Isaiah 58,1-9. Quinquagesima

 Isaiah 58,1-9a           1421 

Quinuagesima 022

Valentine, Bishop of Iteramna (Terni, Italy), Martyr 269

Cyril and Methodius, Apostles of the Slavs, 9^th c. 

14. Februar 2021

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, who did manifest Yourself, with the Holy Spirit, in the fullness of grace at the baptism of Your dear Son, and with Your voice did direct us to Him who has borne our sins, so that we might receive grace and the remission of sins: Keep us, we beseech You, in the true faith; and inasmuch as we have been baptized in accordance with Your command, and the example of Your dear Son, we pray You to strengthen our faith by Your Holy Spirit, and lead us to everlasting life and salvation.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich) 

2. »Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to My people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of Me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and You see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel, to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Yahweh? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and Yahweh will answer; you shall cry, and He will say: ‘Here I am.’«  

3. In Isaiah’s day, the people of Israel thought that simply following parts of the Sinai covenant was enough. They thought if we keep the feast, the fast and the sacrifices, then Yahweh will be pleased. But Isaiah tells us that Yahweh was not pleased. They humbled themselves, but Yahweh took no knowledge of it. The Prophet Amos, a contemporary of Isaiah, said the same thing: »Yahweh says: I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies« (Amos 5,21).  

4. Israel thought they could keep the first table of the Commandments and let the second table slide. If we worship Yahweh, then it doesn’t matter if we mistreat our neighbors. The Prophets Amos and Isaiah condemn this twisted understanding of the Sinai covenant. They tell the people: Yahweh requires you to love God and love your neighbor; you are to rightly worship Yahweh and to treat your neighbor well. Our fallen human nature is prone to follow the thinking of the Israelites: as long as we worship God, then all is well.  

5. The Prophets pose for us the question that if you have no concern for your neighbor then are you truly worshiping God.? A: no. In fact, aside from a few faithful remnant, the nation of Israel and Isaiah’s day was not worshiping Yahweh rightly. They were saying the right words and performing the right actions, but their heart was not devoted to Yahweh. They were fine with worshiping other gods and tolerated such idol worship in their homes and nation. The Prophets make it clear: idolatry leads to the breakdown of a moral society.  

6. To rightly worship Yahweh is to fear, love and trust in Him above all things. To do otherwise is idolatry, and when we do not fear, love and trust Yahweh then our treatment of our neighbor suffers and if allowed to remain ultimately impacts our morality at the individual and societal levels. Our repentance ought to first confess our failures to put God first and then to acknowledge we fail to help our neighbor as we ought. 

7. God promised us: »If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of Yahweh honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in Yahweh, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken. ... If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And Yahweh will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail« (Isaiah 58,13-14.10-11). 

8. To rightly worship God is to believe and confess what Jesus told His apostles in today’s Gospel pericope: »Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked, shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise« (Luke 18,31-33). And noticed what happens after this teaching: as they drew near to Jericho they came across a blind man and Jesus helped him by restoring his sight. May the Holy Spirit daily encourage us to confess our faith in Christ and help those we see in need.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who went up to Jerusalem to fulfill the Prophets; send forth the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we acknowledge that You are the Son of Man, the Christ, who has redeemed us.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

 

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.