August 8, 2010 - Proper 14, Year C (RCL)
It’s a strange way to begin your ministry. Just imagine, a new priest comes to town
and the first thing that comes out of his mouth
is a solid condemnation
of your worship.
“God isn’t interested in what you’ve been doing here on Sundays. Forget the candles, the music, the elaborate prayers. Forget everything
that you’ve ever done, it’s all just show. God wants none of this.”
It’s hardly the way to begin things well. We expect newcomers to work their way in slowly, gradually, make a few changes, yes, but not
totally condemn everything. It’s not how you do things.
Isaiah wasn’t a priest. But in ancient Israel, he was the next best thing: he was a prophet, the next in a long line of prophets
whose stories we have been reading for the last couple of months.
Isaiah was someone who functioned as the mouthpiece of God, someone who spoke on behalf of God
to the people
and reminded them
of the way God wanted them to live. And the first words we hear coming out of his mouth, the first words of the book of Isaiah
are words of condemnation.
“‘What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?’ says the LORD; ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation - I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.’”
“In other words, all this worship that you’re doing,” God says,
“I hate it. Don’t waste your time.”
And you can imagine what the people listening think.
It’s hardly what they expect to hear from the mouth of God.
After all, the whole thing about religion
is that you’re supposed to do this worship thing.
Hymns, prayers, ritual, all of them focussed on God;
that’s what makes it a religion
and not just
another club.
They follow the rules; they keep all the official festivals; they show up
for weekly worship.
They’ve done good.
And so, what they expect to hear
from the prophet of God
is a pat on the back.
Not condemnation.
After all, it’s God, who set up the sacrifice business,
God, who gave directions for the temple,
God, who back in Exodus
commanded them
to worship.
It just doesn’t
make sense.
Until you get to the next part.
That’s when God starts suggesting
what improvements
the people could make,
what things God does
want them
to do.
“Seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.”
In summary,
“Cease to do evil,
learn to do good.”
None of this is particularly revolutionary.
You just have to go back to Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The same places
where God told them how to worship,
those same places
are what God points them to now.
Because being one of the people of God
isn’t just about doing the religious stuff around worship;
it’s a whole way of life,
a way of life
that sets them apart
from the people around them.
They are to be different
not just in how they worship,
but in how they live.
Listen to these words from the book of Exodus,
just two chapters
after the ten commandments.
“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.
If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbor’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbor’s only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate.” (Ex.22:21-27)
Seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
Cease to do evil,
learn to do good.
Or this, in Deuternomony (16 :18-20)
“You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people. You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
Cease to do evil,
learn to do good.
What Isaiah says to the people,
what God says
is nothing new.
They’ve just
forgotten.
They assume
it is enough
to worship God.
But no,
they have to live
for God.
That means
doing
good.
That’s Isaiah’s message to the people of Israel
back around 700 BC.
And we could be forgiven for thinking,
well, that was then. This is now.
Jesus came in between, and changed everything.
But we hear echoes of Isaiah’s message
in the New Testament.
Remember Mary’s words of joy
as she celebrates her pregnancy,
preparing to bear
the Christ child?
Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:46-53)
And then there are Jesus’ own words,
at his first sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth.
He opened the scriptures, and read from Isaiah,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
Cease to do evil,
learn to do good.
And Jesus expects the same of us.
He expects us, who call ourselves Christians
to be at the forefront
of seeking justice.
Even though
it might make us uncomfortable.
And even though
it may make other people around us
uncomfortable.
Or they may think that we’re stupid,
or that we’re messing with something that shouldn't concern us.
A few weeks ago someone remarked
that my sermon had been kind of political.
I suspect that what they meant
was that I’d started talking about things
that we most often hear about
in the realm of politics.
And in a country that has a formal separation of church and state, talking politics in sermons
makes us uncomfortable.
But the reality is
that what Jesus calls us to
is political.
Not party political -
I don’t believe that either the Republicans
or the Democrats
have got a monopoly on justice.
But political, because we live in a society where politics is how you get things done.
And if we are to seek justice - as God calls us to - in any meaningful way, we’re going to have to get mixed up in politics,
one way or another.
Whether it’s supporting government programs or initiatives
or criticizing them.
So seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
Cease to do evil,
learn to do good.
We would do well
to write out those words of Isaiah;
learn them by heart.
Say them first thing in the morning
and last thing at night.
And then have them shape
everything we do,
in the name of Christ.
© Raewynne J. Whiteley 2010