Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Coca-Cola is perhaps the most widely recognized “brand” around the world and has some of the best marketing in the advertising business. I had the opportunity a few years ago to spend about three weeks in Africa on a service trip, and even thousands of miles away, people were drinking Coke everywhere I turned. Whether it’s Santa and the polar bears around Christmas or flip-flops on the can in summer, Coke has their marketing down.
This summer has seen perhaps the best Coke advertising campaign yet; “Share a Coke with ______.” You’ve most likely seen Coke bottles and cans with first names on them, the idea being that people will see the name of a friend or family member and buy it for them. Apparently it’s very successful, because the other day I bought one with my girlfriend’s name on it, and she rarely even drinks Coke!
Coca-Cola is certainly in business to make money, but from what I understand, they have a deeper philosophy than simply trying to line their pockets. Their goal is to spread happiness around the world, and I think we could all use some of that.
The Lord similarly lays out a great marketing campaign in Isaiah 55 this week; “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!” That sounds pretty good to me! There’s one big difference, however, between “Come to the water” and “Drink Coke. Play again.” We can live without Coke, but we can’t live without water. We get thirsty because without water, we would die! (or at least get a really bad headache).
So that means God isn’t appealing to our desire for something we might want or something that might make us happy in this ad; he’s appealing to our need for something we can’t live without; water. We all know that we should probably drink more water than we do, both literally and in this case figuratively and spiritually. But for one reason or another we don’t, and we get thirsty.
The Lord then says, “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!” This should be common sense, but we usually need the reminder. Our “thirst” can be satisfied only by God. St. Augustine famously wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
So when we get spiritually thirsty, we know where to go. I’d bet, however, that each of us knows at least one or two people who don’t; people who try to satisfy this thirst with all sorts of things. Maybe they won’t be at Mass this weekend to hear that reading.
But just like the “Share a Coke with _______” campaign, there’s a bottle of “living water” with their name on it, and they need someone to buy it and give it to them. “Share the Gospel with _________.” And maybe a Coke too.
