Repent and bear fruit
Commentary
All three lessons for this day challenge our perception of the good life, calling us to ask whether we are in danger of losing what we've got or missing what we need. The first lesson begins with a joyful summons to salvation, but notes that people neglect this summons by laboring for that which does not satisfy. The second lesson and the Gospel speak directly to people who think that because things seem to be going well, their lives must be as they ought to be. Both of these lessons warn of the fall that can come to the proud. Perhaps the main point of all three texts is summarized in 1 Corinthians 10:12: "If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall." You'll excuse me, but I seize every conceivable opportunity to quote the Beatles:
And so it's true, pride goes before a fall.
I'm telling you, so that you don't lose all.
Isaiah 55:1-9
These verses belong to the concluding portion of Second Isaiah, which actually runs to the end of chapter 55. The summons to "Come and Eat" is somewhat unique. For the exiles in Babylon, it would have recalled the promise of "milk and honey" associated with the land that God had given to Israel. But such an invitation to a banquet has many applications. For Isaiah, already, it may allude to the messianic or eschatological banquet at the end of time. For Christians, it suggests the eucharistic celebration at the center of Christian worship (the early Christians, according to Acts, referred to worship simply as "the breaking of bread"). In any case, God offers both what is essential (bread and water) and delightful (wine and milk). God offers life, and that abundantly (John 10:10).
Westermann thinks the call ("Come and eat") is based on the actual cries of merchants in the marketplace, hawking their various goods. But they never said, "Ho! Free water! Free bread! Free wine! Free milk!" What if they did? Would there be a stampede, or would people think there must be a catch? The publishers of the National Enquirer recently did a study to determine what headlines sold the most copies of their paper. They found three key words were consistently found in the best sellers. Papers that contained the word "sex" in the headline sold well, but only third best overall. Papers that contained the word "win" in the headline sold even better than the "sex" ones. And papers that contained the word "free" in the headline sold the best of all. (The publisher joked that, eventually, they would put out a paper that said, "Win Free Sex!" and really clean up.) Supposedly, then, people in our culture are attracted by what is "free." But perhaps that is the problem. The jaded among us regard the notion that anything of value can really be free as a tabloid mentality. It's naive. We pride ourselves on knowing better.
What Isaiah proclaims is, essentially, an offer of salvation. The fact that it is an invitation implies that it requires a response (see v. 6). Some Christians are uncomfortable theologically with this requirement, because they think it compromises "salvation through grace." It doesn't, but even if it did, their argument would still be with scripture. Luke clearly shows in his Gospel that God's gracious invitation can be rejected (Luke 14:16-24). So also here, the exiles had to decide to return to Jerusalem, and then -- of course -- they had to actually get up and do it. Still, the food is offered free to anyone who will come and eat it. Why would anyone refuse?
Why indeed? The text answers that question (v. 2). It is because some people are committed to that which does not satisfy. What is food that does not satisfy? We should avoid gnostic dichotomies between "earthly things" and "spiritual things." Isaiah would never have thought that way. The point is that people invest their time, their energy, their money in ways that don't actually bring them to an experience of "the good life," of life in all its fullness. Having done this for so long, they do not realize that life can be different. I am reminded of the opening words to A. A. Milne's classic Winnie the Pooh. We first meet the titular bear "coming down the stairs, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin." The latter drags him by one paw and the poor bear's head thumps on every step. And Milne writes: "It is as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it."
Verses 3-5 indicate that God now intends to transfer the covenant made with David to all of Israel. This may slip past us, but it is important -- indeed, shocking! It represents the great consummation of Second Isaiah's prophecy -- his single most important theological conclusion. It is found elsewhere (Psalm 89; 2 Samuel 7:8-16) but it is probably found first here. The covenant promise undergoes another shift as well -- David was to be the leader of nations (Psalm 18:43); Israel is to be a witness to the nations. The covenant is not to be fulfilled by conquest but, rather, when the Gentiles see the blessings of God bestowed upon Israel they will want to come to the banquet also. These shifts in the covenantal promise foreshadow and legitimate the church's application of God's covenantal promises to Christians, provided these are viewed as expansion rather than transfer (Isaiah does not say God takes the promise away from David and gives it to the nation).
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Paul describes us as people "on whom the ends of the ages have come" (v. 11). The image is significant not only for this passage but for Pauline theology in general. Most people, it seems, believed that God would eventually replace the age in which we currently live with another "new age" in which everything would be better. Paul decided that the new age had already begun with the resurrection of Jesus, while insisting that the old age would not end until the parousia. Thus we live during the overlap. All the possibilities and resources of the new age are here -- but all the problems and limitation of the old age are also still here. This makes life (and theology) complex: to deny the new age leads to despair; to deny the old, to presumption. Faith without presumption requires recognition of both.
Now, looking at the whole lesson --
Few of us were taught to do exegesis the way Paul does it here. His typological, allegorical approach bears similarities to Philo, even to Origen, but it represents a hermeneutic that came to be despised by the Reformers and, of course, was anathema to proponents of historical criticism. Still, it is now widely recognized that such exegesis is a form of homiletical interpretation, not historical description. The one place that this rich tradition of allegorical/typological exegesis has flourished and been properly understood and applied is African-American preaching. Listen to some of the great African-American preachers of our day and you will hear historical people, places, items, and events being presented as symbols to bring forth the contemporary relevance of texts. With such sermons, neither the preacher nor the audience is so stupid as to think that this was what the text meant in its original context. Only those who don't belong to the community would confuse the homiletical interpretation for historical description.
So, let's try to unpack Paul's homily. Being delivered from death by passing through the sea (Exodus 13:21) is likened to baptism; being led by a cloud (Exodus 14:21) is like being led by the Spirit, received at baptism; being fed with manna (Exodus 16:4, 14-18) and with water from a rock (Numbers 20:10-11) is like being nourished with the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist. But what is the point of all this? A dire warning: after all this, many were still destroyed. After all that God had done for God's people, many continued to practice idolatry and immorality, to test the divine patience. And to complain about their lot. In spite of all that God had done to save them, they found ways to bring destruction upon themselves.
Paul warns the Corinthians and all Christians that baptism and eucharist do not offer magical protection. Even baptized believers who worship regularly find ways to destroy their lives, not to mention the lives of others. The danger, Paul thinks, comes from thinking that we stand, from not realizing that we live in the overlap of ages -- we forget the "not yet" and think we are already saved (see comments on the second lesson for Lent 1). Failings may be inevitable, but ultimate destruction is not. God provides a way of escape! The way of escape lies precisely in recognizing that we do not stand on our own, in knowing that, left to our own devices, we will fail. We appeal to God and also to others in the community to keep us from falling (and to lift us up when we do fall).
One of the most popular Christians in the world right now is a young man named Toby McKeehan, rap singer in the musical group D. C. Talk. The group tried to make a few records for the "contemporary Christian" Gospel market, but something happened. For some reason, the music started getting played on secular radio stations. Suddenly, Toby's songs were soaring to the top of Billboard charts, his videos were getting played on MTV, and of course his band was selling tons of albums. Not many years out of college (Jerry Falwell's Liberty University), Toby is suddenly touring the world as the role model for Christian youth everywhere. In the midst of this fame, he wrote a very personal song, from which I quote only the chorus:
What if I stumble? What if I fall?
What if I go and make fools of us all?
Will their love continue, if my walk becomes a crawl?
What if I stumble? What if I fall?
It could happen, Toby. What makes it less likely to happen is your knowing that it could.
Luke 13:1-9
We have here a passage peculiar to Luke's Gospel, in which Jesus discusses calamity and tells a parable of "second chances" for a fig tree. I would like to title the pericope "The Need to Repent and Bear Fruit" in order to get at the essential meaning. The verses are easily misread.
Pastors often seize on verses 1-5 as an opportunity to talk about how bad things do not happen to people because they have sinned, and that message is certainly here. It's not the main point, though. Rather, Luke's intent is to turn that simplistic equation around: Just because bad things don't happen to you, it doesn't mean you're not a sinner! Even if your life is going smoothly, it doesn't mean you don't need to repent. In short, the message does not concern "why bad things happen to good people" but "why bad things don't happen to bad people."
Look again at verses 6-9. This parable is often read as revealing God's continual patient grace and reluctance to execute judgment. Again, that thought is present, but it is not the main idea. The central point is that just because judgment has not come upon you yet, you shouldn't think that it never will.
All of these verses are directed to people who are enjoying a relatively easy ride through life. They are verses of warning. They sound the need to repent and bear fruit. This is a common theme in Luke. See 12:16-20. Or, look at the Gospel lesson for next week -- the so-called story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Actually, in that story there are two sons and they both need to repent. The boy in the pig sty knows it; the one enjoying life on the old homestead does not. Or, look at the story of the Pharisee and the publican in Luke 18:9-14. The message is the same: both need to repent, but the one whose life is easy doesn't realize this. The question is: Why does it take adversity to get our attention? Even those whose life is good still need to bear fruit before God.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 55:1-9
On this third Sunday in Lent, all three of our lessons have to do with repentance, but we will look specifically at that in our Isaiah text.
Verses 8 and 9 of our Old Testament lesson tell us about the absolute otherness of God. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, says the Lord." That is a revelation that we need to remember whenever we try to identify the Lord with theological theories from our own imagination, or whenever we try to say that one of our social programs is identical with the will of God. All of our theologies and philosophies, all of our programs and projects, both in and outside of the church, are tainted by our sinfulness. There is no thought or action of ours for which we can claim absolute truth and authority. Those lie in God alone, whose ways and thoughts are always higher and purer than ours. Thus, we always need the revelation of God's thoughts and ways that are illumined for us by the Holy Spirit and spoken to us through the scriptures. Apart from that biblical revelation, we do not know God's ways and will for us.
The otherness of God that is emphasized in verses 8 and 9 of our passage, however, is his incredible, forgiving mercy. We human beings do not forgive very readily. If someone has ignored us for most of our life, we have eliminated them from our list of friends and treated them with indifference. If certain persons have said all sorts of evil things about us, we have counted them as our enemies and often vowed revenge. If others have accused us of wrong against them, we have treated them with scorn or ridicule.
But not God. Those have never been God's reactions. Israel, languishing in Babylonian exile after 587 B.C., was in that country of captivity because she had ignored her God and run after false gods and blasphemed God's holy name. And now, what does God say to her through his prophet Second Isaiah? "Return to me, for I will have mercy on you and will abundantly pardon." It reminds us of the words of our Lord on the cross when the nails held him up against the sky, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Despite all the indifference and wrong with which we have treated our Lord, he holds out to us the invitation to return and to be forgiven. And surely, God is totally other than we in that incredible mercy.
There are lots of further notes that enter into that gracious invitation, according to our scripture lesson. First, the prophet tells us, "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near" (v. 6). We can't just return to fellowship with our God any old time we feel like it. We can't just willfully break a commandment and then decide, "Okay, I'll find God now." We can't just glibly wrong a neighbor and comfort ourselves with the thought that nevertheless God will forgive and accept us back. No. The initiative lies always with God, and unless he draws near to us and says, "Return," we cannot go back to him.
At a specific time in the sixth century B.C., God drew near to the exiled Israelites, through the word of his prophet, and offered them his forgiveness. And at specific times, God in Christ draws near to us and offers us his mercy. The church has always called those times "the means of grace." And they come to us when the scripture is read or spoken in this church, revealing God's mercy; when the sermon is preached, inviting our return; and when the Supper is celebrated, offering us the forgiveness of Christ on the cross. At those times, through Word, written and spoken, and through sacrament, symbolized by water and bread and cup, God draws near to us, and invites us back to himself.
Second, what God says to us at those times, however, is, "Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous persons their thoughts" (v. 7). In short, God says to us in his invitation of forgiveness, "Repent. Change your ways. Turn around. Direct your life in the opposite direction toward good. Vow to become a new person in Jesus Christ." No person can truthfully accept the forgiveness of Almighty God, unless that acceptance is accompanied by a sincere desire to walk in newness of life, according to God's Word of commandment. Do you remember the classic introduction that used to be given to the Lord's Supper?
Ye who do truly repent and earnestly repent of your sins ... and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways: Draw near with faith and take this Holy Sacrament.... (Book of Common Worship).
True and earnest repentance, the intention to lead a new life and to follow the commandments of God -- in that attitude alone can we accept God's offer of forgiveness and mercy.
Third, the content of the mercy that God holds out to us in his forgiveness is wondrous indeed. Listen to what God offers us in our scripture passage. "Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (v. 1). God offers us the water that will quench every thirst for meaning and peace that we have ever had. And he offers us the bread that will satisfy every hunger for God and his good. Do you remember when Jesus said it? "I am the bread of life; those who come to me shall not hunger, and those who believe in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35).
We need that bread of life and that living water, don't we? As our scripture lesson says, we have for many days spent our money for that which does not feed our hunger for goodness and our labor for that which does not satisfy our longings. Buying and selling, laboring and longing, the world's rewards have not fed our souls, and there remains within us a restless desire -- for what? Surely for God who created us to live in fellowship with him always.
God offers us that loving fellowship, that deep sense that we are finally home, returned to the family of God, where there are joy and laughter, and honor and goodness, and the peace that the world cannot give. God offers us nothing less than life abundant in his company. "Incline your ear, and come to me," he says in our text, "hear, that your soul may live" (v. 3). And more than that, he tells us he will never abandon us. "I will make with you an everlasting covenant," he promises. Death itself will not separate us from him.
So, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who hunger, come and eat! God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ. The way is now open to return home.
And so it's true, pride goes before a fall.
I'm telling you, so that you don't lose all.
Isaiah 55:1-9
These verses belong to the concluding portion of Second Isaiah, which actually runs to the end of chapter 55. The summons to "Come and Eat" is somewhat unique. For the exiles in Babylon, it would have recalled the promise of "milk and honey" associated with the land that God had given to Israel. But such an invitation to a banquet has many applications. For Isaiah, already, it may allude to the messianic or eschatological banquet at the end of time. For Christians, it suggests the eucharistic celebration at the center of Christian worship (the early Christians, according to Acts, referred to worship simply as "the breaking of bread"). In any case, God offers both what is essential (bread and water) and delightful (wine and milk). God offers life, and that abundantly (John 10:10).
Westermann thinks the call ("Come and eat") is based on the actual cries of merchants in the marketplace, hawking their various goods. But they never said, "Ho! Free water! Free bread! Free wine! Free milk!" What if they did? Would there be a stampede, or would people think there must be a catch? The publishers of the National Enquirer recently did a study to determine what headlines sold the most copies of their paper. They found three key words were consistently found in the best sellers. Papers that contained the word "sex" in the headline sold well, but only third best overall. Papers that contained the word "win" in the headline sold even better than the "sex" ones. And papers that contained the word "free" in the headline sold the best of all. (The publisher joked that, eventually, they would put out a paper that said, "Win Free Sex!" and really clean up.) Supposedly, then, people in our culture are attracted by what is "free." But perhaps that is the problem. The jaded among us regard the notion that anything of value can really be free as a tabloid mentality. It's naive. We pride ourselves on knowing better.
What Isaiah proclaims is, essentially, an offer of salvation. The fact that it is an invitation implies that it requires a response (see v. 6). Some Christians are uncomfortable theologically with this requirement, because they think it compromises "salvation through grace." It doesn't, but even if it did, their argument would still be with scripture. Luke clearly shows in his Gospel that God's gracious invitation can be rejected (Luke 14:16-24). So also here, the exiles had to decide to return to Jerusalem, and then -- of course -- they had to actually get up and do it. Still, the food is offered free to anyone who will come and eat it. Why would anyone refuse?
Why indeed? The text answers that question (v. 2). It is because some people are committed to that which does not satisfy. What is food that does not satisfy? We should avoid gnostic dichotomies between "earthly things" and "spiritual things." Isaiah would never have thought that way. The point is that people invest their time, their energy, their money in ways that don't actually bring them to an experience of "the good life," of life in all its fullness. Having done this for so long, they do not realize that life can be different. I am reminded of the opening words to A. A. Milne's classic Winnie the Pooh. We first meet the titular bear "coming down the stairs, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin." The latter drags him by one paw and the poor bear's head thumps on every step. And Milne writes: "It is as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it."
Verses 3-5 indicate that God now intends to transfer the covenant made with David to all of Israel. This may slip past us, but it is important -- indeed, shocking! It represents the great consummation of Second Isaiah's prophecy -- his single most important theological conclusion. It is found elsewhere (Psalm 89; 2 Samuel 7:8-16) but it is probably found first here. The covenant promise undergoes another shift as well -- David was to be the leader of nations (Psalm 18:43); Israel is to be a witness to the nations. The covenant is not to be fulfilled by conquest but, rather, when the Gentiles see the blessings of God bestowed upon Israel they will want to come to the banquet also. These shifts in the covenantal promise foreshadow and legitimate the church's application of God's covenantal promises to Christians, provided these are viewed as expansion rather than transfer (Isaiah does not say God takes the promise away from David and gives it to the nation).
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Paul describes us as people "on whom the ends of the ages have come" (v. 11). The image is significant not only for this passage but for Pauline theology in general. Most people, it seems, believed that God would eventually replace the age in which we currently live with another "new age" in which everything would be better. Paul decided that the new age had already begun with the resurrection of Jesus, while insisting that the old age would not end until the parousia. Thus we live during the overlap. All the possibilities and resources of the new age are here -- but all the problems and limitation of the old age are also still here. This makes life (and theology) complex: to deny the new age leads to despair; to deny the old, to presumption. Faith without presumption requires recognition of both.
Now, looking at the whole lesson --
Few of us were taught to do exegesis the way Paul does it here. His typological, allegorical approach bears similarities to Philo, even to Origen, but it represents a hermeneutic that came to be despised by the Reformers and, of course, was anathema to proponents of historical criticism. Still, it is now widely recognized that such exegesis is a form of homiletical interpretation, not historical description. The one place that this rich tradition of allegorical/typological exegesis has flourished and been properly understood and applied is African-American preaching. Listen to some of the great African-American preachers of our day and you will hear historical people, places, items, and events being presented as symbols to bring forth the contemporary relevance of texts. With such sermons, neither the preacher nor the audience is so stupid as to think that this was what the text meant in its original context. Only those who don't belong to the community would confuse the homiletical interpretation for historical description.
So, let's try to unpack Paul's homily. Being delivered from death by passing through the sea (Exodus 13:21) is likened to baptism; being led by a cloud (Exodus 14:21) is like being led by the Spirit, received at baptism; being fed with manna (Exodus 16:4, 14-18) and with water from a rock (Numbers 20:10-11) is like being nourished with the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist. But what is the point of all this? A dire warning: after all this, many were still destroyed. After all that God had done for God's people, many continued to practice idolatry and immorality, to test the divine patience. And to complain about their lot. In spite of all that God had done to save them, they found ways to bring destruction upon themselves.
Paul warns the Corinthians and all Christians that baptism and eucharist do not offer magical protection. Even baptized believers who worship regularly find ways to destroy their lives, not to mention the lives of others. The danger, Paul thinks, comes from thinking that we stand, from not realizing that we live in the overlap of ages -- we forget the "not yet" and think we are already saved (see comments on the second lesson for Lent 1). Failings may be inevitable, but ultimate destruction is not. God provides a way of escape! The way of escape lies precisely in recognizing that we do not stand on our own, in knowing that, left to our own devices, we will fail. We appeal to God and also to others in the community to keep us from falling (and to lift us up when we do fall).
One of the most popular Christians in the world right now is a young man named Toby McKeehan, rap singer in the musical group D. C. Talk. The group tried to make a few records for the "contemporary Christian" Gospel market, but something happened. For some reason, the music started getting played on secular radio stations. Suddenly, Toby's songs were soaring to the top of Billboard charts, his videos were getting played on MTV, and of course his band was selling tons of albums. Not many years out of college (Jerry Falwell's Liberty University), Toby is suddenly touring the world as the role model for Christian youth everywhere. In the midst of this fame, he wrote a very personal song, from which I quote only the chorus:
What if I stumble? What if I fall?
What if I go and make fools of us all?
Will their love continue, if my walk becomes a crawl?
What if I stumble? What if I fall?
It could happen, Toby. What makes it less likely to happen is your knowing that it could.
Luke 13:1-9
We have here a passage peculiar to Luke's Gospel, in which Jesus discusses calamity and tells a parable of "second chances" for a fig tree. I would like to title the pericope "The Need to Repent and Bear Fruit" in order to get at the essential meaning. The verses are easily misread.
Pastors often seize on verses 1-5 as an opportunity to talk about how bad things do not happen to people because they have sinned, and that message is certainly here. It's not the main point, though. Rather, Luke's intent is to turn that simplistic equation around: Just because bad things don't happen to you, it doesn't mean you're not a sinner! Even if your life is going smoothly, it doesn't mean you don't need to repent. In short, the message does not concern "why bad things happen to good people" but "why bad things don't happen to bad people."
Look again at verses 6-9. This parable is often read as revealing God's continual patient grace and reluctance to execute judgment. Again, that thought is present, but it is not the main idea. The central point is that just because judgment has not come upon you yet, you shouldn't think that it never will.
All of these verses are directed to people who are enjoying a relatively easy ride through life. They are verses of warning. They sound the need to repent and bear fruit. This is a common theme in Luke. See 12:16-20. Or, look at the Gospel lesson for next week -- the so-called story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Actually, in that story there are two sons and they both need to repent. The boy in the pig sty knows it; the one enjoying life on the old homestead does not. Or, look at the story of the Pharisee and the publican in Luke 18:9-14. The message is the same: both need to repent, but the one whose life is easy doesn't realize this. The question is: Why does it take adversity to get our attention? Even those whose life is good still need to bear fruit before God.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Isaiah 55:1-9
On this third Sunday in Lent, all three of our lessons have to do with repentance, but we will look specifically at that in our Isaiah text.
Verses 8 and 9 of our Old Testament lesson tell us about the absolute otherness of God. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, says the Lord." That is a revelation that we need to remember whenever we try to identify the Lord with theological theories from our own imagination, or whenever we try to say that one of our social programs is identical with the will of God. All of our theologies and philosophies, all of our programs and projects, both in and outside of the church, are tainted by our sinfulness. There is no thought or action of ours for which we can claim absolute truth and authority. Those lie in God alone, whose ways and thoughts are always higher and purer than ours. Thus, we always need the revelation of God's thoughts and ways that are illumined for us by the Holy Spirit and spoken to us through the scriptures. Apart from that biblical revelation, we do not know God's ways and will for us.
The otherness of God that is emphasized in verses 8 and 9 of our passage, however, is his incredible, forgiving mercy. We human beings do not forgive very readily. If someone has ignored us for most of our life, we have eliminated them from our list of friends and treated them with indifference. If certain persons have said all sorts of evil things about us, we have counted them as our enemies and often vowed revenge. If others have accused us of wrong against them, we have treated them with scorn or ridicule.
But not God. Those have never been God's reactions. Israel, languishing in Babylonian exile after 587 B.C., was in that country of captivity because she had ignored her God and run after false gods and blasphemed God's holy name. And now, what does God say to her through his prophet Second Isaiah? "Return to me, for I will have mercy on you and will abundantly pardon." It reminds us of the words of our Lord on the cross when the nails held him up against the sky, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Despite all the indifference and wrong with which we have treated our Lord, he holds out to us the invitation to return and to be forgiven. And surely, God is totally other than we in that incredible mercy.
There are lots of further notes that enter into that gracious invitation, according to our scripture lesson. First, the prophet tells us, "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near" (v. 6). We can't just return to fellowship with our God any old time we feel like it. We can't just willfully break a commandment and then decide, "Okay, I'll find God now." We can't just glibly wrong a neighbor and comfort ourselves with the thought that nevertheless God will forgive and accept us back. No. The initiative lies always with God, and unless he draws near to us and says, "Return," we cannot go back to him.
At a specific time in the sixth century B.C., God drew near to the exiled Israelites, through the word of his prophet, and offered them his forgiveness. And at specific times, God in Christ draws near to us and offers us his mercy. The church has always called those times "the means of grace." And they come to us when the scripture is read or spoken in this church, revealing God's mercy; when the sermon is preached, inviting our return; and when the Supper is celebrated, offering us the forgiveness of Christ on the cross. At those times, through Word, written and spoken, and through sacrament, symbolized by water and bread and cup, God draws near to us, and invites us back to himself.
Second, what God says to us at those times, however, is, "Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous persons their thoughts" (v. 7). In short, God says to us in his invitation of forgiveness, "Repent. Change your ways. Turn around. Direct your life in the opposite direction toward good. Vow to become a new person in Jesus Christ." No person can truthfully accept the forgiveness of Almighty God, unless that acceptance is accompanied by a sincere desire to walk in newness of life, according to God's Word of commandment. Do you remember the classic introduction that used to be given to the Lord's Supper?
Ye who do truly repent and earnestly repent of your sins ... and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways: Draw near with faith and take this Holy Sacrament.... (Book of Common Worship).
True and earnest repentance, the intention to lead a new life and to follow the commandments of God -- in that attitude alone can we accept God's offer of forgiveness and mercy.
Third, the content of the mercy that God holds out to us in his forgiveness is wondrous indeed. Listen to what God offers us in our scripture passage. "Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (v. 1). God offers us the water that will quench every thirst for meaning and peace that we have ever had. And he offers us the bread that will satisfy every hunger for God and his good. Do you remember when Jesus said it? "I am the bread of life; those who come to me shall not hunger, and those who believe in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35).
We need that bread of life and that living water, don't we? As our scripture lesson says, we have for many days spent our money for that which does not feed our hunger for goodness and our labor for that which does not satisfy our longings. Buying and selling, laboring and longing, the world's rewards have not fed our souls, and there remains within us a restless desire -- for what? Surely for God who created us to live in fellowship with him always.
God offers us that loving fellowship, that deep sense that we are finally home, returned to the family of God, where there are joy and laughter, and honor and goodness, and the peace that the world cannot give. God offers us nothing less than life abundant in his company. "Incline your ear, and come to me," he says in our text, "hear, that your soul may live" (v. 3). And more than that, he tells us he will never abandon us. "I will make with you an everlasting covenant," he promises. Death itself will not separate us from him.
So, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who hunger, come and eat! God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ. The way is now open to return home.
