Abstract
I have a family member who thinks fasting and abstinence as Lenten disciplines are nonsense. Why would God care if we give up chocolate or alcohol or meat for forty days? Will my voluntarily not eating when there is plenty of food in the fridge somehow make God more inclined to favor me? This family member joins a long line of people who in different ways question the efficacy of various religious rituals. Is God really influenced by sacrifices, fasts, baptisms, litanies, praise songs, and so forth?
Many skeptics of ritual find Third Isaiah to be an ally when in ch. 58 the prophet challenges Judah’s fasting and lifts up care of the oppressed and the impoverished as the more important concern. Isaiah 58, however, is a complicated text that arguably presents a both/and picture of fasting and works of righteousness instead of an either/or approach. To see this both/and approach, it will be helpful to attend to the structure of the passage. Following the opening verse in which YHWH calls on the prophet to make an announcement concerning Judah’s sins, there are three movements of the passage: Indictment of sin in relation to fasting (vv. 2–4) God’s true desire concerning fasting (vv. 5–7) Salvific results from following God’s will concerning fasting (vv. 8–12)
It is important to note that the indictment actually begins with the positive expression about the people in that they seek after God and delight in God’s ways (v. 2a). At the very least this opening shows that the people and their rituals are not evil through and through. The “as if” at the beginning of v. 2b, however, shows that the people’s devotional focus does not translate into lives of righteousness. Indeed, the core of the indictment comes when the people complain that their fasts have not resulted in clear signs of God’s favor (v. 3a), with the exclamation point following in vv. 3b–4 when the prophet exposes the people’s tendency to fast to get something from God, even while they continue to oppress others and act violently. The problem, then, is not with fasting per se. It is with fasting as a supposed act of obedience to God while acting unjustly toward one’s neighbor.
In vv. 5–7, YHWH clarifies that the desired fast is not one which forcibly humbles the people before God but one in which those fasting lift up those in society who have been pushed down. This is a radical fast that frees people from injustice and oppression. It is not simply feeding the hungry but sharing our food with them. It is not simply finding shelter for the homeless but hospitably bringing them into our homes. In vv. 8–12, God declares that when this type of fast is practiced, those who fast will find salvation. Their light shall rise (vv. 8a, 10b), they shall be healed (v. 8b), and God will vindicate (v. 8c) and guide them (v. 11). Indeed, God will rebuild Jerusalem (v. 12).
A huge theological red flag is raised by the promise of salvation following the description of fasting according to God’s will. The problem is related to messages of “works righteousness” or “prosperity gospel” that are heard in popular Christianity these days. The message seems to be that if we take on a heavy burden from God, then God will reward us. By virtue of this reading of the text, the people were not wrong in expecting God to respond to them based on their fasting. They simply needed to fast differently to get the desired outcome from God.
A theology, however, in which God can be manipulated into giving a Pavlovian response to fasting—be it a ritual or charitable approach to fasting—presents not much of a vision of God. Our God’s character is to be pro nobis, for us. The people do not need to persuade God to desire salvation. God has already promised it.
Thus a better understanding of this passage is to recognize that God’s desire for followers to liberate the oppressed and care for the afflicted is not a burden. God calling believers to feed the hungry, take in the homeless, and treat laborers fairly is a gift—in fact, the command is the gift of salvation. Fasting in this manner is not a means to an end that God will provide; it is the end God provides. Humanity is burdened with greed, hatred, and a sense of hierarchy in which we view others as less than us. But God frees us from these burdens and gives us the gifts of hospitality, altruism, respect, love, and peacemaking.
Consider the author’s use of “yoke” (môṭâ). In v. 6, in the section in which God names the divine desire for a proper fast, the word is used twice as a metaphor for the oppressive and unjust burdens others experience. Hearers are called to alleviate people of these burdens. However, in vv. 9–10, in the section in which salvific results are promised, the author puts the word in God’s mouth again (emphasis added): 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, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.
Given the structure of these poetic lines, it is clear that “yoke” still refers to burdens such as accusations, evil speech, hunger, and affliction; but now the “yoke” is explicitly located “among you,” that is, among the hearers receiving the prophet’s announcement concerning fasting. In other words, the yoke that is a burden to others is also a burden to followers of God. Freeing others of their yoke likewise frees one from bondage. The paradoxical good news of this passage is that the radical command to care for the suffering and dispossessed is a gift of salvation to both those giving and those receiving care.
One way to approach preaching this message is simply to structure the sermon as the text is structured. In classic expository form, preachers can walk through a section and then draw a contemporary analogy to the situation Third Isaiah is addressing. The key to this approach being effective experientially for the hearers (as well as intellectually) is to give the greatest weight to the third movement and use imagery there that moves from an imperative tone to a declarative tone. The sermon might flow in the following manner.
The indictment movement sets up the hook of the sermon. The preacher can begin by discussing the specific issue of fasting and Isaiah’s audience’s impatience with God, then relate this to contemporary rituals and acts of piety. If one preaches from this text in Lent (Isa 58:1–12 is the alternate Old Testament lection for all three years of the lectionary cycle on Ash Wednesday), then analogies to Lenten disciplines are easy. If the preacher is interpreting the text on a different occasion, the analogies might relate to prayer and worship more generally. The preacher needs to help hearers imagine a sympathetic connection with the original audience and quickly move to feeling Isaiah’s indictment.
The next section of the sermon, dealing with God’s desire for fasting that involves social justice ministry and acts of compassion, should take the hearers deeper into the sense of being indicted. The preacher should draw analogies between the general issues in the text (poverty, oppression, and affliction) and specific social concerns in the congregation’s contemporary context that need addressing. With the mention of each concern, the preacher might draw a refrain from the text: “Is not this the fast I choose?”
As the preacher shifts to the final movement of the passage, the tone of the sermon must also shift from bad news to good, but not so quickly that the hearers have trouble following the logic of the command being salvation. Once the idea is established in the congregation intellectually, the preacher must help people take hold experientially. Speaking imperatively by calling people to address the social ills named earlier will not do this. Instead, preachers need to give the message flesh and bones by telling stories of individuals and communities who experience God’s gift of salvation as a result of doing good works. Stories that connect individual Lenten/devotional disciplines and communal worship with serving the other will be especially appropriate. And with each story, the preacher might use a refrain that twists the one from the previous section with something like, “Is not this the fast that I offer?” or “Is this not the salvation that I give?”