Ash Wednesday, March 6, 2019
“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins! Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me. ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord? “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes. Isaiah 58:1-12(NLT)
“Going through the motions of penance”
is what some of my colleagues used to call profession without possession. It’s saying the right things (that other
people need to hear to accept you as part of the group) without meaning it;
there’s plenty of talking the talk, and precious little walking
the walk.
This was Isaiah’s message to
Israel. They claimed to be God’s people,
even showing up at the temple daily for prayer and instruction; they went away
no different than when they walked in the front door.
A modern-day counterpart of Isaiah’s
wayward generation would be a man who is well-respected down at the church,
because he’s a leader, well-spoken, often at the head of committees, even
teaching the class in Sunday School.
When he leaves the church house in his distinctive $70,000 SUV he heads
for the club, dines and drinks lavishly, having exceeded the intoxication limits
twice-over. On the way home he plows
through a red light and a young family of four in an old sedan. He looks around, sees no witnesses and speeds
off. When he awakens the next morning
his wife is making so much noise cleaning up the mess he made crashing around
in his drunken stupor, he launches into a vicious tirade, beats her unconscious,
showers and takes off in his slightly dented SUV to attend the opening of the
new battered women’s shelter he helped sponsor, so he can cut the ceremonial
ribbon. The mayor, in his dedication
speech is effusive in his praise of this fine citizen, who is a Godly pillar of
the community. All the citizens applaud,
like reeds bending in the wind. Certainly,
God in His heaven must have a special place for someone like that.
For You Today
Ash Wednesday is a red light in
the traffic pattern of the year. We should
use the time to take stock. Instead of
the usual rehashing of how tough it’s been, or how much you’d like to do, or
the chocolate you’ll do without over the next 40 days, how about taking out the
checkbook and calendar. Look at what you
did with the resources and time God gave you over the past year.
As we push through the next six
weeks of Lent towards the celebration of Easter’s gift, that most important giving
up should be the tendency to go through the motions like
so many religious reeds bending in the wind.
How about refreshing the scene by finding someone whose life you can
bless with not the slightest chance they ever could or ever would repay you?
God just might be pleased with
that kind of fasting!
