Sunday, March 3, 2013

Thirsty for God


Third Sunday in Lent – Year C
March 3, 2013
Isaiah 55:1-9



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 labor for that which 
      does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
      and delight yourselves in rich food.
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.
See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
      a leader and commander for the peoples.
See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
     and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
      for he has glorified you.

Seek the Lord while he may be found,
      call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
      and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord,
      that he may have mercy on them, 
and to our God,
      for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
      nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 
      so are my ways higher than your ways
      and my thoughts than your thoughts.


As a former athlete, who dreams (unrealistically) at times of becoming an athlete once again, I have drunk my fair share of sports drinks like Gatorade.  I find the story of the creation and development of Gatorade fascinating.  Here’s this drink that I have literally drunk gallons upon gallons of, and yet I rarely think of the story behind it, what sports must have been like before the green and orange squeeze bottles were a part of every sideline and locker room.

According to Gatorade’s website, “in early summer of 1965, a University of Florida assistant coach sat down with a team of university physicians and asked them to determine why so many of his players were being affected by heat and heat related illnesses.  The researchers soon discovered two key factors that were causing the [Florida]Gator players to ‘wilt’: the fluids and electrolytes the players lost through sweat were not being replaced, and the large amounts of carbohydrates the players’ bodies used for energy were not being replenished.  The researchers then took their findings into the lab, and scientifically formulated a new, precisely balanced carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage that would adequately replace the key components lost by Gator players through sweating and exercise.  They called their concoction ‘Gatorade’.”[1]

The success of the Florida Gator’s football team in that and following seasons led to questions about how they were able to keep playing so hard in the heat of Florida; as more and more teams learned of the ‘Gator’s Aid’, more and more teams turned to it.  Eventually, the drink became part of pretty much every sport: from football to track, swimming to NASCAR.

What I find fascinating, is that very few of the athletes on the field even knew they were thirsty; I’m sure that they were all drinking water in large amounts.  They probably just assumed that playing sports meant that you paid a price with your body.  For many athletes today, both professional and amateur, the thought of exercising or competing without Gatorade is difficult to imagine.  How was it possible that so many of these people didn’t even realize they were thirsty?

At some point in the future, I hope to have the chance to see the Grand Canyon, to hike some of the many trails that wind in and out of that incredible natural landmark.  I read this last week that throughout the trail system of the canyon there are signs posted that say, “Stop! Drink Water.  You are thirsty, whether you realize it or not.”

How could it be that you don’t even recognize your own thirst?  All of us have been in situations where we have been so busy, so distracted that we don’t realize we are thirsty, that we don’t realize we are hungry.  You get so focused on what you are doing that time flies; you look up at the clock and are stunned to see that you worked right through lunch.  You sit down after dinner to read a book, suddenly to discover that it’s after midnight.  You are outside working in the garden, and when you finally come inside you discover just how thirsty you are.  One of my coaches in high school told me that I needed to listen to my body – the aches and pains were trying to tell me something.  But, we all know that in the midst of the busy-ness of life, in the middle of all the things we are doing, it’s easy not to pay attention to everything happening around you.

Our passage from Isaiah begins with an invitation, almost an order, to come to the waters and drink if you are thirsty; come and buy food and drink with no money.  Isaiah’s message comes to us in the middle of Lent, calling us to become aware of our faith life, of our own (perhaps unrecognized) thirst for God in our lives.  Are you thirsty?  Come, drink.  Feel like you have nothing of worth to offer?  Come anyway, eat and drink for free.

Most of the time when I visit someone in their home, I’m offered something to eat or drink, almost as soon as I sit down in the living room.  I know the same thing happens to you as well.  And I know, that even if I decline the offer of food or drink, most likely my host will persist and ask me several more times.  “Are you sure?”  “No, I’m fine.”  “Not even a glass of water?”  “No, I’m fine.  Thanks.”

As people of God, we look to God as our host, as the source of all we have and need.  Isaiah basically reaches across the coffee table in the living room of our lives, and tells us, “Stop it.  Whether or not you realize you need it, whether or not you feel thirsty, or hungry, you need what God is giving you.”

At this time, in this season of Lent, we are challenged to look deeply at ourselves, to see our need for God in our lives, to see our sinfulness and the need for repentance and returning to God in a more devoted way.  We may not immediately see it, we may not even be aware of how our journey and the way of God may no longer be in step with one another, or headed in the same direction.  We may not see how life may have become focused on work, on getting the bonus, or the promotion.  We may not be aware of how often we worry about keeping up with our friends and neighbors, keeping up with the ‘Jones’s’.  Isaiah’s words serve to wake us up, call us to recommit ourselves to God’s way.

“In the midst of the false promises for the good life, the full life, the successful life, the happy life, the meaningful life, or the exciting life that are so prevalent in today’s world, Isaiah implores us, “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to out God, for he will abundantly pardon” (vv.6-7)”[2]

God calls to us, promises to provide for us, cares for us.  It’s tempting to think of it as a free lunch, or as theologians call it – cheap grace.  But, as all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch.  The promises of God in scripture are often called covenants, and covenants involve both parties.  Like the covenants with Abram and David, like the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai, God’s gifts are not one-sided.  Abram was blessed in order that he might be a blessing to all nations.  David, at least according to Isaiah in our passage for today, was loved so that he might be a witness and leader for many peoples, not just his own.  God's people, today, are blessed in the new covenant in the same way.

We are invited to the table, invited to eat and drink, invited to quench our thirst and hunger for a reason.  But, it’s not because God wants to get something out of us, it’s not the offer of salvation if we do something for him – it’s not blackmail.  It is given in order to offer us something transforming.  Abram is transformed by the covenant we heard last week.  Israel is transformed in the years of wandering in the desert from a nation of slaves into a people, who exist even today.  Through the presence of God in his life, David is transformed from an outlaw into a king and leader.  God's meal doesn't require so much as it equips; it doesn't demand, it sets free.  God's covenant meal, to which we are called by Jesus himself, makes of us the very people that we are meant to be, that we were created to be.

So it is when we gather for the meal that celebrates the new covenant, when we gather together to share in the gifts of bread and wine.  Around the table of the Lord we are made into a community, into a family, and shaped for mission and ministry.  We are called and equipped to invite others to the table.  We are called to share with others all the blessing that we have been given.  The meal is free, but it is also costly.  We are called to leave our old lives, as we knew them, behind, given new lives and are taken into the body of Christ, the very life of Christ.  We are all thirsty and hungry for a world in which God's loving and compassionate reign becomes the reality for us and for all people.

Come to the table, you who thirst and know it, and those who don’t know it.  Come to the table if you hunger for God, if you feel empty and are ready to be filled.  Come to the table and be fed.  Come eat and drink, know the presence of God.   Come knowing you have been pardoned, come knowing you will be fed.  Amen.



[1] http://www.gatorade.com/history/
[2] Feasting on the Word, Year C volume 2, page 78