The prophet Isaiah has discovered something crucial in his relationship with God. God calls us toward that which offers real satisfaction.
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. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy.
These words are as fresh today as they were when they were written some 2,600 years ago. They are also as necessary as they were all that time ago. Let’s ask the question a slightly different way – Are we falling for the age-old temptation of choosing worldly riches over spiritual riches?
These words are especially timely because of a piece that appeared in The Age (Melbourne) during last week. Matt Wade reports that “Australia has emerged as one of the most work-focused countries in the world…” This focus is taking a great toll on relationships and gobbling up the time people have available to be involved in other activities. So it would appear that some of us at least are choosing to expend our efforts on that which does not, in the end satisfy. It was the same in the time of Isaiah the prophet and it is the same now. We have so many things to think about and do that we forget the really important things of life to which God constantly calls us. If it were not Lent would we be making a special effort to find God afresh in our lives? And if the lectionary had not called us to these words of Isaiah would we have picked up our Bibles and read them of our own accord? The calendar and the lectionary are gifts given so that we might hear God’s voice amid the noise that surrounds our lives. There are other voices too – those who do the research that draws our attention to the negative effects of working too much help us to get things in perspective. It is interesting that the report coincides so closely with the readings for the Third Sunday in Lent!
Some may not be directly caught up in the over-work syndrome but none-the-less may be suffering from the fall-out it creates. Perhaps family members are separated by distances demanded the global work culture. Perhaps business means that family get-togethers are too infrequent. Maybe some are caught up in having to care for grand children a bit more than might be ideal!
Many of us feel a sense of vocation about what we do. I wish I could practice what I preach to a far greater extent. I wish Jenny (my wife and colleague) would practice what I preach too! Because we feel strongly about our vocation, because are in a people business, because we live over the shop, because some people expect it, and because there is always more to do than there are hours in the day we can easily become too work focused. Our work can indeed be very satisfying in itself but it not the satisfaction about which Isaiah speaks.
The satisfaction we are called to can be very hard won. In fact it takes a great amount of faith to believe it. Begin by trying to imagine the power of the creative forces behind the universe. Then try to imagine that this power is personal, that is, we can relate to this power even if our pronouns of him, her, or it are all in the end, inadequate. Now that is a huge step. Now, go well beyond this and imagine we have experienced this power in human form as Jesus Christ. This means that we understand our relationship with this power as that between a loving parent and the much loved child. I don’t think anyone can come to this belief by reason alone. You need a great deal of faith. In fact the 19th century philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach thought that what Christians were doing was projecting an image of the ideal father figure onto those powers of the universe. The great philosopher Bertrand Russell once made a quip that went something like this: “If I were all powerful and had all eternity to do nothing other than create I would not be happy if humanity was considered my crowning achievement.” These are telling criticisms and from the perspective of someone who does not believe it must seem that faith in a loving God is nothing more than fantasy. But what a difference it makes to life to see things in this way – there is purpose, there is meaning, and there is reason for living. It is a very satisfying way for human beings to understand the universe. This notion of satisfaction is also difficult because we get it confused with the self-satisfaction. Self-satisfaction is the sort of satisfaction that occurs when we think we are right and everyone else is wrong.
Even people of faith through the centuries have needed to be called back to the central notion of satisfaction. In the days of the prophets the descendents of Abraham felt satisfied because their birthright meant an automatic right relationship with God and a fast track to heaven.
In Jesus’ day the Pharisee’s were satisfied because they believed they felt they had the tools to rightly interpret the law. They were among the religious elite and were blessed.
In the epistle this morning Paul reminds the church in Corinth that even those whom God set free from Egypt were not above judgment and punishment. Apparently there were factions in the Church in Corinth who thought that God had especially blessed them in a way their brothers and sisters were not. Self-satisfaction - even in the Church!
Some years ago when I was a school chaplain I helped prepare a valedictory service for year 12 students I offered this blessing to my students:
May your heart’s disquiet never vanish. May you never be at peace. May you never be reconciled to life, nor to death either. May your path be unending.
Though I would not have described it as so then, this blessing, by educator Paul Logiavist, is meant to guard against self-satisfaction. I wondered if there might be some reaction to my consignment of that year 12 to a collective life of disquiet. But I think I was able to explain to them that notion of always looking beyond the horizon and of always expecting that God would bring about something new in our lives. At least I didn’t have any angry parents looking for a please explain!
The people of Isaiah’s time were satisfied they were doing the right thing – until they were told in no uncertain terms that they were going in the wrong way. The people of Jesus time thought they too had it all together. Notice in the Gospel reading that it is the Pharisees who warn Jesus that Herod is after him. The Pharisees were the group Jesus had so much trouble with. And St Paul has to remind the church in Corinth of the consequences of their self-satisfaction. The story to which he refers comes from the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament where it is recorded that the people set free from Egypt got up to all sorts of things in the wilderness and paid the price for their indiscretions.
So our readings this morning call us back to faithfulness. We are bid to put aside any notion of self-satisfaction and come back to God who offers drink and food that truly satisfies. I hope that we will take time to chew over the words Isaiah, to heed the warnings of St Paul and allow Jesus to gather us under his wing that we might search out the things that keep us from God and from each other and turn away from them so that we might know more of the true satisfaction God offers us.
May your heart’s disquiet never vanish. May you never be at peace. May you never be reconciled to life, nor to death either. May your path be unending.
