This week's Theme: Richest of Fare
Day 1: Land of Milk and Honey
Mr. Prescott and Mrs. Williams came to village schools like ours whenever the periodic inter-school music competition was about to be launched. With oversight for music education in all the nation’s elementary schools, they never failed to spark a flurried and spontaneous observance of protocol reserved for Ministry of Education officials and very important visitors.
That year I was intrigued both by the song chosen for the competition, and by the diction rules that required us to pronounced “in” endings as “een.” The words of the song provided ample instances:
In Poland stands an inn
In Poland stands an inn
In Poland stands a Polish inn (side note: what other kind??)
And there the people all go in
For nothing all their food they win
They do not pay a pin
Within there is a maid
Within there is a maid
O such a lovely waiting maid
Who to the travelers gives her aid
She brings the travelers all they ask
Their wishes are obeyed
The maid stands at the door
The maid stands at the door
The maid stands at the open door
And never reckons up the score
And never reckons up the score
But gives them more and more
In those days Poland seemed galaxies removed, so even if the words of the song were to fall on literal ears, their veracity could not be determined. But it didn’t matter—the musical accomplishments, talents and reputation of Mr. Prescott and Mrs. Williams would carry enough weight to support any song.
For my part, I found the song mildly amusing. I had never heard of Cockaigne, the medieval mythical place of pleasure, luxury, and excess—a land of celebrated gluttony, sloth, and extravagance—all at no cost. I did not know of its place in German folklore and literature—of Das Schlaraffenland, and the German folksong on which Johannes Brahms based his piece, "In Polen steht ein Haus".
A more precise translation of Brahms' composition would be somewhat different from the version Mr. Prescott and Mrs. Williams taught us. But even in our more "child-friendly" adaptation, the Cockaigne concept of unending supply at no cost was the major theme.
The preoccupation with superfluity in the medieval imagination is often attributed to the dire working conditions and general deprivation common among the working class. It is believed that the biblical metaphor of the land promised to God's ancient people—a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8) was the basis for the fanciful extravagances of Cockaigne.
This is a quite reasonable conclusion, though perhaps not a full explanation. For while Scripture has much to say about the plight of the poor, it describes a deeper hunger in the heart that is experienced by rich and poor alike.
Responses to our deeply-rooted spiritual hunger can easily tend toward excesses and distortions of one sort or another—in luxuries and indulgences for those with means—in substitutes for those without. But God, knowing that these can never satisfy our souls, issues the invitation to all:
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost…” (Isaiah 55:1).
Scripture shows us that the greatest human need cannot be satisfied by the trade markets of this world. But this does not mean that physical and material needs are not important to God. The Lord Jesus never downplayed the importance of the necessities of life.
He ministered to the hungry, the sick, and the shunned and displayed the age-old compassion of God to the deprived and the marginalized. And He shows us the disposition of God to satisfy our desires with good things (Psalm 103:5) as He invites us to pray, Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).
But it is for our soul that He has made the greatest provision—at great cost to Himself and none to us. It is to our souls that He issues an invitation that promises greater satisfaction than even daily bread, or Polish inns, or the laden tables of Cockaigne:
"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to Me; listen, that you may live" (Isaiah 55:2).
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