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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Second Sunday of Advent |
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Isaiah
55:1-3 Come
to the Waters “Come
ye to the waters.” This is
nothing less than an invitation from the God of grace and glory to come to
Him and receive the richness of His love and mercy.
Some interpret the waters to mean a well or a spring.
Thus, our Lord invites us to come to Him as to an oasis in a dry
and barren land, and to drink freely of His life-giving water, the Living
water of Christ Jesus. Others
view the waters as a busy seaport, with many ships arriving from far-away
lands, laden with exotic and valuable cargo. The wharves are bustling with activity and the goods are
piled high beside the ships. Thus
the Divine invitation is to come to God as to a seaport filled with riches
beyond imagination, and all for you.
I happen to agree with those who think Isaiah writes of a seaport
where the goods of exotic lands arrive to refresh and enrich us.
It reminds me that the Gospel of Christ is an exotic luxury that
cannot be manufactured in our land. It
is not of this world. It must
be imported. It comes to us
from the shores of Heaven. It
is brought to us by none other than the Son of God, who came down from
Heaven to dwell among us and reveal to us the glory and grace of God.
He is the ship which brings good things to us straight from the
heart of God. Who
is invited to the waters? “Everyone
that thirsteth.” Thirst is
often used to represent need, and here it is used to identify our need for
God. At some point in life
all of us realize the futility of seeking happiness in the things of this
world. At some point we all
learn the sad truth that they cannot satisfy us in any real sense of the
word. It is not just that
they rust and break and wear out. It
is not even that death takes them away from us.
It is that we realize that the joy they bring is brief.
You have heard me say before that they are like the toys of
Christmas that light up children’s eyes in the morning, and are almost
forgotten by evening. This
realization teaches us to desire something that can
satisfy. It causes us to
thirst for something of surpassing and permanent value, a wine that
satisfies without drunkenness and hangovers, and milk that never sours.
In short, we thirst for the wine of Heaven.
To those who thirst in this sense the Savior calls through the
words of the prophet, “come ye to the waters.” What
is this wine? It is wisdom
that helps us avoid the traps of life that kill our spirits. It is the wisdom and ability to do the things that make life
positive and good. It is to
know meaning and purpose in life. It
is to have real hope for life and eternity.
It is the knowledge that we have a Savior to rid us of the awful
burden of our sins. It is the
confidence that we have peace with God forever by the blood of His cross.
The wine for which we thirst is none other than Christ Jesus.
He is the cargo that comes to us in the ship of Heaven.
He is the One who alone can satisfy our deepest needs.
He is the One who alone can forgive.
He is our peace with God. We
all know seaport is a collecting station and a distribution center.
The goods come to the port and are placed in warehouses, and
prepared for resale. A port
is, above all, a center of commerce.
Merchants live and work in the seaport.
They have invested in ships and cargos, and have brought them to
the port for one purpose, money. The
goods are to be sold for profit. They
will pay the salaries of the agents and sailors and accountants, and of
course, bring great wealth to the merchants.
All involved in the enterprise will profit from the sales.
That is the purpose of the goods.
But at the pier of this seaport stands the Great Merchant.
He is immensely wealthy. Compared to Him all the other vendors are
paupers The others count their wares and make their contracts nothing
leaves their sight without being paid for. But the Great Merchant, of whom
the prophet writes, does not charge for His goods.
He gives them without charge to all who thirst. We
are in the time of year that brings joy to all the merchants in American
commerce: the Christmas buying season.
And one word we will see and hear often this month is the word,
“sale.” The
merchants are reducing prices to attract buyers, so they can make money.
A word you will seldom see or hear in the stores is the word
“free.” Car
dealerships are having Christmas sales, but they are not giving cars away.
You won’t hear advertisements like, “Free cars everyday, now
through Christmas.”
You may hear about free gas, if you buy a car.
Spend $20,000 on a car and get $20 worth of free gas.
That is not much of a gift.
Buy the gas and get the car free, now that sounds like a deal to me
(laughter from congregation).
I do not fault the merchants.
They are in business, not charity.
But the Great Merchant is different.
His goods are all gifts.
We could never buy them.
We have nothing of value to offer Him.
We are all needy, homeless, and beggars before Him.
We can only receive from Him; we can never give to Him.
We lack that righteousness and holiness which alone could make us
worthy of His goods.
And yet, because of our need, He
gives His merchandise away.
Other merchants sell that which cannot satisfy.
The Great Merchant gives freely that which can.
He offers not to profit Himself, but to profit us.
Of course the Great Merchant is God and the merchandise He gives
away freely is the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Originally
Isaiah wrote to the Jewish people suffering in exile in Babylon.
Isaiah wrote to tell them of their coming release, and the great
blessings God had for them as they returned to their homeland.
But even those blessings were much more spiritual than worldly.
They were much more about the spiritual wine of God than the
literal wines of Jerusalem. And
the Jews always understood that, in some sense, the return to Jerusalem
did not completely fulfill the great promises of this passage.
Only in the age of the Messiah, they understood, could the glories
of which the prophet wrote be more fully experienced. We live in the age of the Messiah. The Messiah has come. All
the blessings He brings are now offered to you. They are free to all who thirst for them.
And the invitation is still valid, for the Great Merchant still
calls, Ho, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy
and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price, …
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Come
to the waters. In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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