Come, Buy and Eat!

Reverend Philip Stringer

Isaiah 55:1-5

Matthew 14:13-21

LET US PRAY: Gracious Lord, Bread of Life, feed us with your Word, and speak to our hearts, that we may love and serve only you, now and forever. AMEN

Listen, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

We are fragile creatures. Anyone will tell you that.

• Every five seconds we gasp another life-sustaining breath of air.

• We stop three times a day to take in food, and snack in-between.

• A gallon or so of water.

• For a full one-third of our day we must shut down and sleep.

• We must live in a narrow margin of temperature. A few degrees either way, and we peel off our clothes or bundle them on.

We are fragile creatures; anyone will tell you that.

We are even more fragile than this, though. Our hearts are fragile. Our spirits are fragile, because they are not meant to stand alone. They are meant to love and to be loved. They are meant to be held and belong.

You know the saying: “You are what you eat.” There is another saying that is similar: Tell me who you love, and I will tell you who you are.

Listen, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

What IS this food and drink?

In a documentary film from 1986, Mother Teresa ministers to sick and dying children. When asked why she bothers to care for children who will soon die anyway, she replies simply that love is the birthright of every person. It is the reason we are all here on Earth. As the film continues, there is a moment where Mother Teresa is caring for a child who is dying of malnutrition. His wasted face and limbs are contorted in a twisted knot of pain and fear. Mother Teresa lays her hands on him with great tenderness, smiling her love into the frightened eyes. Within minutes, the child’s limbs have miraculously relaxed, and his face — looking into hers — is full of peace and joy. Unconditional love — to be seen, known and loved.

Listen, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. The Lord will feed you with the caress of his love to calm your loneliness and fear.

You have no money to buy what you need. The things we can buy will fade. We eat a meal and in three hours we are searching for another. Yet how easy it is to give our lives over to buying what we ultimately cannot own. “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for that which does not satisfy?

What is the bread that we need?

What is it that will satisfy?

In 1995 Patty and I and our almost-3-year-old daughter, Margaret moved to Chicago where I served as one of two pastors in a large congregation. In those days we called Margaret, “Peggy.”

It was a very busy time for me in a busy, thriving, active congregation. Quite often the day would start at 7 or 8 am, and end with meetings in the evening that might wrap up at nine or ten. I was deliberate about protecting time for family and the congregation was good about respecting that — but even so, it was a very busy time.

I have a “folder” on my computer where I keep memories of my daughters — things like recordings of their voices when they were little, scanned images of pictures they drew, essays they wrote. Stuff like that.

In my folder for Margaret is a document titled, “Peggy’s Note 3-97” So she would have been four-and-a-half when she typed this note on my computer:

ABPEGGYIWTU2REMBRMAE

At age 4-and-a-half, Margaret had a good life. Parents that loved her, food, shelter, clothes, toys, friends. Every need satisfied — and in a transparent moment of pouring out what was in her heart, this is what came to her mind.

Peggy — Margaret — is now thirty-three years old. I am sixty-two, and some of you are considerably older than that — but I think that there is still a four-and-a-half child inside every one of us who has the same longing as my four-and-a-half year old.

Are you worthwhile? Are you worthy of love? You may not feel like it. You may not always act like it. But you are. Listen, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price ... I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love...”

The crowds before Jesus were hungry. It was late in the day, and their stomachs were empty, but still they would not leave. Their hunger went deeper than their bellies. Their hunger was more urgent than the pain in their bellies.

The setting for our Gospel reading today is what happened immediately after John the Baptist had been killed. John the Baptist —

• the one whom all Judea and Jerusalem had gone out to see

• the one whom they knew had come from the Lord

• the one who had told them the time was near

John the Baptist was dead, at the hands of their oppressing enemy. The people felt cut off from hope.

The disciples said to Jesus, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

The food that they need cannot be found on a solitary journey. They cannot feed themselves with the food that they need. It is not a food that can be bought for oneself in a village. It is a food that must be given. “They need not go away,” he tells them.

Jesus fed them with bread, and in so doing revealed to them the presence and the promise of God. He fed their hearts with more than fish and bread.

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for that which does not satisfy?”

Francis of Assisi was born the son of a noblewoman and a wealthy silk merchant in the late 12th century. He was handsome and witty, popular and spent money lavishly — especially on fine clothes. But at age 21, he turned his back on wealth to seek God in simplicity. It is said that during a trial in which his father sued to disown him, Francis stripped naked and walked out of the city. It was a most improper thing to do.

He soon encountered a leper on the side of the road. He passed him ... then stopped and went back and embraced the diseased man as spoken. Francis then continued on his journey. After a few steps he turned to look again at the leper, but no one was there.

For the rest of his life, he believed the leper was Jesus. He may have been right.

Shall we throw our clothes in a pile today before leaving? I don’t suppose the people of High Point would appreciate that very much. But shall we throw our distractions off before we go? Shall we cast off our isolated quests for meaning and belonging and fulfillment that can never fill our deepest hunger? Yes, I think that sounds like a very good idea.

Francis — stripped naked — had nothing but an embrace to offer a leper. He could do nothing but love him. But ultimately this is all that we need, and the only thing of lasting value that we have to give. All other things will pass away with time but love never ends. The love of God ushers us into a new reality in which love for one another is the defining characteristic.

Tell me who you love, and I will tell you who you are. But even more so, tell me who loves you, and I will tell you who you are.”

At the age of forty-three, Louis Pasteur, suffered a stroke and the whole left side of his body became paralyzed. the French chemist and bacteriologist, discovered a method of preventing fermentation in milk, a process called pasteurization. He was taunted, ridiculed, and humiliated by the citizens of his town. When food was needed for the soldiers in the time of war, he was told that he was only another useless mouth to feed. But he went on to do something for France that men with guns have never been able to do. His process for preventing fermentation in milk — pasteurization — also set the foundation germ science that led to vaccines. He has saved millions upon millions of lives. He revealed his motivation when he said, “The secret of what I have been able to do is in the One I surrendered my life to — Christ made me what I am.”

Christ did not make him a crippled man. He made him whole in spite of his broken body. Louis knew that he was known and that he was loved and that he belonged.

One cannot give what one has not already received. Listen, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Every day — in the waters of your baptism — the invitation is made to you by the one who has already washed these gifts over you. You are known ... and you are loved.

Every Sunday — this table is set for you by the same Jesus who fed that crowd so long ago. Here is food and drink that cannot be bought. It is freely given from the one who knows you and loves you.

Listen, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. “Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”

AMEN