The Price is Right!

The Price Is Right!

 

Isaiah 55:1-9

Come to the water 

 

55:1 Hear, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

 

55:2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

 

55:3 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.

 

55:4 See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.

 

55:5 Now 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.

 

55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

 

55:7 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.

 

55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

 

55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 

When I was a kid, either before I was old enough to go to school (and since we moved into “the city” too late for me to go to Kindergarten, I didn’t attend until the first grade), or later, if I was home sick for a day or so, I loved to watch the game shows on TV. There were only a handful of them, and they were quite primitive by today’s standards, but a couple of them endured, to become part of the history of the genre. One of these was “The Price is Right,” back then hosted by Bill Cullen, a Pittsburgh native. Obviously, it is still around, having had several hosts since the Cullen days, including a long stint by Bob Barker, and then comedian/actor Drew Carey. Part of the schtick of the show was that the audience contestants had to guess the prices of stuff and the one who came the closest to the actual retail price without going over, won. Because I grew up in a family of shoppers and perpetual bargain hunters, I was never close in my price estimates, as my family would NEVER pay “full retail,” and the bargain brain I had would always guess a price WAY lower than what the show stated as the “full retail” price. I remember thinking, even as a little kid, “MY family would NEVER pay that much for [whatever the item was].” Had I been a guest on the show, I NEVER would have won, believe me! But no “bargain” price is better than FREE!

 

This text’s prophetic utterance from Trito-Isaiah (“Third” Isaiah) is encouraging the Jews returning from exile with a word that God’s best blessings may be theirs, provided they return to the practice of worshiping ONE God (Yahweh) and following God’s precepts, to the end of forming a supportive, collaborative and faithful community. “Buying” wine, milk, and food “without price”? Sounds like God’s best plan for God’s people is a society where the poor don’t go hungry. Chastise ancient Israel all you want for some of their primitive practices, but friends, here we are in 2025, in the most prosperous country on the planet, and WE haven’t yielded to building this kind of a KIND society! In fact, we have whole millions of people who say things like, “I don’t want MY tax dollars going to feed those LAZY people! I WORKED for everything I have, and they should, too!” There is an unbelievable anger and resentment to those of us who HAVE helping out those who DON’T, or who are in need of life’s most basic elements. This “attitude” has given way to TONS of misinformation about our society’s needy. “They are lazy and don’t want to work,” is one you will hear, and it just isn’t true. ALL of the statistics and studies show that these people WANT to help themselves, but may need even the basics to GET a job, let alone get the transportation they may need to keep it. In fact, social scientists have pointed out that when this particular niche of our society IS given a job and the elements they may need—in some cases this might even include coaching—to DO their job, they not only develop the pride that comes with self-sufficiency, but they often become some of the most generous people reaching out to help others find what THEY found! The fact is, there are VERY few “freeloaders” who just choose to be on the public dole. ALL humans, according to Methodist founder John Wesley, have a built in measure of dignity and moral responsibility, and he would know, having worked and built a movement among the poorest of the poor, the addicts, the incarcerated, and the elderly. 

 

Let us not forget that many needy persons are in this situation because they have disabilities that hamper their ability to be self-sustaining. Some are widowed elderly, while others are just children, either orphans, foster children, or being raised by an over-stressed single parent. Some have been suddenly plunged into poverty by a medical condition that drained what resources they DO have, or who can’t make enough money in an entry-level job to pay their exorbitant school loan payments. And an “advanced” society like the United States of America not only tolerates this but allows itself to become ANGRY over the need to give these people a leg up? And now, what of the tens of thousands of government workers who are being summarily cast aside because an unelected billionaire thinks it will save money. WHOSE money will it save? No one will deny that the powers that be are gearing up for another tax cut, and as with all tax cut legislation, the richer you are, the bigger your cash and carry!

 

This was NOT God’s plan for Israel, according to Trito-Isaiah, and I seriously doubt it is God’s plan for a prosperous nation like ours. How dare any of you who denigrate the needy among us should call yourselves “Christian,” as Jesus’ own life and ministry would show he would have nothing to do with you. The sad truth is that I know MANY well-meaning folk who have become convinced or “bought in” to this heinous misinformation about the needy people in our country, that they are “lazy,” or that they “expect us to pay for them.” If this is what you believe, you are being played, and the end result will be that the people you have voted for are working a reverse Robin Hood scheme. They will take from the “least of these,” AND from YOU, and will find innovative ways to transfer this wealth to themselves and their “base.” 

 

The prophet asks the poignant question in verse two: Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Put another way, why do you resent those who need a little help when you have more than you need—in many cases WAY more than you need.” God’s society will not look like that, and the prophet is writing to tell Israel that God’s version of the just society will be the one that will eventually prevail, with or WITHOUT their participation or cooperation. And if God moves forward to bring about this just society (Beloved Community) WITHOUT them, they will be the “odd man out,” not the needy. Friends, we need to hear this in 2025! Look, not all of us can write big checks to help the poor, but we CAN pay our taxes and rejoice when they help out needy fellow Americans rather than just build more cruise missiles. We also can offer moral support by not denigrating and berating those who have such needs. A little pity and empathy go a long way. Even less hostility and anger greatly damages our society and will get GOD angry. Friends, this is NOT a game show!

 

This passage has one of the most powerful reminders of the workings of God’s mind, one that most of us are at least somewhat familiar with: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. God is a forgiving God, and God may even be a patient God, giving American society time to “come around” to a more compassionate view of the “least of these,” but I seriously doubt that God will too long tolerate the naysayers and the name-callers putting their acerbic ideas up in the air and calling them “the will of God.” I’ve heard WAY too many people who see themselves as “righteous” or “religious” quoting the “verse,” “God helps those who help themselves.” Friends, this is not in God’s Word, it’s Groucho Marx, from one of his comedies. God precisely WANTS to help those who CAN’T help themselves at this point in their lives, and God wants US to partner with God to make it happen! THIS is what Israel and subsequent “audiences” are hearing in this passage from the prophet.

 

Verse three begins with three words that give us the key to the whole enchilada: “INCLINE YOUR EAR…” This means, “Listen up, people,” as God wants us to hear GOD’S plan for a just and righteous society, not take OUR OWN plan—one that benefits us most of all—and write it on the sky and call it “God’s plan.” The text is plain: For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. That phrase, “incline your ear” says it all: we are called to listen for GOD’S voice, not that of any President, podcaster, or pundit, and we may not initially LIKE what we hear. Run from it, if you like, but at your own peril. 

 

“Hear, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters!” EVERYONE, not just those of you who can afford it. In God’s kingdom, regardless of how poor you are, or what your politics are, or what your sexual orientation may be, the price is ALWAYS right! Amen.