What Good Are Sacrifices When Injustice Continues—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 9C (Isaiah 1)

 

 Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

1 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.

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!
¹¹ 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.

¹² When you come to appear before me,
    who asked this from your hand?
    Trample my courts no more!
¹³ 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.
¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed festivals
    my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
    I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵ 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.
¹⁶ Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove your evil deeds
    from before my eyes;
cease to do evil;
¹⁷     learn to do good;
seek justice;
    rescue the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
    plead for the widow.

¹⁸ Come now, let us argue it out,
    says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
    will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
    will they become like wool?
¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
    you shall eat the good of the land,
²⁰ but if you refuse and rebel,
    you shall be devoured by the sword,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

*************** 

What good is worship when the worshippers engage in unjust acts? Does God welcome and enjoy the worship of those with blood on their hands or who engage in the oppression of others? According to Isaiah, the answer is no. Yet, throughout history, people who claim to believe and serve God have engaged in wars, enslaved and oppressed human beings, and more. People have participated in horrific and evil deeds and justified them in the name of God. Jesus, according to Matthew 25, separated the sheep from the goats, the righteous and the unrighteous, on the basis of how they cared for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. So, how do we reconcile our worship and unjust acts? 

The book of Isaiah contains at least two, if not three, different oracles. The opening chapter has its origins in the 8^th century. The opening verse sets this oracle in the reigns of the Judean kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. The prophet directs this word to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The opening lines, which refer to the people of Judah and Jerusalem as Sodom and Gomorrah, let us know that this opening message will not be comforting. After all, everyone would have known the story of these two cities that had been destroyed centuries earlier. Much later, Jesus would compare the Galilean towns that rejected his message with Sodom (Matt. 11:24). The use of the term suggests that Judah and Jerusalem face the same fate as these two doomed cities because they also were wicked.

The key phrase here is found in verse 11: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” Why should God pay attention to the people’s sacrifices? That is the question. The answer is, God has had enough of their burnt offerings, the fat of beasts, and the blood of bulls. None of those “worshipful” offerings matter to God because all they were doing was trampling God’s courts.  Their offerings and the incense are an abomination. God hates their convocations, assemblies, and festivals. They’ve become a burden, and God is weary from having to carry them. Therefore, God will hide God’s eyes when they stretch their hands out to God and offer their prayers. In other words, God didn’t enjoy what the people called worship, and so God was not going to listen.

Why is God offended by their offerings, sacrifices, and prayers? According to the prophet, it seems these offerings accompanied evil acts. The prophet, speaking for God, tells the people (including the king) to cease doing evil and learn to do good. How might they do this? The answer is to wash themselves clean (purify themselves) as they seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow. We hear this word at a time when the government is pursuing policies and actions that are unjust, often justifying them with religious language and imagery, supported by what some interpreters call the Court Evangelicals and their supporters.  

We can hear an echo of what Isaiah is saying to the rulers and religious leaders in Jerusalem in the letter of James. James writes of pure and undefiled religion before God, that it “is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). James warns against exalting the rich and marginalizing the one who is poor, writing: “Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor person. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into the courts? ⁷ Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?” (James 2:5-7).  The word we hear in the lectionary reading from Colossians 3 is to put to death the earthly and clothe oneself with love (Col. 3:5-14).

Now, having heard this word from Isaiah concerning God’s disgust with the people’s worship in light of their evil deeds, we hear God invite the people through Isaiah to argue it out. God invites them (and us) to engage in debate about worship and justice. Because even though their sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow (the parallel is that although their sins are as crimson, they will become the color of wool). Therefore, if they are willing to obey God, they will eat of the fruit of the land. However, if they refuse and continue to rebel, they will be devoured by the sword. This is the word of God to the people.  The choice in action is in our court.

So, it cannot be said that God does not desire their worship. It is simply that worship that is accompanied by evil and injustice is not welcome. It is wearying to God. So, as Ron Allen writes of many congregations in the United States (and North America) today exist in similar circumstances to the community Isaiah spoke to. He writes:

Such groups often leave behind attitudes and behaviors necessary for the inclusive well-being of covenantal community and, instead, participate in exploitation and repression while engaging in ecclesial and civil rites that assume that God condones and even empowers such behavior. … For example, many churches bless uncritical nationalism, “America First,” even when doing so harms the quality of people in other lands, and when doing so will eventually harm the quality of life in the United States. [Connections, p. 218].

So, we too must repent of our complicity so that our worship might not be tainted by injustice.