Shining the Light of Justice

 Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 5:13-16

 In Isaiah 58 God is upset and wants Isaiah to shout out, announce to the people their rebellion. The people are doing what they think God wants, they are seeking him and even fasting. But God is very sarcastic here saying “you seek me as if you practiced righteousness.” They may “seek to draw near to God” yet their fasting only serves their own interests while they oppress their workers. What does a true fast to the Lord look like? It involves loosing the bonds of injustice, letting the oppressed go free, sharing their bread with the hungry, and clothing the naked. Only then will their light break forth. Their light shall rise in the darkness if they do so and satisfy the needs of the afflicted.

This is the light told about in Matthew 5 where we are told, “you are the light of the world.” We are not just to hide our light by just worshipping God and going through the motions with no good works that show the world the light of Christ. We let our light shine before others by doing good deeds which give glory to God.

Looking back at Isaiah we are to shine the light of justice in the world. This light is a metaphor for deliverance and salvation. The fast God wants involves saving others from oppression and satisfying their needs. Instead of adding to the oppression of others we need to shine the love and justice of God by doing what we can do to take it away from their lives. This includes feeding the hungry, providing shelter for the homeless, giving a living wage, and treating our employees fairly.

John Wesley called this “social holiness.” The world may not see our studying of scripture, our prayer life, or our worship in church which is our striving for inner holiness. We need to show our holiness by how we treat others in the world – how we treat the stranger, the marginalized, and the oppressed. As Isaiah ends by saying, by doing this the Lord will guide us continually and satisfy our own needs. God says they will be called the repairer of the breach – this gap between them and God will be filled and a true relationship with the God of justice will be restored. Amen

 

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