Isaiah 58:1-2
We have this Sunday plus one more before Ash Wednesday. If
you look at your bulletin, you see it says “5th Sunday After the
Epiphany.” That means we are still basking in the light of that big bright star
in the sky that brought the wise men to see the baby Jesus. We are still
celebrating that the birth of Christ is good news for the whole world, it is an
epiphany of God’s love for all the ends of the earth. So … why are we talking
about fasting? Why are we reading this passage from Isaiah that is all about
fasting? We still have the Shrove Tuesday feasts and Mardi Gras celebrations to
look forward to. We have Super Bowl parties to go to and indulge in junk food and
endless snacks while watching million dollar commercials. Why would we want to
start talking about fasting before we need to?
During the week I work at a hospital and I encounter people
all the time who are fasting … not because they want to. Patients will tell me
with exhaustion in their faces “I haven’t eaten anything in days” as they wait
for surgeries and procedures or the all clear notification from their doctor. And
I feel for them. Some mornings I can barely make it to noon before my stomach
is growling and I am thinking about the lunch that awaits me.
I used to fast every Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but
then I got pregnant and then I was nursing a baby and then another one and … 14
years later I am still trying my best to hold on to the excuse of having to
care for children. But I have done what many Christians do, and that is to pick
something to fast from. Usually I pick something like sweets or time scrolling
on my phone or some other habit that I know is not healthy for my mind, body or
soul. And that’s important and a way to focus on nourishing what is best for
us.
But that does require some thought … right? Thought about
what is best for us. What is actually feeding us, mind, body and soul versus
what we are just filling ourselves with. What focuses our attention on what God
wants for us rather than taking our attention through distraction. It takes
some discernment to know what to fast from, how to fast and why we are doing
it. Otherwise, we are just giving something up for a while, and what good is that?
Like when one of my kids says they are giving up chores for Lent.
So I suppose there is some reason to be talking about
fasting before Ash Wednesday, some time to reflect and consider before we are
faced with the decision of how we will make our Lenten journey meaningful, what
we will do to use those 40 days as a times of focus on Christ. And the reading
from Isaiah today has some guidance on this. Actually, some very strong words
about fasting.
The passage begins with a problem. There is a breakdown in
the relationship between God and the people. The people are mad and say “Why do
we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” They
are doing what they think they should be doing, they are worshiping and fasting
but it isn’t getting them what they want from God. They want to be noticed,
they want to be taken care of, and so they fast but … God isn’t responding the
way they think God should.
The prophet points out that, yes, they are fasting but as
they do it they fight with each other and treat each other terribly. And the
response to their upset feelings is, “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? 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 them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
In other words, the people are being challenged to fast
from injustices, cruelty and a lack of kindness. Suddenly, giving up food for a
bit doesn’t seem so hard … because in comparison with working to bring human
dignity, justice and freedom to those who are oppressed and hurting … it seems
much more doable.
In his commentary on this passage, Walter Brueggemann
writes, “[God] is not a God who likes to be flattered in a more or less passive
routine of worship; this God is out working the neighborhood and wants all
adherents doing the same.” In other words, God is not asking for empty ritual
or grand acts to show religiosity, but rather, the way to get God’s attention
is to be out there in the world loving God’s people.
What is required for fasting is not simply the act of
giving something up, but the commitment to turn from self-indulgence, the nurturing
of a deep care for others, the practice of denying one’s comfort to show mercy
to another. It is not simply about giving up, but also of giving.
This past week in the Spiritual Care Department at the
hospital where I work, we were preparing to make videos about the upcoming holy
seasons of Lent and Ramadan. I told the Imam who was there to talk about
Ramadan, that I think it is important as interfaith chaplains to be mindful of
Ramadan so that we can be aware of the pain Muslim patients are experiencing
when they are in the hospital and medically unable to fast and are also
separated from the communal experience of Ramadan. He said that is something
that Imams often address, how to care for people who are physically unable to
fast. He used the example of new moms who are breastfeeding their babies. He
said the act of feeding takes the place of the fast for them. I thought about that
as I read this passage from Isaiah. The act of feeding another in need, is the
fast. Like with the call from Isaiah to bend your heart toward others as an act
of fast, as an act of devotion to God.
Is that an easy way out? An excuse to not give something up
as an act of sacrifice? Do we just say “I’ll make a donation to the needy” and
go along our way as we blur the line between the Mardi Gras indulgences and the
somber days of Lent? I don’t think so. Because, I don’t see how you can have one
without the other. This passage calls us to share our bread, our house, our clothing.
This requires a sacrifice of something that we have while also being with
others, being part of a community, knowing, hearing and loving our neighbors.
Because when we keep them at arm’s length, we don’t know them, we don’t see
them, we don’t know their needs or the struggles they face.
After these words about sharing food and your house and
your clothing, the prophet says, “If you remove the yoke from among you, the
pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the
hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in
the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.” So … this is how to get God’s
attention. The passage begins as the people are mad that they aren’t getting
from God what they want, and here we learn that by caring for one another, by
sacrificing self-indulgence and seeing your neighbor … that is how to lift the
darkness and “you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose
waters never fail.” You will be nourished. This is the nourishment they seek,
but it comes not from continually filling oneself, but from pouring oneself out
through love.
I think the “pointing of the finger” thing is interesting.
In my New Oxford Annotated Bible, it says the pointing of the finger is “a
gesture of contempt.” Which goes along with the “speaking of evil.” So … the
call is not just to physically be with the neighbor and care for them but to remove
contempt for them. Which … is hard because, let’s face it … people can be
really annoying and mean and condescending and infuriating. And sometimes it
feels like people need a good finger pointing.
But I know that for me, when I feel the most annoyed or
upset by another person, I am the least willing to truly see them, to see their
struggles, their heart, their perspective. And when I am mad or annoyed or
upset by another, the last thing I want is someone telling me to go be with
them, to go be a good neighbor. Instead I want to close that door, walk away
and never have to deal with them again.
But here is our God, out there in the world, in the community,
in the neighbor. God incarnate, God with us, God loving all of creation, each
person made in God’s image. And I wonder … is it possible to know that God,
with a heart closed off to God’s beloved? Perhaps, the call to fast is also a
call to clear our hearts from all of the closed doors, from all of the hardened
paths, from all of the walls we have put in place.
It’s not an easy calling. I think I would rather just avoid
ice cream for 40 days than have to feed others, clothe others, house others …
love others. But this is where God says our souls are watered, this is where
all of us in community are restored, by caring about the other and risking
love.
So as you see the calendar pages turning and the days of
Lent approaching, think of what fast you choose and who you choose it for.
