A Call to God’s People
Another glorious Isaiah passage—yet I have questions. Who were these people Isaiah was preaching to? Were they religious hypocrites, simply putting on an outward show of piety while doing whatever it takes to live lives of comfort and wealth? Or were they returning from years of captivity in a cosmopolitan city where they had held on to their traditional practices of their faith and were now home again but in a land so changed, listening to Ezra exhorting them to follow the Mosaic Law without understanding that the practices were not just outward actions but were intended to lead to care for others? For example, when you fast you have food to give to those without. Isaiah, however, as had prophets before him, has to shout from the pulpit that outward practices are meaningless to God without the practical activities that feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, ensure justice for all.
I wonder if some of our religious practices are as empty as those Isaiah condemned. We certainly have a history of doing what we truly believed to be right only to later discover how wrong they were. Isaiah understood that a right relationship with God could only come if “you remove the yoke from among you…offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom will be like noonday. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parched places.”
We, however, believe that God sent Jesus to allow us, imperfect beings who never get it all right no matter how hard we try, through grace freely given, to be children of God, saved and loved. Thanks be to God.
O God, Creator, Redeemer, Comforter , help us to see beyond our familiar practices so that we can truly participate in your vision of shalom in this world. Amen
Janet Reid