THE FIXED PRICE

 

The book we’re reading at supper in the monastery is entitled

Louis Bamberger

Louis Bamberger: Department Store Owner and Philanthropist. I’m really enjoying it because the book brings back all sorts of memories of shopping in Bamberger’s department store in downtown Newark as a little child.

The author writes about the early days of department stores, and the innovations that they introduced. One new approach to retail sales was the “fixed price,” which meant there was no haggling involved: the price of each item was marked, and that was what the customer paid. I had not realized that fixed pricing was such an innovation, but apparently haggling over the price of an item must have been an ordinary part of the shopping experience. The French even have a verb based on their word for “merchant:”  “marchander” means to bargain, to negotiate.

By coincidence, this afternoon as I was studying the New Testament Greek noun "logos" ("word"), I came across the following passage that made me think about the custom of haggling over prices:

“ Whenever we regard the Christian message as something with which to make terms rather than something to which to surrender, we are in danger of making it ineffective.” – William Barclay, New Testament Words, page 185.

As I read this passage, I realized that I often look at the gospel as something that I want to negotiate about, not wanting to pay the full price. I pictured myself constantly bargaining, haggling with God over exactly how much of myself I'm willing to give in response to the Gospel. I was a bargain-hunting  customer in an old-fashioned dry goods store haggling over the cost of some item I wanted to buy.  

If it's true that all too often I try to marchander over Jesus’ message, to water down the demands that the Divine Word is making of me, what would happen if I were to live my life as an unbroken and unconditional surrender to God’s love? No haggling over the price. This is, of course, undoubtedly what the Lord wants from me: my response to the gospel is supposed to be total and complete.

So, bottom line, what is the cost of discipleship? When I find myself asking how I can get the price down a little bit, and I start negotiating, the ghost of  Louis Bamberger appears and reminds me that the cost is not negotiable -- it's a fixed price, just as advertised. 

COME, FOLLOW ME!