Sunday 23rd March 2025
Isaiah 55: 1-9
Psalm 63: 1-8 Lent III 2025.
I Corinthians 10: 1-13
St. Luke 13: 1-9
“Listen carefully, and eat what is good.” Isaiah 55: 2b
Let’s imagine that we have been invited to a dinner party with some old friends; (someone’s invited some new friends to join the dinner party as well)… Conversation is flowing; laughter is abundant. The meal portions are generous and are absolutely delicious; no glasses are empty. No one is in a hurry to leave the table… And what’s that we hear? Some beautiful classical music is playing softly in the next room… We just take a moment to appreciate the scene… Does life get any better than this?…
We realize something about this fellowship around the table: We have such a mix of backgrounds!… There is the very old and the very young at this large table; all kinds of ethnicities and interests. The new guests at the dinner table blend perfectly with the old friends… Some of our friends have had it pretty tough – but something’s changed…
Maybe it’s the soft lighting; maybe it’s something more… Even the most care-worn face in this group doesn’t look… care-worn… any more. There are smiles and murmurs and sweet chuckles…
Who is that over there, right in the center of the table?… The young man, full of light and hearty laughter. He’s not always talking; sometimes he’s listening with intensity at another speaker, as if the speaker is the most important person in the entire world. He is setting the tone for the whole evening… We’d almost forgotten – he’s the dinner host…
Such scars he carries! The faint marks of the crown of thorns on his dead. When his hand gestures, the hem of his loose sleeve falls open, and we can see the stigmata, the scars from where the nails were driven in, to fasten him to the cross… We know of the other wounds too, which aren’t visible, but which are there, from the sword that pierced his side, to his back which had been flayed by the scoffing Roman soldiers; not to mention the wounds of abandonment from his friends… And suddenly we realize, with a flash of inspiration, that the scars themselves have somehow made the dinner host – beautiful…
The Book of Isaiah is an amazing book, isn’t it?… From the threat of invasion from Assyria, to the Suffering Servant prophecies and the prophecies of a new birth – the coming One who will free his people; the Messiah!…
Today’s first reading from Isaiah 55 is about a banquet; a banquet in which there is no cost, and to which everyone is welcome…
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… (v. 1)
Hmm… Being part of this banquet, Isaiah prophesies, is to be in fellowship with God himself:
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour 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…
There is a covenant relationship with God himself, associated with this meal:
I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
Luke 22: 17-20
Then (Jesus) took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
We Anglicans sometimes joke about how often we eat together… Yet, maybe it’s something deeper which is going on, though, as we share time and fellowship, and eat and drink… It’s a sign of sharing, fellowship and presence…
This theme of a banquet in the life to come doesn’t just show up in Isaiah 55. Let’s consider
Isaiah 25, 6, and following:
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
“He will swallow up death for ever…” Death itself… will be swallowed up by the Lord of hosts with this coming abundance!… The shadow of death will end… Isaiah continues,
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
No more tears. No more disgrace… What a wonderful promise…
So, we see this recurring theme in Isaiah – a glorious, heavenly banquet, attended by the Lord of lords and King of kings… The sacrament of Holy Communion is a foretaste, a beautiful hint, of this glorious new day…
Near the end of the Bible, John records the marriage supper of the Lamb – the Lamb, that is, who is the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. Revelation 19: 9: “And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb…’ ”
We can also think of Revelation 3: 20 (which is represented in one of our stained glass windows), of our Lord knocking on the door of our hearts, wanting us to share his fellowship: “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me…”
That’s us… That’s you… That’s me… By the grace of God, we open the door of our hearts, to let the true Light shine in. The gathered Christians, the Church on earth, becomes the Church in heaven, united with the Lamb of God, Jesus…
So we see this on-going picture, this on-going metaphor in various places in the scriptures… A coming dinner feast is a kind of picture of this deep, on-going fellowship with the risen Jesus Christ…
Let’s pay attention to the whole of today’s first lesson, though… The invitation is open to everyone – but not everyone chooses to join the wedding banquet!… As we are especially reminded in this season of Lent, we need to repent and to turn to God by faith. Isaiah 55 continues,
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.
We need to repent… We need to be open to being changed by the Spirit of the Lord, to become the people we are called to be. Jesus Christ makes the same point, in the Parable of the Wedding Feast. Let’s take time to read this parable carefully:
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’
In this parable, let’s notice that everyone is invited to the banquet. However, some get so caught up in their daily business, they ignore the King’s great invitation… The banquet hall will be filled… But we come not with our own stained garments – not our own clever talents – but we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, by repentance and faith…
We’re called to take to heart the whole of the Biblical story… Some of the Bible is about particular points in human history, and these passages are to be read and lived as history. Some parts of the Bible are poetry and prophecy and so forth… It’s still inspired; it’s all an authoritative message from God for God’s people. But the truth of poetry, for instance, is a movement of the heart as well as the head…
Today, as we read Isaiah 55, we’re encouraged to understand the Bible’s story deeply in a different sort of way… Today’s first reading is not so much a fixed number in the world’s history… Today’s first reading is about the overwhelming experience of being in eternal fellowship with Christ himself, as we share in the great marriage supper of the Lamb (who is also called the Bread of life). He is the Head of our fellowship, and the Source of all spiritual nourishment; world without end. Amen.