Free

October 18, 2017

I’ve been reading through the prophet Isaiah in my morning devotionals. Sometimes I take two or three chapters at a time, but chapter 55 stopped me in my tracks. There’s so much here that it’s going to take me awhile to get through it all. It begins with these words: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” 

What an invitation! Free dinner; it sounds like church! If you want a surefire way to gather a crowd, offer free stuff. The crowd may disappear once the stuff is gone, but you’ll have them at least until the dessert is served. It’s the Paretto Principle, otherwise known as the 20/80 rule. Twenty percent of the people do 80 percent of the work is the way the business world configures it. At church, it’s 20 percent of the people eat 80 percent of the church dinner. 

So, the text tells us that God invites us to a banquet, a common biblical image of the overflowing blessings offered to us. Jesus spoke of a banquet he has prepared for us in the heavenly kingdom. We are invited to come, but also to buy. But how can penniless people buy anything? If I have no money, it doesn’t matter how cheap the menu; I can’t afford to buy anything. So how do we buy when we have no money? It’s really quite simple: We offer ourselves in return for dinner. God sets a banquet of forgiveness, peace, joy, hope, freedom, strength, and companionship. All that was bought for us at the price of Christ’s blood on the cross. But there is also a price we pay. We have nothing to offer; our righteousness is, as Isaiah says elsewhere, like filthy rags. We are spiritually broke; in debt, even. We have nothing to offer. So we offer the only thing we have: ourselves. And God accepts it, not because we have anything of value, but because he values us. Now THAT is something for which to give thanks!