The boundless generosity of God: God gives freely and God gives in extravagant measure!
Let’s Pray Psalm 19:14 - May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you, O Lord: our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen!
-Good morning and you may be seated-
The Scripture readings for this morning show us God’s generosity of how He gives freely and in extravagant measure!
Let’s look at the first reading again, but I want to read it out of “The Message” -
Isaiah 55:1-3 “The Message” version:
"Hey there! All who are thirsty,
come to the water!
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money—everything's free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
come to the water!
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
Buy without money—everything's free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
__________________________________________________________________
~Verse by verse~
"Hey there! All who are thirsty,
come to the water! *An Invitation - who’s invited? Everyone who thirsts! Will everyone come – no, those that do not thirst are satisfied with the things of the world and its enjoyments and are content with their own works and do not see the need to come. They have no sense of their need. But those that thirst are invited to the waters, as those that labor, and are heavy-laden, are invited to Christ for rest.
come to the water! *An Invitation - who’s invited? Everyone who thirsts! Will everyone come – no, those that do not thirst are satisfied with the things of the world and its enjoyments and are content with their own works and do not see the need to come. They have no sense of their need. But those that thirst are invited to the waters, as those that labor, and are heavy-laden, are invited to Christ for rest.
*Where God gives grace he first gives a thirsting after it; and, where he has given a thirsting after it, he will give it –
Psalm 81:10 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”
*Trust the Lord alone to fill all of your life’s needs.
*Come to Christ; for he is the fountain opened – abundantly refreshing! Revelation 22:17 – "Come!" say the Spirit and the Bride.
Whoever hears, echo, "Come!" Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink,
Drink freely of the Water of Life!
Whoever hears, echo, "Come!" Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink,
Drink freely of the Water of Life!
*Another invitation at the end of Scripture!
*John 7:37 – ‘On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,* “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”’
*Note: Teachers usually sat, but Jesus stood which drew special attention to his message! “Streams of living water will flow from within” (He is referring to the Holy Spirit)
Are you penniless?
Come anyway—buy and eat! *What are they/we invited to do? Come, and buy. But how do they/we buy if we are penniless? There is a difference here in the meaning of the word ‘buy’. Tradesman or shop-owners court customers to ‘get them’. Christ courts us to that which we only are to be gainers. We do not have to spend anything!
Come anyway—buy and eat! *What are they/we invited to do? Come, and buy. But how do they/we buy if we are penniless? There is a difference here in the meaning of the word ‘buy’. Tradesman or shop-owners court customers to ‘get them’. Christ courts us to that which we only are to be gainers. We do not have to spend anything!
Come and buy, He assures us of a good bargain, which we will never repent of nor lose by.
“Come, and eat” – make it still more your own, as that which we eat is more our own than that which we only buy. We must buy the truth! We just don’t lay it aside and look at it, we must feed and feast upon it so that the spiritual life may be nourished and strengthened.
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money—everything's free!
*Wine and milk are symbols of abundance, enjoyment and nourishment. Buy without money, there is no cost to us; it’s all free – What does this imply?
-The gifts offered us are invaluable and no price can be set.
-He doesn’t have any reason to sell, but has a disposition to give.
-The things offered are already bought and paid for. Christ purchased them at full value, with price, not with money, but with his own blood. Remember today the price that He paid for us!!
-We are welcome to the benefits of the promise, though we are utterly unworthy of them, and cannot give anything that could be worthy in exchange.
-His grace is free grace!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
*The things of the world will not satisfy you – they are uncertain and unsatisfying. They may give you a brief moment of pleasure, but then it is gone, just like ‘cotton-candy’. Very sweet and tasty, but has no value or nourishment for the body or soul.
NOTE: In 1.5 ounces of cotton-candy you have 26 grams of sugar! That’s not good for you! Its lightweight – nothing to it – no substance
*Let all the disappointments that we meet in this world help to drive us to Christ!
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
*Listen to Christ and eat what is wholesome and good. Good in itself and good for you.
fill yourself with only the finest.
*Listen to Christ and eat what is wholesome and good. Good in itself and good for you.
*The ‘finest’ and ‘richest foods’ are symbolic to great spiritual blessings
*Come to God’s good word and promises.
*It will be a continual feast for those that listen diligently and obediently to Christ.
-Make the choice today – Choose Him!!
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
*Once again, he calls us to listen very carefully and attentively. He doesn’t want us to miss anything – I have something very special to tell you and to give to you?!
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
*Once again, he calls us to listen very carefully and attentively. He doesn’t want us to miss anything – I have something very special to tell you and to give to you?!
*You will not only be saved from perishing eternally, but you shall be eternally blessed
*On what terms is happiness offered to us – what do I have to do or give up – what’s my sacrifice? – “Hear, and you shall live” (Listen and obey – Believe and have faith)
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
*If we come to God to serve Him, he will covenant with us to do us good.
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
*If we come to God to serve Him, he will covenant with us to do us good.
*God’s covenant with us is an everlasting covenant
*The benefits of this covenant are mercies suited to our situations. They come from God’s mercy and are arranged in every way in kindness to us.
*They are the mercies of David, such mercies as God promised to David – Let’s look at Psalm 89:28-29 “I will maintain my love to him for ever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line for ever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.
*David had been promised an unending dynasty, one that would end up in the Messiah – Christ’s resurrection was further proof of God’s faithfulness to David.
-This passage is a proclamation of Salvation and Good News-
Second Reading: Romans 8:35, 37-39
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
*St. Paul wanted to show his readers that suffering does not separate Believers from Christ but it actually carries them along toward the ultimate goal. We learn and grow in our sufferings if we stay focused on God.
*The love of God is greater than all these things combined!!
We cannot be impressed by the Devil – (look at yellow sticky note)
**There is no rival to God!!
Gospel Reading: Matthew 14:13-21
“When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me,”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.”
*There are many lessons and teaching points in this passage, but I sense that the Lord wants us to focus on His grace and mercy by showing us his compassion and overflowing abundance.
*He never gives ‘just’ enough – there is always abundance left-over.
*Jesus does not want them to leave and go and buy food. He wants his disciples to feed them, for free. Jesus wants to bless this crowd, even though he healed their sick. He wants to bless them more.
He tells the crowd to sit down and then takes the bread and fish, looks up to heaven, blesses and breaks the bread. Christ himself focuses on the Father and now this food will feed everyone, it has been blessed and will nourish them. He teaches us by example all the time. A tie-in with the Eucharist.
He gives it to his disciples to give to the people. There is a participation/cooperation that is important for us to see and do. They actually distribute the food. We must help people that are in need.
We must bring all things to Christ (pray) and call upon His name – we must listen, have faith and then obey His words!
This isn't a typical miracle story. It's really not about the earthly bread and how many people were fed. That isn't the Gospel anyway. We still want to highlight the compassion of Jesus. We still want to insist that as Jesus' disciples we be faithful in seeking to provide daily bread to all in need. Most importantly, we want to make them hungry for something more. Ultimately, give them what they really need to live and for which they will also be willing to die. Give them Jesus, the Bread of Life!
