Editor’s note: Today’s Lectionary post, on Isaiah 58:1-9 and Matthew 5:13-20, is written by guest contributor Rev. Wilson Pruitt.
58:3 “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.
58:4 Look, 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.
58:5 Is 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?
58:6 Is 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?
Who should fast and why? The fast Isaiah speaks of is not for self-actualization. In fact, Isaiah transfigures fasting from an action of the self to act of societal transformation. Isaiah challenges the ways private fasts have been distorted in verse 5:
58:5 “Is 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?”
The prophet then shifts swiftly to a proclamation of abolition in verse 6:
58:6 “Is 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?”
This is the heart of the matter. Christians have allegorized away the language of bonds and yokes in order to soften Isaiah’s call. And thus to use the language of Jesus in the reading from Matthew 5, Christians have made the salt of the kingdom of heaven lose its flavor; we have put the bushel over the light.
Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
5:15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
The prophet’s call is clear, the consequence is tremendous but not impossible. The call is to transform society by loosing the bonds of injustice, letting the oppressed go free, and breaking every (single) yoke. This is the fast God chooses for us. This is how to shine. But sometimes, the darkness of a bushel basket provides more comfort than the exposure of light. To shine, to break chains, takes faith beyond the status quo. Faith in a world beyond the world we have today. Faith in a God whom we can trust:
Isaiah 58:11 The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.
Rev. Wilson Pruitt is a Methodist pastor and translator in Austin, Texas.