Pentecost 11, 2011
Matthew 14:13-21
Isaiah 55:1-5
“Food for the Soul”
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
From generation to generation important news was elaborately announced. From the Angels proclaiming the birth of the Savior (as we joyfully continue to proclaim with “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”) to the town criers of yesteryear ringing their hand bells shouting “hear ye, hear ye” to more modern announcements of “Ladies and gentleman, children of all ages: welcome to the greatest show on earth” by Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey circus or the famous catchphrase of Michael Buffer “Let’s get ready to rumble” we still use sight and sound to catch our attention to something special or important.
Like all of these announcements our Old Testament lesson begins with the word “come.” It begins as if it were saying “come one, come all…”Hark! Hear ye, hear ye! Listen up! Pay attention to what the prophet Isaiah proclaims to us this day: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.” (Isaiah 55:1-3)
What a wonderfully joyous announcement God gives to His people through the prophet Isaiah. What a way to get people’s attention…food and drink! But not just food and drink but FREE food and drink and not just free…but food and drink that is good and is satisfying; the “richest of fare”; the very best! Food and drink was just as important to the people in Israel that first heard this announcement as it is to us this day. One thing that man has known throughout the history of the world is that in order to survive and live you need food and water!
Have you ever noticed that many times when an organization wants people to attend an event or stay for a meeting very often it uses food and drinks to do so. I have wondered if a study has ever been done to see if there is a connection with attendance and pot-luck dinners after a church service. Some of my friends have joked that I only became a Pastor because of the opportunity for pot-luck dinners.
Before we get too carried away with all this talk about food lets go to the heart of Isaiah’s message: “Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.” (Isaiah 55:3) The announcement was indeed about food…but spiritual food. The announcement was about God’s love for His people. It was about God’s covenant of sending a Savior.
It would be over 600 years until our Gospel lesson came to happen. Jesus would see a large crowd of over 5000 people who had gathered to see and listen to Him. Our Lord would have compassion on the people even as the Disciples grumbled asking Him to send the people away…for it was getting late, they were in a remote place, and their was no food to eat. There wasn’t enough for the people to eat and there wasn’t enough money to purchase food either. How fitting Isaiah’s words are “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (Isaiah 55:1)
You know the story. Jesus would take five loaves of bread and two fish and fed all the people as much as they wanted and have 12 baskets of food left over. While Jesus was feeding all these people with food for their bodies He was also feeding their souls. The promised Messiah had come. This miracle was awesome in that it fed so many people but even greater that it showed who Jesus really was…the Son of God; the Savior.
People still hunger and thirst for both physical needs and spiritual. Yet often we eat the wrong things. We are prone to eat things that we think taste good but aren’t very healthy for us. Sometimes all that there is to eat has no nourishment at all. In WWII there were various accounts of families in bombed out, besieged, blockaded cities being so hungry that they mixed saw dust and paste from wall paper to make “bread.” How sad of a thought is that.
Today many think that they have all that they need spiritually but are really eating a spiritual paste and sawdust as they try to convince themselves that it is the bread of life. As we rely in ourselves and give in to our sinfulness we blockade ourselves from the true source of life. It is like stories of the old West. In the arid parts of the western United States the early settlers made their homes along the streams. Anyone doing otherwise would have been thought very foolish. But there are individuals and families who establish themselves far away from their church or otherwise arrange their home affairs in a way that gives them no time or opportunity to draw water from the stream of life, thus inflicting on themselves the greatest possible harm.
Sin blockades us from life. It lies and tells us that we have food to live. It tells us that we can feed ourselves. Whether sin convinces us that we are saved by our own deeds or that we don’t need to be saved at all…it kills us in the end. Sin tries to convince us that we just need a day to ourselves to refresh us by sleeping in or relaxing on Sunday instead of going to Church. Sin tells us that we can be spiritual at home or anywhere else we would rather be. Sin tells us that God will understand…its just this one time we’ll take off. Sin leads to eternal starvation and damnation.
But God did something about this. God sent us a Savior to conquer sin, death, and the devil. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave…the battle has been won. Hear the words of Isaiah one last time: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.” (Isaiah 55:1-3)
God’s promise of eternal life is yours through Christ Jesus. Come, receive the proof of that promise; receive the bread of life this very day in the very body and blood of Christ. Here in this place Jesus comes to feed you. Here you receive strength and forgiveness. Hark! Hear ye, hear ye! Listen up! Pay attention. Jesus lives! Eternal life is yours! You are forgiven! Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.
I had always wanted to learn about this topic ... I think it's great the way you expose .. great work and continuing on with this great blog
Posted by: red bottom | November 06, 2011 at 04:03 PM