Eat With Your Ears

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What do you have that was not a gift? What do you have that you have not received from the hand of another? Your body is the product of the design of God and the flesh of man. Your life is a gift sustained by the providence of God. All that you have and all that you are is a gift from God, who has created you and called you into being.

What do you have that was not a gift? You have sin. You have the disease of concupiscence, that ancient evil infection that corrupts your entire being with a bottomless desire for all things opposed to God. This, even, was an inheritance received from your fathers and forefathers before you, who received it from their fathers, all the way back to our first-father, Adam. But your sin is your own. It is the product of your own sinful nature, which finds ever more inventive ways to flout the command and promise of God.

And so, because this is your own possession, you are impoverished of the joys of heaven. You are cursed with back-breaking toil, to bring forth food from the soil by the sweat of your brow. You are cursed with much pain and great danger in childbirth. You are cursed with laziness with respect to your wives, and jealousy and strife toward your husbands.

And you are impoverished with respect to the things of this earth. Food does not just fall from trees into your lap. Fried chickens do not fly into your open mouth. You have want. You have lack. You have thirst. You have hunger. You do not have enough, no matter how much.

Therefore, listen to the voice of the Prophet: “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.”

You have thirst;
      He has water.
You have poverty;
      He has paid for you.
You have hunger;
      He has wine and milk.

You have thirst – the thirst for the quenching waters that soothe your inflamed conscience. You thirst for clean water, the water that washes over you and cleanses you in body soul, sanctifying and purifying your members and senses, becoming in you a wellspring of life and salvation, from which you will drink deeply and will never thirst again.

You have poverty – the poverty of an empty heart and a poor spirit. You lack the coin to pay your debts. You lack the money to buy food. You lack the means to prevent your being sold into slavery, into bondage to all that enticed and tempted you.

You have hunger – the hunger of an empty stomach and an empty soul. You hunger for the food of heaven, the Bread of life. You hunger for righteousness, a righteousness not your own, not born of your own works. You hunger for that which will fill you up and never leave you hungry again.

But to where do you look for these things? Look to the world, and see what it may give. A god to suit every heart. A song to put a smile on every face. A pretty picture, a sensuous touch, a sumptuous feast. These are the things the world can give. But then you wake up the next day, and your head aches and your belly is empty once again. Your throat is still parched, and your pocketbook is still threadbare. The world of the dead can give only dead things.

Why do you spend your silver for not-bread? What can you buy with money that thieves do not steal, that moth and rust and mold do not destroy, that your mouth does not devour? All is vanity, cries Solomon. You cannot buy the true bread. You may spend your fortune in pursuit of the good in life, but you cannot buy what satisfies.

Why do you labor for what does not satisfy? The curse of Adam dooms you to the cycle of planting and harvesting, toiling and laboring, working and sweating, that produces the fruit of the ground. And yet there is something satisfying in this life about a job well done, about a good fruit of your labor. But you labor for that which does not satisfy. You labor for the joys of the false gods of this world. You labor after wine, women, and song. You labor after the perfect home, the perfect family, the perfect society. All is vanity, cries Solomon. You cannot earn true joy. The joy of heaven is a free gift that comes down from above.

What are you to do instead, if all your labor and toil is vanity? Listen again to the words of the Prophet: “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” Listen to Christ Jesus our Lord, and eat good things. Hearken to the Word of the Lord, and delight yourselves in rich food.

For out of His belly flow streams of living water. As He hung on the accursed tree to pay for your sins, to redeem you from bondage to sin, death, and the devil, He was pierced for your transgressions. And from that pierced side came streams of living water, pouring out for your salvation, for the forgiveness of sins. Be washed in the living waters, drink deeply of the eternal springs, be filled with the life of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Come to Christ hungry and poor, and He will feed you with the Bread of Life. He has already paid what you could not hope to pay. Come, and He will give you His body, broken and pierced. He will give you His blood, poured out for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.

Come to the waters and be filled! Come to the table and be satisfied! Come to the Lord, and He will give you all your needs of body and soul! Come, and He will make with you an everlasting covenant – His steadfast, sure love.

The Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel has glorified you in Himself. He has glorified you by giving Himself for you, by offering to you His own flesh and blood as food and drink. He has glorified you by dwelling within you, to well up springs of living water within your souls.

“Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live,” says the Lord God. Eat with your ears and drink with your soul, as you receive the Word of the Lord, which satisfies in a way that a thousand loaves of bread could never do. Drink deeply from the wells of salvation – hear the Word of the Lord, the words of eternal life. Satisfy the thirst of your soul by hearing the blessed words: Go in peace; All your sins are forgiven.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.