"Bans and Backs" - Sermon for 5th Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon:

Text: Isaiah 58:1-9a

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who has our backs.

Our reading from Isaiah 58 again.

             ¹Shout out, do not hold back!
  Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
 Announce to my people their rebellion,
  to the house of Jacob their sins.
 ²Yet day after day they seek me
  and delight to know my ways,
 as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
  and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
 they ask of me righteous judgments,
  they delight to draw near to God.
 ³“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
 Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
  and oppress all your workers.
 ⁴Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
  and to strike with a wicked fist.
 Such fasting as you do today
  will not make your voice heard on high.
 ⁵Is such the fast that I choose,
  a day to humble oneself?
 Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
  and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
 Will you call this a fast,
  a day acceptable to the Lord?
 ⁶Is not this the fast that I choose:
  to loose the bonds of injustice,
  to undo the thongs of the yoke,
 to let the oppressed go free,
  and to break every yoke?
 ⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
  and bring the homeless poor into your house;
 when you see the naked, to cover them,
  and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
 ⁸Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
  and your healing shall spring up quickly;
 your vindicator shall go before you,
  the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
 ^9aThen you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
  you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

            I almost feel like I can just stop there. Is there much else I can add to this text? Like last week, it condemns us, it tells us what we do not do, it shows us the way we often think about our relationship with God. How it’s a personal thing for ourselves only.

            Again, like last week it asks us, what does God want from us? What is the fast that God wants of us?

            Let’s start with that fasting. In this text fasting has become a personal thing, a way to try to outcompete the other, to bring personal glory to yourself.

            It became all about me. Me and my relationship with God, to the exclusion of others. Showing to those around, look at my sackcloth clothing, look at the ashes I spread on myself, look at the way I bow my head in supposed humbleness. Look at me, look at me, look at me.

            And God says, if that is how you fast, I don’t want it.

            God says, I want your fast to be outward rather than inward. I want you to care for the least. Loose the chains of injustice. Undo the things that hold people back. God says, I want you to stand up for the ones that those in power say are worthless, to be feared, to be kicked out, banned. God tells us, let the oppressed, the refugee, go free.

            Share your bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into your house, if you see the naked, cover them.

            I feel there are two sides to this text. Or any time we see this list of things God calls us to. We see this list of what God’s fast entails, and go, yeah, I should do those things, but well, I don’t want to, or we say, I don’t know that I can.  Maybe there are a few of you out there who see that list and just go, yep!  Got it. But usually it’s the other two, I don’t want to, or I can’t on my own.

            If your answer is I don’t want to listen to what God asks of me, I would just say, well, read this text a few more times and just think about it. I hope that you would not fall in that category.

To those of you overwhelmed by what God asks of you, look at verse 8. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. In other words, God’s got your back. To use a military term, God’s got your six. Since it’s super Bowl Sunday, God’s covering your blindside. When we do this, we don’t do it alone, we do it with God walking with us, we do it walking with each other.

In much of Christianity one of the biggest difficulties is the argument between Christianity as a personal religion, for you and your own salvation, and Christianity as a religion for the other, for service for those in need around you. One is the inward path, the other outward path.

The reason this text is so powerful, why I feel like I could just stop there, is that it calls us to that outward path, it calls us to care for the least, the oppressed, and then tells us, the reason that we can do those outward things is because of the inward path, God is personal. We can watch out for the oppressed and loose the bonds of injustice because God’s got our back. God’s got the inward part down for us, so we can work on the outward. We need the inward path, but we can’t just stay with it.

Our relationship with God is indeed personal, God speaks to us, calls to us, loves us, but this relationship is personal for the sake of others. God’s got our back not so we don’t have to do anything, but so that we can be free to help the world.

To use the Lutheran idea, we are saved through our faith, not our works, it’s God’s work that saves us. But, because of what God has done for us, we respond with our work.

             Because of what God has done in saving us, because God’s light is upon us, we go out to show our good works before others, giving glory to God that we can do so.

            This week, go out, be outward people, knowing that God’s got your back.

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Amen.