That Which Sustains and Satisfies

PROPER 13 (18)

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Year A

Isaiah 55:1-5

Matthew 14:13-21

What do you spend your time and energy on? Take a moment and think through your day, week, and month. The first thing on your list may be work, school, or family. Next, for many, it is either rest, friends, or entertainment.

If we look at our lives on general terms like this, we aren’t too different from the Israelites of Isaiah’s days. The biggest difference would have been that the people in Israel’s day had a lot more riding on their work, family, friends, and rest. With food and harvests never being consistent, with threats of war, exile, and persecution around every corner, they would feel even greater fear and anxiety about what tomorrow would bring and how they would care for themselves and their families. Because of this, they would have had even more riding on their work and one another.

So, in this understanding, since our work is far less dire than the Israelites, we can understand that Isaiah’s words about where people should go when we hunger, thirst or desire something are even more directed at us, because we have greater freedom to choose. I invite you to open up your pew bibles to Isaiah 55 on pg. 685 And let's listen again to these words, and understand that they are directly for you:

“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

Did you notice how it starts in vs. 1? It starts with such an obvious and simple solution that almost anyone should know. If you are thirsty, what should you do? Go get some water. God through Isaiah, is using one of our most basic and obvious needs to show us our truly most basic and obvious need. If it is so obvious to us that we should drink water when we are thirsty, we should understand that our needs, but especially our deepest longing and thirst is for God. It should be just as obvious to turn to him in our daily needs and desires.

Next, he addresses food. For those that don’t fish, hunt, or farm they would have to buy it. Yet, many people didn’t have enough. For us, there are some who don’t have enough money for food, but even for us that do, we can still feel like we don’t have enough, enough time, enough energy, and enough money to do what we need, let alone what we want and desire. We can look at our past or other people’s lives and want that, feeling like we need that. For some of us, it isn’t just that we don’t feel like we have enough of something like time, energy, or money, we can feel and believe that we aren’t enough, like we need to be something different. In this moment God is speaking to all of us who feel like we don’t have enough. God says to us in the second half of vs. 1, “You who don’t think you have enough, come to me and you will find how rich you truly are with me then you can buy something substantial and sustaining that is beyond measure, priceless and good”.

If you were following along with the verse you would have noticed that I added a whole lot more to it, but that is what the verse is saying and more. The Bible is so intelligent in how it communicates, in that it purposefully leaves space for us to meditate and hear the Holy Spirit speak into that space as we take time on it. This space leads to a much more grand, personal, and applicable understanding than could ever be written, or even communicated in this sermon. On a similar note: I also depend greatly on the Holy Spirit to speak through and around my words, along with through the week to give greater life and meaning to you.

Before moving ahead to vs. 2. Notice that God tells the people to buy priceless wine and milk. This is no longer the bare essentials of water and bread. Wine for most would have meant joy, rest, celebration, and wealth. Milk would have meant sustenance, energy, nourishment, bounty, and more as it would have also spoken to land, belonging, ownership, and God’s promise and providence in a land flowing with milk and honey. God in this moment is offering us more than just what we need and in its priceless nature, he is offering more than our desires ask for.

That leads to vs. 2: “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” The interesting thing is that for some of Isaiah’s listeners, especially in the context of war and exile, bread might have been all they were buying, if they could buy it. We could just say that God is talking to those that had more than enough, who would be the right parallel for most of us anyways, but that would be limiting his message. Instead, whether we are rich, poor, or somewhere in between, God is showing all of us how we spend time, money, and labour for things that we don’t truly need and that don’t sustain us or fill our desires. A few questions to bring it home: How much time and energy do you spend on worry or fear? When you have time, but no energy what do you do? Where do you put your money? In all of your answers do you experience satisfaction or sustained?

I recently heard someone talking about how excited she was for her kids to be busy one night so she could watch a show. She and her husband stayed up late watching 2 or 3 episodes of this hour-long show. She wanted to stay up and watch more, but she was eventually convinced that it was so late that they needed to sleep for work tomorrow. A simple story, I think many of us can relate to this experience. They had time, energy, and space and they ended up spending it on something that left them wanting more. Actually, the thing itself seemed to get in the way of their basic need for sleep and possibly work. So was it sustaining? Was it nourishing? Was it satisfying? Because I have done it and feel the desire, I want to argue yes, and I could list off my silly arguments, but in my heart of hearts, I know that this stuff and so much of what I do isn’t nourishing or sustaining. This isn’t meant to guilt you for watching TV or something else, but it’s an important thing to realize if we ever want to seek what is truly good.

So, why do we do it? Why do we do what we do when it isn’t helping us? The thing that kept coming to my mind is that it's easy. It’s easy to watch tv. It’s easy to get caught up in fear or anxiety. It’s easy to look for quick fixes and shortcuts. It is harder to pray and spend time and energy on things that are truly good for us, especially when we feel like we don’t have enough. It is harder to trust when we doubt and step forward when we have no control. It is harder to do slow and deliberate work to build what is important and good in our lives. We like what is easy, but easy does not always mean good. I think there are a whole lot of reasons we do what we do, like the easy feeling of accomplishment, simple engagement, easy connection points, and easy seeming relief, but I would urge you to think through these reasons, so that together we might be able to change our ways and move forward towards God. This is an important side of repentance that we don’t always talk about. Turning away from that which isn’t what we need that doesn’t satisfy and turning back to God. Isaiah speaks more about this repentance in Vs. 6 and 7. To be honest, I am still working through this almost daily.

Have you noticed that all of this time we have only been looking at 1 and a half verses? Scripture is so rich and so good that it offers so much even with so little. So, it shouldn’t be surprising when God says halfway through verse 2, “One of the first thing you should do after you come to me, is listen!” - “Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in rich food”. God is saying to us, that his words are good and rich food that can sustain, nourish and delight us. In fact, God adds to that in verse 3 and tells us that his words lead to life. When death, absence, pain, loss, and exhaustion are around every corner. God’s words overcome those and lead us to life.

The hard part about this is that we know how words have fallen short. How many people do we know that have said something without meaning it, or if they did mean it and they couldn’t live into it? Sometimes, we have found words to be too fickle and so it is easy to approach God’s word the same way and dismiss it, not seeing it as good food and finding its nourishment. But we too easily forget something so fundamental, God’s word is who He is. God’s word became incarnate in Jesus Christ. His word of love took on flesh, walked with us, and died for us. God’s word does not fall short because He does not fall short.

And if we still doubt God’s word, in the exact same sentence of vs. 2, look at it, God is also saying to us that His word, which we know to be Jesus, will direct us to sustaining, nourishing and delightful food. His words unto themselves should be enough with their great richness, but as always God offers us more.

Just imagine how much more God offers, when he offers us all of Himself. That’s what God does continuously. As He is speaking His word to us this day, He is giving us Jesus. As you receive it into your heart, you receive Jesus and are nourished by Him. As Jesus led people to a greater community, joy, hope, richness and so much more, Jesus is still doing that now. He is leading you to this community, shaping your heart, guiding your eyes and actions. As Jesus empowered his disciples to do wonderful, amazing, and miraculous things, he is still doing the same thing today. As the Holy Spirit has worked all around us and in us, and when we are courageous and faithful enough, through us. As those faithfully following Jesus found that there was always enough, so is Jesus providing for us. Why do we seek after that which is not bread and that which does not satisfy, let us turn to God with our time, energy, and money, no matter where we are or whats happening so that we can find the true richness and nourishment that comes from God alone. AMEN