This day is still dark with John’s death, it is the final message from the voice crying in the wilderness. It is reminder that that though Jesus’ ministry is to bring life, it also involves death on the cross. The 5000 hound him and they come and receive healing of the sick, food for the hungry: Blessing in the midst of despair.
Come, all you are thirsty,
Come to the waters,
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Listen to me eat what is good,
And your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Delivered at Durham Mennonite 7/31/05 based on the common lectionary.