Is this the kind of fast I have chosen? (Isaiah
58:5).
The final eleven chapters of Isaiah bring us once again into
a new setting and focus. Whereas chapters 1-39 dealt with the Assyrian threat
(late eighth century BC), and chapters 40-55 were situated in Babylon awaiting
God’s deliverance (ca. 540 BC), chapters 56-66 find the exiles back in
Jerusalem, working out life in community (ca. 520 BC) [6].
In Mark 12:30-31, when Jesus was challenged as to the most
important commandment, his familiar response was: Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength [7] . . . [and] Love your neighbor as
yourself [8].
Centuries before Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine,
these commands were the sticking point between God and his people. The prophets
repeatedly took Israel and Judah to task over precisely these issues: breaking
the first commandment (loving someone or something more than God), and
injustice toward weaker neighbors (loving self more than others).
Then the prophet outlines a proper fast: …to loose the
chains of injustice . . . to set the oppressed free . . . to share your food
with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter . . . [and] to
clothe him (58:6,7).
It seems we still struggle with the same things.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Reflect on how you can
offer a fast that is pleasing to God?
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