Expensive Drinks

I have never had anything really expensive to drink, not really. It's easy to find wines or liquors that cost several hundred dollars a bottle, but paying more than $7 for something that fills a glass still feels exorbitant to me.

When I think of expensive drinks I think of a particular Lost episode. In this episode collage dropout Desmond Hume goes to billionaire Charles Widmore to ask permission to wed Widmore's daughter. Widmore takes out a bottle of super-expensive MacCutcheon whiskey and two glasses, but only pours the whiskey into one glass. Holding up the glass he says, "This swallow is worth more than you could make in a month, to share it with you would be a waste." The answer is obviously no.

It's hard to imagine a drink so expensive, and yet I realized this weekend that I've tasted an even dearer drink. I remembered this scene from Lost during communion service, as I pondered how much one swallow cost Christ. That little cup of juice was bought with the most expensive commodity in the universe: the blood of incarnate God.

Christ did not buy the communion cup with a finger-prick of his blood, nor some ceremonial dribble on an alter. No, Jesus bled out for us. He gave all his blood to bring us to God, and his blood washes like an ocean over the ages to quench the thirst of countless sinners. But how precious is one drop of that blood, that blood strewn so carelessly along Jerusalem streets and crusted onto wooden beams.

I, like Desmond, am not worthy of drinking world class, aged whiskey. How unworthy am I to share in the cup of Christ's blood? Only God's grace is deep enough to reach my lowly position. There is no benevolent gentleman freer with his choicest wine than our King:


"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. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food." (Isaiah 55:1-2)


"Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink'" (John 7:37)


Update: Here is the scene from Lost: