Isaiah 1:10-20 (The Message, abridged)
“Listen to my Message”, says the Lord.
“Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices,
rams and plump grain-fed calves?
Don’t you think I’ve had my fill
of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?
Running here and there, doing this and that--
all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?
“Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games:
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
You’ve worn me out!
I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
I’ll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I’ll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces,
and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up. Clean up your act.
Say no to wrong. Learn to do good.
Work for justice. Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.
“If your sins are blood-red, they’ll be snow-white.
If they’re red like crimson, they’ll be white like wool.
If you’ll willingly obey, you’ll feast like kings.
But if you’re willful and stubborn, you’ll die like dogs.”
That’s right. God says so.
The reading we just heard is from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah’s writings are probably the most familiar to us today among all the prophets—mostly because of their placement in the liturgical readings for Advent. Writing in the 8th century BCE, Isaiah was a younger contemporary of Amos, who we heard from a few weeks ago, and he apparently was inspired by the beauty of Amos’ prose style.
The Book of Isaiah is, I believe, the longest of any of the prophets. Traditionally, Isaiah was viewed as one writer who wrote and prophesied for as long as sixty years. Most current scholarship leans toward three “Isaiahs” – the original, Proto-Isaiah, who wrote chapters one through 39 before the exile; Deutero-Isaiah, who wrote chapters 40 through 55 during the exile; and Trito-Isaiah, who wrote chapters 56-66 which deal with the restoration and return from exile.
Warning, punishment and grieving, and forgiveness: this is the path of the narrative found in the Book of Isaiah. Our reading today begins at the very beginning, in Chapter One, which Isaiah introduces with these words:
After the introduction, we start at verse 10 where the words spoken through Isaiah make it entirely clear that God is not happy with God’s people – in fact, God sounds pretty fed up:
Yes, God is not happy. But unlike the other prophets we have read so far this summer, Isaiah is preaching to the people of Judah, not Israel. He is in Jerusalem, home of the Temple. It is not the worship of other gods that is annoying God but the people’s religiosity, their pretend religious fervor that is supposed to mask their total disregard for the historic cries for justice which have always been at the heart of their most ancient teachings.
This is, for now, a warning. The people have not yet gone too far. There is time for them to change their ways, God is waiting to forgive them:
If they will just give up their fake holiness, and work instead for justice for all God’s people, then we don’t even need to talk about this anymore. Even if their sins are red with the blood of the innocent, God will wash them clean - white as snow. All they have to do is do the right things.
And since this is the first of 66 chapters, and we know where it goes, we know the people don’t listen. Not yet -- not for a long hard time.
Now we started reading these Old Testament readings to try to gain some understanding of what shaped and taught Jesus. The Gospel reading that is paired with our reading today comes from Luke’s gospel and shows us Jesus teaching the people, much as Isaiah did long before.
Just prior to this Jesus had shared the teaching of The Lilies of the Field:
It is not hard to see the jump from Isaiah to Jesus. To go from:
It is sometimes easy, when reading the Old Testament, to get hung up in wars and kings and heroes – but the over-riding message, from the very start in Genesis, is a cry for justice – a demand for justice – an insistence that caring for each other is our calling in life.
God doesn’t care about rituals – "performance religion" as it's called here – God cares that we live good and just lives, caring for each other and for all life, for all God’s beloved creation.
It’s not at all hard to see where Jesus first found this knowledge.
The Book of Isaiah is, I believe, the longest of any of the prophets. Traditionally, Isaiah was viewed as one writer who wrote and prophesied for as long as sixty years. Most current scholarship leans toward three “Isaiahs” – the original, Proto-Isaiah, who wrote chapters one through 39 before the exile; Deutero-Isaiah, who wrote chapters 40 through 55 during the exile; and Trito-Isaiah, who wrote chapters 56-66 which deal with the restoration and return from exile.
Warning, punishment and grieving, and forgiveness: this is the path of the narrative found in the Book of Isaiah. Our reading today begins at the very beginning, in Chapter One, which Isaiah introduces with these words:
- The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. {this list of four different kings tells us a bit about the chaos and uncertainty of the times in which Isaiah wrote}
After the introduction, we start at verse 10 where the words spoken through Isaiah make it entirely clear that God is not happy with God’s people – in fact, God sounds pretty fed up:
- I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices, rams and plump grain-fed calves. I’ve had my fill of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats. Running here and there, doing this and that—all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship? I can’t stand your trivial religious games. You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning.
Yes, God is not happy. But unlike the other prophets we have read so far this summer, Isaiah is preaching to the people of Judah, not Israel. He is in Jerusalem, home of the Temple. It is not the worship of other gods that is annoying God but the people’s religiosity, their pretend religious fervor that is supposed to mask their total disregard for the historic cries for justice which have always been at the heart of their most ancient teachings.
This is, for now, a warning. The people have not yet gone too far. There is time for them to change their ways, God is waiting to forgive them:
- Clean up your act. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good.
Work for justice. Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.
If they will just give up their fake holiness, and work instead for justice for all God’s people, then we don’t even need to talk about this anymore. Even if their sins are red with the blood of the innocent, God will wash them clean - white as snow. All they have to do is do the right things.
And since this is the first of 66 chapters, and we know where it goes, we know the people don’t listen. Not yet -- not for a long hard time.
Now we started reading these Old Testament readings to try to gain some understanding of what shaped and taught Jesus. The Gospel reading that is paired with our reading today comes from Luke’s gospel and shows us Jesus teaching the people, much as Isaiah did long before.
- Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Just prior to this Jesus had shared the teaching of The Lilies of the Field:
- Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
It is not hard to see the jump from Isaiah to Jesus. To go from:
- Clean up your act. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good.
Work for justice. Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless. [Isaiah]
- “Be generous. Give to the poor..... It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. [Jesus]
It is sometimes easy, when reading the Old Testament, to get hung up in wars and kings and heroes – but the over-riding message, from the very start in Genesis, is a cry for justice – a demand for justice – an insistence that caring for each other is our calling in life.
God doesn’t care about rituals – "performance religion" as it's called here – God cares that we live good and just lives, caring for each other and for all life, for all God’s beloved creation.
It’s not at all hard to see where Jesus first found this knowledge.
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