Hear, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!

Isaiah 55:1

“Everyone who thirsts, come!” This wonderful invitation comes to us today from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 55:1-5). It is an invitation to come and enjoy the best things that God has to offer us, at no cost. It is a lovely reminder that the best things in life are free, and that the very best thing of all is our relationship with God. Come, Isaiah reminds us, and enjoy this gift. Why look elsewhere? It is in God that the hunger in our souls is fed; nowhere else. And what God offers us is completely free. Yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch, and it comes from God. 

It is understandable, of course, why one would be skeptical. Can there really be a free lunch? What’s the catch? As some of you know, before I became a pastor, I was an economist. And one of the most basic rules in economics is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If something is being offered for free, there is always some kind of string attached. If an offer sounds too good to be true, we can pretty much be assured that it is, indeed, too good to be true.

The expression, “There is no such thing as a free lunch”, is said to go back to the old west, where many saloons would offer a free lunch to anyone who purchased at least one drink. What was the catch? Well, the lunch would be very, very salty, which required a lot of beer to wash it down with. Most customers would spend more on that free lunch than they would on a more costly alternative. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Except with God. 

As Isaiah tells us, this lunch is free, and is to be delighted in. It is a meal like no other. And there is no catch. But this can be hard to get our minds around. 

Babette’s Feast

It reminds me of a movie that came out back in 1987 called “Babette’s Feast.” It is based on a short story by Isak Dinesen (who also wrote “Out of Africa”). Babette’s Feast tells the story of two sisters living in a small village on the coast of Denmark many years ago. One stormy, rainy night, a woman named Babette arrives at their door. She is exhausted, clearly desperate, and has a letter of recommendation from an old friend of the sisters that simply says, “Babette can cook.” The sisters take her in, and Babette ends up living with them for 14 years, cleaning and cooking for her own room and board. Then comes the exciting news that a lottery ticket, which a friend in France has renewed for Babette every year, has won her 10,000 francs – a great deal of money at the time. The two sisters celebrate her good fortune, but begin to grieve what they believe will be the leaving of their friend, Babette. Babette asks the sisters whether she might cook a meal for them, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the sister’s father’s birth, and in thanksgiving for what they have done for her. The sisters reluctantly agree. Babette begins making preparations for this meal, paying for all the food herself. Finally, after weeks of preparation, it is time for the feast. The sisters gather at the table with about a dozen friends and members of their church. And as the cold wind howls in that little town in Denmark, Babette treats those who have gathered to an incredible, gourmet banquet, with turtle soup, caviar, quail, pastries, champagne and rare aged wine. A feast unlike anything the village has ever seen. In fact, most of the guests really don’t like the food offered, and they are only eating it to be polite.

There is only one guest at this meal who has any idea of the extravagance that they have just experienced. He is a general, who has traveled the world. He has eaten at the finest restaurants in the world. And he has never had better than at the dinner table in the sisters’ home that night. In fact, he recognizes that this meal could only have been prepared by a world-renowned chef from a famous restaurant in Paris. And, in fact, Babette turns out to be that chef. This meal for the general becomes almost a religious experience. And at the end of the meal, he cannot help but stand up and give a spontaneous, but deeply moving speech. Here are the words of his speech: 

We have all of us been told that grace is to be found in the universe. But in our human foolishness and short-sightedness we imagine divine grace to be finite. For this reason we tremble …. We tremble before making our choice in life, and after having made it, again tremble in fear of having chosen wrong. But the moment comes when our eyes are opened, and we see and realize that grace is infinite. Grace, my friends, demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence, and acknowledge it in gratitude. Grace, brothers and sisters, makes no conditions and singles out none of us in particular; grace takes us all to its bosom and proclaims general amnesty.

Infinite Grace

In our human foolishness, this general says, and short-sightedness, we imagine divine grace to be finite. We think that there really is no such thing as a free lunch. And that this must apply to divine grace just as it applies to anything else. But grace, as this general comes to realize through Babette’s wonderfully extravagant feast, is infinite. Babette has prepared a meal that cost all of her 10,000 francs. Her entire lottery winnings. Her retirement. Her chance to leave that lonely Denmark town and return to France. She has spent it all. And she has spent it all to prepare a meal that most of the people do not even know how to appreciate. They don’t even really like it. It is foolish. It is extravagant. It really doesn’t make any sense. But Babette is a great chef. And this is her chance to do what she alone can do. And to offer those sisters the very best that she has to give. And by doing this, there is at least one person at that table whose eyes are opened. 

The general comes to realize, through this extravagant act, what grace really is all about. Not just human grace. But divine grace. This meal teaches him, in a way that nothing else could, that divine grace is, indeed, infinite. That what God offers us, what God gives to us freely, his own Son, life, the forgiveness of our sins, salvation, it is all infinite. There is enough for everyone. God does not run out of grace, mercy, peace, love. God does not run out of all that he wants to give to us. It really is free. It is grace. It is a gift. And it will never run out. 

Today’s Gospel Reading (Matthew 14:13-21)

The general learned this in a humble home in a small town in Denmark. Something similar was being taught on a hillside in Galilee two millennia ago, when more than 5,000 people were fed a hearty lunch with just five loaves of bread and two fish. This simple miracle – the feeding of the five thousand – is important enough to be recorded in all four gospels. It is simple, but teaches us something vital about our Christian faith. 

This miracle takes place in a deserted place where Jesus had gone to be by himself. The crowds heard it and followed him. He saw them, and had compassion. He cured their sick, taught them of God’s love. And when he realized that it was time for dinner, he provided for them. The disciples saw a hungry crowd, and urged Jesus to send them away so they could find something to eat. Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” How? They didn’t have the food or the money to provide for them. All they had was five loaves of bread and two fish. But that’s not true, of course. They had five loaves, two fish, and the Son of God. Whose grace and mercy and love is infinite. 

And so, Jesus took what they had, blessed it, and fed them all, with twelve baskets filled with the leftovers. A free lunch. But more than that. A miracle, showing the disciples and all the crowd that God’s grace is infinite. There is such a thing as a free lunch, when it comes from God. So, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, but and eat! This meal is free, and it is a gift.

God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense

But not so fast, we might say. Because this lunch turns out not to be free to everyone. Just as the meal that Babette provided was not free to her, this meal is not free to Jesus. His miracles come at a cost. And that cost is his very life. Every miracle he performs brings him ever closer to the cross. Jesus didn’t just come to provide a free lunch, but to pay for that lunch. And the cost is his very life. 

An acronym for “grace” describes this well. “Grace” is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Grace is free to us, the free gift of salvation, but not free to God. It cost him his son. We know that, of course. It is why we are here. To give thanks for this gift. When you think about it, we are a lot like the general in Babette’s Feast. We know the true nature and cost of this meal. We know how remarkable it is. 

We know that Christ’s gift is Babette’s Feast: a meal that far surpasses anything we have earned, a meal that we cannot afford and do not deserve, a meal that costs us nothing because it cost him everything, a meal that teaches us of grace in a way that nothing else can. And it is a meal that we receive every Sunday. The body of Christ, given for us. The blood of Christ, shed for us. 

Closing

And so, everyone who thirsts, come to the altar, come to be fed, come to receive a meal unlike any other, come to receive God’s riches at Christ’s expense. Bread, wine, grace, salvation. A feast prepared for you. And, yes, it is free. A gift from Jesus. For all. Thanks be to God. Amen.