Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat. (Isaiah 55:1)

The collapse of the World Trade talks in Geneva this week is bad news for the world community, disastrous news for the developing nations, and a death sentence to hundreds of thousands of children and adults. And yet within 24 hours the story had vanished to the back pages of the financial press. I can only suppose that a cynicism has grown in Fleet Street down the years as successive talks have collapsed. The powerful Western nations have failed to agree with developing nations on how one another's markets might be accessed. The United States and the European Union look hungrily at the fast-growing economies of China and India, and other developing nations. Meanwhile, the developing nations of the Southern Hemisphere seek greater access for their agricultural products in the United States and Europe. The comment from the analysts, such as it is, suggests that global and multilateral trade agreements are beyond our reach. It is one step too far. The best that can be expected, it is suggested, is that the United States and Europe form individual partnerships with developing nations. This will keep prices down to the advantage of the West even if it continues the downward economic spiral of developing economies. The collapse of the talks last week, as far as I understand it, means that tariffs and subsidies will be maintained thereby perpetuating artificial trade restrictions, and the opportunities for global trade agreements are as far away as ever. Meanwhile, steady increases in the price of food and fuel will make compromise and agreement that much more difficult to achieve. Whilst we in the West will grumble, the poor will become steadily poorer.

The readings set for today could not be more topical, as they throw theological and spiritual light upon our current world trade problems. The readings remind us, in their own way, that what is morally wrong can never be politically right.

First, from the prophecy of Isaiah,
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat.
"Everyone" here means all of us in the world community; but there is a special invitation to those without money to come and buy what they need. The irony could not be clearer: how can you buy anything, if you have no money? All people, every human being on the planet, rich or poor, needs water, and water is needed for food. The reference to water has a greater significance than might be apparent to us at first sight. In the Middle East, water was, and remains, scarce, and traditional sources of water are jealously guarded and defended. So the invitation to everyone who is thirsty represents an invitation from the Lord to participate fully in something precious and to be cherished. This is an invitation to live the life that God wills for all his people, and it has both a spiritual and a material connotation. The provision of water is not so much a human right, although we might regard it in that way. Water is there in abundance for us all as a consequence of God's generosity in creation to all people on earth: It just needs to be shared.

The prophet pushes the challenge one step further:
Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price.
Wine and milk are a bit more than water, though they could never be described as luxuries. Those without money need more than just water if they are to flourish.

Isaiah then protests at our wastefulness:
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
The scorn is directed towards those who disregard God's graciousness and use their wealth for their own amusement, and at the expense of the poor and needy. Why do you trivialise your wealth, and dis-honour that wealth with your reckless spending?

The idea of buying food when one has no money to pay for it, implies that the gifts of God are not free. There is a cost attached to them and which is borne by God himself. The cost lies in the Passion story which places the crucified Christ at the heart of the Gospel that we proclaim. God gave up his Son for us that we might receive the gift of eternal life. The death and resurrection of Jesus not only acknowledges the cost of human sinfulness, but also proclaims that all people can now live according to the will of God.
There is water, and wine and milk, and plenty more, for all people. It is God's world, and we are his creation. In the light of the risen Christ, we come now to share it freely and justly.

We mustn't get stuck with the frustration, the anger and the guilt of the world community's failure to feed all its people and to close the poverty gap. The Gospel directs us to the graciousness of God as revealed through his Son, Jesus Christ. The Gospel reading set for today provides a moment in Jesus' ministry which exemplifies that graciousness. The story of the feeding of the five thousand took place immediately following an enormous blow to the ministry of Jesus. For Herod had callously and shamefully had John the Baptist beheaded. Such was the impact of this upon Jesus that he needed to escape to a deserted place, to be alone with his thoughts and his prayers, and to decide what to do next. It was not to be, because the crowds followed him in huge numbers. He had compassion for them and cured their sick for hours on end. At the close of the day and at the point of exhaustion, the disciples pleaded him to attend to the needs of the crowd. The opportunity came for the outpouring of God's graciousness as the five loaves and two fish became sufficient to feed thousands of people.

So we reflect on that lost opportunity last week to secure an agreement that would sweep away trade barriers to feeding the world's poor. No miracle took place in Geneva this week. Instead, the failure of the talks was a sinful and shameful indictment on the rich and powerful nations of the world. But God who has been faithful to us in the past will not give up; and there will be a way of manifesting his graciousness through international co-operation and partnership.

Some of us heard, a few weeks ago, from the Bishop of Swaziland, how anti-retroviral drugs are available to treat the victims of HIV/Aids in his country. But because the people who need them can't afford to buy them, the majority of the sufferers go without treatment. Swaziland in Southern Africa has the highest incidence of HIV/Aids in the world. In one of the diocesan schools for girls, when the 750 children were tested, every single one turned out to be HIV positive. The average life expectancy in 2010 is predicted to be 27 years of age. The government cannot buy the drugs in sufficient quantities, and there appears to be no will from the world community to supply them at no cost. Here is collective sinfulness writ large, as we hear Isaiah's words:
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat.

For the Churches there is a framework for our continued prayers and intercessions. First, each of us is a member of the world community and where water or food is scarce or where the drugs are not reaching those who need treatment, we have a share in that responsibility. Secondly, the costliness of God's graciousness represented to us through the centrality of the crucified Christ, is something in which we have a share. We receive the broken body and spilt blood of Christ in this Sacrament of Holy Communion, week by week, albeit in the peaceful and magnificent surroundings of a great Cathedral. But unless we receive the Sacrament with a corresponding degree of personal sacrifice and costliness, we are not being true to our baptismal vocation. The Sacrament brings healing, comfort, hope and solidarity with others. But it also demands of us a response, and a sacrificial response at that.

And finally, of all the world issues that concern us, and there seems a lot to worry about at the moment - terrorism, food and fuel prices, religious fundamentalism among them - of them all, it is the essential needs of ordinary people, what has come to be known as the Common Good, that matters the most in the long term: the provision of food, water, basic health and education.

May we who share Christ's body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name; through Christ our Lord. Amen