Epiphany 5 Year A 2026: Isaiah 58:1-12

Commentator Paul Hanson titles his chapter on Isaiah 58, “Your Own Interests, or the Interests of God?” In order for that question to really sink in, it’s important to remember that the “I” in the reading is not Isaiah, personally. What makes the people listen to Isaiah is that he speaks on behalf of God. He’s God’s mouthpiece. Or perhaps it is better stated that they are God’s mouthpiece. Because, Isaiah is not even one person; there are at least three separate voices from the person called “Isaiah”, probably more. What matters is that all of the “me”s, “my”s, and “I”s in here are God. Even more than that, they are a God who speaks in poetry, not prose.

In today’s text we are two chapters into what Bible scholars call “Third Isaiah”. We are coming out of the reminder in Second Isaiah that the redemptive activity of God occurs within the real stuff of human experience and world history. Although it is poetic in its language, it is not to be diminished as being solely metaphor. The saving work of God is tangible and real. Not just a sweet song, but an ode that remembers the work of the past.

As Hanson provides context, “In a community where those who regarded themselves as the most religious had converted religion into private acts of study and ritual, thereby leaving the entire realm of social relations and commerce under the dominion of ruthless, self-serving exploitation, the prophet reaffirms the classical understanding of what it is to follow God that grew out of the experience of God’s liberating slaves from their bondage, feeding them in the wilderness, and giving them a homeland of their own. It is a rigorously moral understanding that places the one who would be true to God on the side of the same ones whom God reached out to help and empower, those suffering injustice at the hands of authorities, those imprisoned for acts of conscience, those denied their fair share of the land’s produce, those denied housing and proper clothing, those turned away even by their own relatives. The appeal is an impassioned one to the heart of the community. It is a plea to reclaim authentic humanity by replacing cold, calculating self-interest with acts of loving-kindness that restore genuine communal solidarity.” (204-205)

God’s words in Isaiah 58 are specifically concerned with religious hypocrisy. He contrasts mere religious ritual with the service God desires. Through Isaiah, Israel is being made aware of its sin and is reminded that its delight in ritual does not make it the righteous nation it imagines itself to be. In verse four, they are reminded that God is unmoved by fasting that serves self-interest and contributes to the oppression of the weak. Fasting denotes a deliberate abstention from food (and sometimes water) for a set period in order to humble oneself before God, intensify prayer, express grief, or seek divine intervention. It is never presented as asceticism for its own sake but as worship that directs the heart toward the Lord. Isaiah is exposing a fast divorced from this idea; a fast divorced from righteousness. Throughout scripture, fasting serves as a God-ordained means to deepen devotion, cultivate humility, and seek the gracious intervention of the Lord of covenant and redemption. So you can see how a self-satisfied fast doesn’t work. It’s an oxymoron! The only satisfaction we are to take from an ascetic act like fasting is the knowledge that we are drawing nearer to God.

But the fast that God wants, that “I choose”, involves saving other people from oppression and satisfying their needs. To “loose the bonds of injustice…let the oppressed go free…share your bread with the hungry…bring the homeless poor into your house.” God assures us that if we do those things, if those things are what our acts of piety inspire us to do, then “the Lord will guide you continually…you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” God’s treatment of His worshipers corresponds to their treatment of fellow humans in need.

We are called outside of our safe, insular doors to care for our community. And in so doing, we are almost always called to step outside of our comfort zone. Celebrities and professional athletes are good examples of this, when they use their platforms to draw attention to bigger issues. They may play basketball or baseball or act for a living, but many of them choose to do so much more that serves as a great role model. Additionally, both the arts and sports teach accountability, preparation, and responsibility. We acknowledge the tangential benefits of learning to make music or that sports teaches our kids values that they can apply off the court - the NCAA is constantly reminding us that their student athletes will “go pro in something other than sports.” In the same way, our faith prepares us for what is outside these doors, to strive toward the greater point that Isaiah is making. Our faith isn’t armor to protect us from the outside world and provide self-congratulation for practicing the rituals. It’s a cocoon - transforming us through the rituals and prayer practices into something we never thought we’d be and preparing us for a world in which we play an active role as transforming image bearers of God.

What Isaiah’s speech calls us to transform changes only in its particulars from age to age, but not in its generality in what it is calling us to do. I turn again to Hanson for a pithy contrast “In one age it is the fertility cult of Baal with its cultivation of self-indulgence free from moral integrity and responsibility. In another it is nationalistic pride that blinds a people to the humanity of other nations. Unbridled materialism, globe-trotting imperialism, technological arrogance - many are the forms of idolatry that tempt human communities. The language of fertility worship, strange in our ears at first, takes on a stinging relevance when we recognize its ability to mask our own idolatries, flirtation with power that threatens human life, wealth that impoverishes, sexual indulgence that degrades. For our age the prophetic word still pronounces judgment. Every human project that turns in upon itself will lead to nothing but despair. There is only one refuge, one source of wholeness, one promise of individual integrity and communal health. (Our) most urgent task is to locate that refuge.” (201)

Isaiah tells us how to locate that refuge. It is through mirroring God’s love in our own hearts and hands. In seeing in our fellow human beings the imago dei, the image of God. Isaiah reminds us in the next chapter that although salvation is God’s work, it may be hastened or delayed by our response. Our job is not to sit back and wait for God to get to it, but to live into our callings to care for one another as God’s beloved creatures. Amen.