didn’t really cost them anything more than a missed meal or two that could be made up with later feasting. The problem was that their pious fasting was not accompanied by righteous living. While giving themselves religious pats on the back, many were simultaneously oppressing their workers and quarrelling, even to the extent of physical violence (v. 3b-4a). Such fasting as that would win them no points with God, who took no delight in watching people bowing themselves before God while also pressing the faces of the poor into the dirt (v. 5). Does any of this connect with us? Very few of us fast for religious reasons, but do we not have a similar tendency to practice aspects of religion that we like or that flatter our reputation, while ignoring the hard work of seeking justice for the oppressed and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves? We may choose a worship service that suits our sensibilities and doesn’t go on too long, for example, and contribute just enough to be respectable without making a sacrifice. Do we ever take time to examine our true motives in worship? Faithful fasting (vv. 6-7) The prophet declared in no uncertain terms that this was not the kind of fasting God would endorse. Rather, God desired to see justice unleashed and the oppressed go free, to see the hungry fed and the homeless housed, to see the naked clothed and family ties acknowledged (vv. 6-7). Wealthy Hebrews had ways of putting poor people under financial pressure, loaning them money, and with the help of corrupt officials, seizing their land or even forcing them into indentured servitude when they could not pay their debts (Neh. 5:4-5). Under the postexilic governor Nehemiah’s administration, the problem reached such proportions that Nehemiah demanded an end to loans at excessive interest and declared an unscheduled Jubilee, ordering that fields and homes
LESSON FOR AUG. 25, 2013
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should be returned to those who had lost them to unjust debt practices (Neh. 5:7-12). Can you say “payday loans”? Such predatory practices remain in our own culture, despite the efforts of many states to outlaw them. God’s desire is that God’s people work toward a system in which all people have equal opportunity and the deck is not stacked against those who are poor, young, old or have minority status. Every yoke that binds people – every thing that restricts or denies persons the dignity and rights every human should enjoy – should be broken, God declared: that is the fast God desires. From fasting to feasting (vv. 8-14) This is how the world sees God at work in the lives of God’s people, whether they find their spiritual home in a Jewish synagogue or a Christian church. The worship God wants is found in a caring humility that leads one to practice justice and compassion to others. When God sees those things demonstrated in our lives, the spiritual community will see light breaking out like the dawn and healing spreading through the land (v. 8). Then people can call on God and expect a more sympathetic ear: “You shall cry for help, and he will say ‘Here I am’” (v. 9a). Notice the conditional character of vv. 9b-10: if the people would remove the yoke of oppression, stop pointing fingers and speaking evil … if they would share their food with the hungry and help the afflicted, then their light would shine as a testimony of true righteousness, even amid the darkest of days. Such care for others brings the promise of care from God. In vv. 11-12, the prophet declared that God would satisfy the needs of those who satisfied the needs of others. In a land constantly threatened by drought, God’s people
could become “like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail” (v. 11). Ancient ruins – probably a reference to parts of Jerusalem that had been destroyed but never rebuilt – would be reconstructed as a home for many generations of the faithful, and those responsible for such blessed work would be remembered as the “repairer of the breach” and “the restorer of streets to live in” (v. 12). With vv. 13-14, we find another string of conditions and promises. These return to the theme with which the chapter began: a sarcastic charge that the people “delighted” in Yahweh by outward religion with no inner basis. Now the prophet returns to the discussion of religious practices, including the proper observance of the Sabbath. The Sabbath should be used to honor God and not just for “serving your own interests or pursuing your own affairs” (v. 13). Those who practice a Sabbath that truly delights in Yahweh would know what it is to ride high and know the blessings of food, clothing and presence that God had promised to Jacob (Gen. 28:10-21). Christian readers should be careful in interpreting passages such as this. We no longer live under a conditional covenant in which success or failure is believed to be directly commensurate with obedience to God. We cannot claim, based on this passage, that if we practice ethical living and proper worship, we will be repaid with material blessings. We can, however, be assured that such behavior will shine as a helpful beacon in the midst of a land darkened by greed that is sometimes masked behind self-righteousness. And we must ask – this passage demands that we ask – what sort of motives we have in worship. Are we seeking only those aspects of religious practice that please us? Or, are we “fasting” in the way that pleases God: through ethical living that shows care for the poor, hungry, homeless and oppressed? It’s a question worthy of deep and careful thought. BT
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