Reflection by The Rev'd Dr Deborah Broome

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 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.  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.

Isaiah 55:1-9

This is the Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday.  This part of Isaiah dates from the period of the Exile, when the people of God were sent away to Babylon, far away from the land and the temple and all that had previously given their lives meaning.  In spite of all this, the prophet has good news for his people: God is about to do something new and exciting for the people of Israel and for the whole world. 

This is unexpected joy.  Here are Isaiah’s people, stuck in exile, deprived of the past that they valued, tempted to spend their money and their labour on things that can’t really satisfy them.  That feels a bit familiar, doesn’t it, when we think of all the things we end up trying to distract ourselves with.  Isaiah’s people were hungry and thirsty and hopeless – and God came to them with a banquet.  Food and drink, mercy and grace, blessing them to be a blessing to other nations.  They were encouraged to call others to this feast, to reach out and tell the nations around them about what God has done.  To be a sign and a channel of God’s love for the whole world.  God does that for us too, sometimes giving us joy when we least expect it.  Whatever blessing, whatever grace, comes to us is so we can share it with others.  What might grace look like for us at the moment?