Thus states Isaiah in the fifty-eighth chapter of his prophetic message to the nation of Judah. He addresses the exasperated religionists whose outward acts of piety have reaped little to no reward. Their fasting festivals, because self-denial can easily become a spectacle, had turned the motions of contrition and the posture of selflessness into a competition for self-engrandisement. The tribe of Judah had one continuous collective goal in mind when they set their hearts (and appetites) on a fast: the self.
The scribe speaks here for the people; their cries persistently echo through the kingdom, from the monarch to the priests to the concubines to the landowners and farmers, lastly, the outcast and downtrodden. There was an agreement, so they believed, or were perhaps taught, that their abstaining from food for a time would unmistakably result in material reward. A prize, or, put practically, a transaction between the person fasting and God. Fasting was not merely a religiously sanctioned act. It was socially charged because a person who fasts must be in dire straits and, as a result, their sense of self-control is above that of those who, for whatever reason, refuse or cannot commit to a fast. Fasting mutated from a selfless act of seeking God for others to seeking the self for selfish means through religious performance.
“They ask of me (God) righteous judgements…”
“They delight to draw near to God…”
Externally, the Jews were performative, adapting to the accepted socialized religious language of their day. Instead of being transparent and honest enough with God and the priests who served at His altar about their respective needs, wants, and dislikes, they acted as double-faced agents to invoke the sympathy of the religious class and possibly change the mind of an omniscient God. “We want God’s righteous judgements” was a cover for “We want God to turn that land acquisition court decision in our favor.” And their “delight to draw near to God” was not a bid for theosis, an attempt of the person to unite with God or to grow increasingly holy over time. No, the nearness came with baggage. They wanted God’s nearness to vanquish their neighbors due to land disputes, vanquish their employers over unpaid labor, their lords over unmet military conquests and riches, and their priests over unanswered prayers.
God answers their question through the prophet Isaiah’s wit:
“You serve your own interest… [you] oppress all your workers… you fast only to quarrel and to fight and strike with wicked fist. [You] bow down the head like a bulrush, and … lie in sackcloth and ashes…”
One can imagine the hearers’ reaction to these words. Their minstrel show of religious commitment had been exposed for what it was: a farce. One so ignoble that the examples in use may have been accurate enough to warrant violent backlash. The employer who oppressed his or her workers stood by, stank-faced, hungry from fasting, arms crossed, stupefied that a cleric would point their hypocrisy out in public, and at God’s discretion. And others, who possibly expressed their commitment to fasting, sat around, bruised in the face and bleeding from the mouth, after unnecessary bouts and regrettable circles of fisticuffs. In their minds, their fists were meted out in the name of righting wrongs and straightening crooked paths, but here God calls their fight and the tools of their vigilantism, “Wicked.” And the religious scribes, scholars, and scroll thumpers who had memorized certain passages of holy writ knelt nearby in near ecstasy, stimming, back and forth, mumbling incoherently or repetitively, dirty, smelly, and disheveled, all on purpose, by the way, to gain sympathy from the public in the name of God for self-gain.
God stands by as prayers are offered, but hearts are dull, desires wanton, and actions and intentions often mismatched.
“Is it not this the fast that I choose:”
One can imagine further how some who stood idly by responded to the news. “We’ve been doing it all wrong! What might this man have to say about fasting the right way? The easiest way so we can hurry things up and get from God what we came here for!”
“To loose the bonds of injustice…”
Oh, yeah, we can’t do that.
“To undo the thongs of the yoke.”
But our workers already have the Sabbath off! What else do they want?
“To let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke.”
Every yoke? Can we negotiate a gradual manumission? Harvest fast approaches! We need laborers!
“To share your bread with the hungry.”
No way, Isaiah! I mean, God, we can’t afford it!
“And bring the homeless poor into your house.”
Are you mad? Don’t you know the homeless are diseased and mentally unstable? This man does not speak for God.
“When you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin.”
If those beggars want clothing and sustenance, they better work for it! Their comfort will not come out of my pocket. And I do not want to visit my cousin. That fool owes me three bags of grain. I will not entertain him, nor he me, until he has paid his debt.
“If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, […] If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honour it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs…”
One can imagine the dismay and disappointment flooding the crowds, now gathered at Isaiah’s feet. They slowly walk away from him in anger. Others are saddened by the cost of being near to God, and others, yet, discouraged by God’s unwillingness to recognize their fast, wander off in search of sympathy from other gods.
A few remain, convicted, repentant, and transformed. They stand, amidst tears, and silently file out to repair relationships, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, free the imprisoned, restore the humanity of the oppressed, realign their hearts with God and their family. Their acts are unseen, often unnoticed by anyone other than the disadvantaged who now benefit from their kindness.
Fasting, in turn, is less about us, our development, per se, and more, monumentally more, about our neighbor. When we perform acts of religious sanctification and those around us remain as they are, trapped, hungry, broken, oppressed, and hopeless, our acts are in fact deeds of idolatry. The god we then serve is ourselves. And the God of the Universe sees through it.
If… then… “Then your light shall break forth…. you shall call and the LORD will answer… your light shall rise in the darkness… you shall take delight in the Lord.”
In Isaiah’s sermon, we learn that God does not reward fasting for fasting’s sake; He rewards and smiles on those who live lives of selflessness out of love for God and neighbor.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. – Proverbs 31:8 NLT
