“Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the
prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
Jesus came to fulfill the prophet’s words, and what words
of God does the Prophet have for us today?
Through Isaiah, God tells us: “Shout! A full-throated
shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side.
But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’
Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side.
But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’
Well, here’s why: The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is
profit. You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?
This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.[1]
quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.[1]
Hear what the Living Word of God is saying to the Church,
to God’s people. This is a Word spoken not to us as individuals, but to us as a
community of beloved disciples. Jesus
came to free us from our sins. Sin, simply put, is misplaced love. Sin is
loving ourselves more than we love our neighbor. Loving ourselves more than we
love God. Sometimes that love of self,
or what we think is our love of God, is found in our religious practices. When
our rituals, our worship, our practices become more about pleasing us---about serving
our needs rather than thanking God, more about making us comfortable rather
than making our neighbor comfortable, then we have lost our way and it is time
to be reoriented, to repent and re-turn our lives, our ways, our practices
around.
We are freed from our sin when we choose to live the life
of sacrificial love of Jesus instead of the self-centered and self-protective
love of the world. We are freed and saved by living the agape love that is
centered on the welfare of our sisters and brothers---centered on the common
good of the entirety of God’s people---the agape love that reveals the Kingdom
of God.
In our collect, or daily prayer, this morning, we asked God
to set us free from the bondage of our sins and to give us the liberty of that
abundant life which God has made known to us in Jesus. Friends, we do not pray this simply for
ourselves or for those gathered here or for those we love. This isn’t a prayer
which includes only Episcopalians or Christians or Americans. It is a prayer
for humanity---God’s people made in God’s image. We ask God to set all of humanity free and to
be given the liberty of the abundant life God has provided. When we pray this prayer, yes we ask it for
us, and for our loved ones, but also for our enemy, for the stranger, for those
in need and those with whom we disagree. We ask it for immigrants, legal and
illegal, for refugees and citizens, for Syrians, Iranians, Africans, Chinese. This is what we pray; this is for whom we
pray.
We are living in a time when voices around us stir up our
fear and distrust of one another. When our hearts and emotions, our
self-righteousness and self-protection, are rallied by nationalistic cries to
save ourselves, to put ourselves first, to circle the wagons and keep the “bad
dudes” out.
Beloved, you may find yourself swayed by these cries; they
may sound sensible and reasonable to you. And perhaps, in a sense, from a
certain perspective, they are reasonable and sensible. But when we look at human history, we find
that isolation and nationalism leads us to deplorable places and
situations. It leads us to war, to
internment camps, to massacres and to genocide. These cries may sound
reasonable from a self-preservation point of view, but they do not serve
us---not as individuals nor as the collective humanity.
And certainly not as the living Body of Christ in the
World. Our God tells us: Be not
afraid. Jesus tells us, and shows us,
that we are One—One family in God. No matter our country of origin, our skin
color, our gender identity, our socioeconomic status, our creed, our sexual
orientation or our political beliefs. We
followers of Jesus are called to live out this truth—in our personal lives, in
our communal lives, in our words and actions. It isn’t a Sunday thing. It isn’t
“just inside the church building or at church events” thing. It is our lives.
This is an incredibly difficult mission that we are called
to live. And at times we fail. But if we believe and trust in a God of
abundance, then we are to trust that God gives us what is needed to be faithful
in God’s mission. And let’s not forget that God places us in community---bound
to one another----just as the Holy Trinity is bound together----so that we
might encourage one another, strengthen one another, equip one another to be
able to live this agape love that we---and the entire world----so desperately
need.
The Living Word speaks to us today: urging us, imploring us
to live our faith. To be Salt and Light. Of the World. Not just of our lives or of our
family or of our city or of our nation---Salt and light of the World. Jesus
doesn’t say “You will be …Jesus says: You are the salt of the earth: an agent
that can break up ice, preserve our sustenance, heal wounds, and bring forth
flavor. Jesus says you are Light:
dispelling darkness and shadow, providing a path forward, revealing the world’s
brokenness, providing warmth and hope.
Beloved: we are called, marked and anointed, to be the ones
who, through our words and actions, by making room for one another amidst our
differences, through holy listening, loving and serving, we are the ones who
are to make the community livable again.
