Skip to main content

Lent II

Isaiah 58 is a reading for Lent. Buried in this chapter is a discussion of a favorite Lenten practice – fasting. The discussion describes the fasting God expects, and it makes our timid and small efforts at fasting appear pitiful in comparison. Lent isn't so much about fasting – at least the way we usually practice fasting during this season, but is more about self-denial and reflection. Many of us give up something relatively easy to give up during Lent and think this satisfies the perceived obligation, but this sort of fasting isn't the fasting expected by God.

Verse 5 describes the kind of fasting, or penitence that we normally consider appropriate during both Lent and at other fasting times. This verse reads: "Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?" (ESV) That sounds like what we often consider fasting and penitence – self denial, and the practice of individual rites of fasting that demonstrate that we are fasting.

But verse 6 tells us we're wrong if we think God wants this kind of fasting: "Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?" (ESV)

Fasting in this passage is much more broad and demanding than our normal understanding of it. In this passage, fasting isn't focused on God, or our own penitence. Rather, this fasting is other-focused, and directly affects community. Self-denial in this passage is the sacrificial giving, not to church treasuries, but to those who need help.

I say fasting is sacrificial giving because of the wording of verse 10: "If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday." (ESV)

Did you get that? "Pour yourself out…" That is sacrificial giving to others. This echoes Paul's "if I pour myself out…." which means that he has given everything he has – his life's focus, his efforts, his riches – for the sake of the Gospel. This is fasting as God understands it – as God expects it. How are you doing?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Obedience Rather Than Sacrifice

Saul it seems, was instructed to have the Israelite completely destroy the Amalekites – people and animals. Rather, Saul allowed the Israelites to capture the Amalekite king, and to bring back the choicest live stock. When Samuel returns to visit Saul, the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the cattle are clearly audible. Assuming that the Israelites had done what had been directed, Samuel finds this noise to be somewhat unexpected, and so he asks Saul to explain what has happened. Saul’s response is a two-parter. The first is that the people have brought back the best of the plunder to sacrifice it to God. The second is that Saul was afraid of the people and so he let them bring back the plunder [and in this explanation, we don’t know why]. Samuel’s response is his mission for God, and he will complete it. Samuel tells Saul that he has failed in his mission to destroy the Amalekites and as a result God has rejected him as king of Israel. In Samuel’s discussion with Saul, he says:

Elders redux

A reader (I am always amazed that people actually read this blog) submitted a rather long comment on the original post on Elders. It is apparent that the reader did some good homework as the comment has several, well, more than several, reference citations. It is clear that they both read the original post and did some Bible study before posting their comment. Because the comment was so long, I thought it appropriate to post another entry rather than bury the response in the comment log. In the following discussion, I have included the text of the comment without the Scripture references. If you want to read the comment in its entirety, scroll to the Elders post and click on the comment. --------------------------------------------------------- [Comment~~~~The church is expected to be a people in exactly this sense. We are the people of God who are charged with continuing and preserving the values, culture, hopes, and the identity of God’s people in our time.~~~~ Does this include th

Naaman's Dipping and Requests

The familiar story of Naaman dipping in the Jordan is a story with more than a few twists. Let's review the story first. Naaman we are told had been used by YHWH to punish Israel and our story describes him as a man of valor in high regard by his boss, the King of Syria the current thorn in the side of Israel. It turns out though that Naaman suffers from some sort of leprosy.  On one of Syria's raids into Israel, the Syrians captured an Jewish girl who had found her way into Naaman's household as a servant for his wife. Knowing of Naaman's illness, she suggests to her matron that there is a prophet in Israel who could help him. This message gets transmitted to Naaman who takes it to his boss. The boss - the king of Syria, tells Naaman to travel to Israel and gives him a letter to Israel's king directing that Naaman be healed. Upon Naaman's arrival in Israel he gives the letter to Israel's king who reacts in a panic. He does not even consider finding t