Isaiah 55:1-11

Easter Vigil (Revised Common Lectionary) | 03.30.24 | Isaiah 55:1-11 | Carl A. Voges |

The Passage

“Come, 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.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

“Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.  Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of 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 his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares 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.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my Word that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” [English Standard Version]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord

As we come into the Church’s oldest Liturgy this evening we’re coming from a basic reality – born into world, we live in its life and, at its end, we die! Being immersed in that reality seems relatively easy but it complicates people’s lives tremendously. Think of your own life apart from Baptism, think of the friends who have no idea of what Forgiveness and Eucharist are and do, think of all the people who used to be connected to the Lord’s Holy Writings and the Church’s life but then, for multiple reasons, shut down their involvement with his holy places. What happened is that they got caught up in the world’s distorted version of the Trinity – me, myself and I – a version swamping their lives with destructive behaviors and unrelenting death!

Such a reality has the Lord’s people reeling from parishes whose life and work is not centered in their Baptisms and Ordinations. Such a reality has the Lord’s people reeling from worldly attitudes and actions which attract yet hamper them, in spite of their Baptisms. Such a reality has the Lord’s people reeling from synods and districts which treat parishes like corporate franchises. Such a reality has the Lord’s people reeling from parishes trying to establish or revive themselves through their personalities alone while feverishly signaling to their communities that they truly care.

With the world’s basic reality causing our lives to reel during this Lent and Holy Week, this holy night is the Lord’s gift to us! The world’s life, undergirded by its many gods, is often attractive, yet it is thoroughly confused. More importantly, it is not the last word for the Lord’s people! How come? Because this evening unleashes a second and more vital reality – the Life pouring in from the Father, the Son and the Spirit! This Life gets underway at Baptism, it tracks us constantly as we make our way through the world’s life while mysteriously carrying us through death to a full Life in the Holy Trinity!

This second reality unfolds from the opening verses of Isaiah’s fifty-fifth chapter! These verses, occurring after Isaiah’s four Servant Songs, point to the restoration of the Lord’s people in the Old Testament as well as the restoration of his people in the Church today.

The verses contrast sharply with the world’s life (the one that gives us significant satisfactions but always sputters and dies) to the Life of the LORD God (the one that takes on the meanness and misery of the world, rescuing all its people)!

The passage’s first two verses, however, sound strange – “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; he who has 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 labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, eat what is good, delight yourselves in rich food.”

Yes, this language sounds strange, but the verses reflect the wisdom tradition of the Old Testament. Such teaching is found in Proverbs, Job, Daniel and Ecclesiastes; it reflects a person’s skill in making one’s thoughts tie in with one’s abilities and actions. For a Hebrew person, authentic wisdom originates with the LORD God gifting his people with Life and wisdom. These opening verses demonstrate that this gift cannot be purchased. This wisdom streams from the Lord’s Life, it surfaced in the creation of the world and its universe thousands of years ago, it continues to be fully involved in all his activity toward the people of this world (whether they recognize him or not). Such wisdom contrasts sharply with the world’s wisdom; the latter is always coming from an individual, self-created and self-maintained!

The next three verses are striking – “Incline your ear and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.”

The Lord’s restoration of his people not only continues the promise he made with Abraham and David; his restoration causes other people to notice the Lord’s Life and respond to it. The Lord’s restoration is often hidden, yet it continues to surface; look at what has occurred during this past Lent and Holy Week; look at the Life emerging from yesterday’s crucifixion into this evening! That’s why verses 6-9 call on the Lord’s people to repent so they can rely fully on his grace and mercy. Such a call, though, is foreign to the people caught up in their own trio of me, myself and I!

Isaiah goes on to unpack the salvation brought to the world by the Father, Son and Spirit – “Seek Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, let the unrighteous man disregard his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that the Lord may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares 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.”

As we are drawn into these two realities this evening, we are reminded that, of thousands of gods in this world, ultimately there is only one, real One – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! It is this God who streams his second reality into the life of the world along with the lives of his baptized people!

The passage from Isaiah 55 concludes magnificently with the Lord stating that what he sets out to do will be completed – “For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, it shall accomplish that which I propose, and it shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

This Word is described in the Easter hymn, Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands, purging the old and evil realities of the world’s life. This Word mercifully surfaces in our lives every time the Lord’s people step into his Holy Writings or participate in the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and the Lord’s Supper. This Word breaks us loose from the realities of the world’s life while imbedding us in the realities of the Trinity’s Life.

Yes, such breaking roughs our lives up, but it is always pulling us more fully into the Life of the Holy Trinity. This drawing gives us more exposure to God the Father as our Creator, to God the Son as our Rescuer and to God the Holy Spirit as the One who makes the Lord’s people holy. We are deeply grateful to these three Persons because they continually steer their people safely through the jaggedness of the world’s life, a jaggedness imbedded in darkness, despair and death.

Isaiah led us through the fifty-fifth chapter this evening and he leaves us with three take-aways. First, the world in which we live is highly skilled at noticing things that are wrong, but it is poorly skilled when it comes to making those things right. Second, the world continuously looks for quick fixes, thinking a quick nod to the LORD God will solve any economic, political, or military issues confronting it. The world does not know that the LORD God’s primary concern is with those individuals who are fully wrapped up in themselves. Third, when the realities of the world’s life spool us into chaos, we are reminded, initially, to let our lives be turned back to the One who has given us real, enduring Life. Consequently, we step into his holy places at every opportunity. From them he makes it possible for his Life to reflect into the lives of those people who are beaten down by and despairing of the life into which all of us were born.

The world’s gods have people in constant turmoil whether they are in the Church or not.

These gods busy us with solving what is wrong in the world and the Church but we do not have that ability. Because we have been pulled away from those gods who are dominated by Satan we now witness to the Lord’s reality of rescuing people caught up in themselves while not allowing death to have the last word in their lives or ours.

Thus, this holy night is the Lord’s incredible gift to us! While our lives have been reeling during Lent and Holy Week, there is nothing out there in the world, my friends, which can separate us from the realities of the Lord’s Life. That’s why this holy night is a gift for you, for us and for all the Lord’s baptized people!

Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord

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Pr. Carl A. Voges, STS, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com