Word to the Wise
Friday, March 11, 2011 - Friday after Ash Wed.
[Isa 58:1-9a and Matt 9:14-15]This, rather is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Isaiah's thundering denunciation of external religious observances that are really hollow gestures should make us wonder. Don't his words sound like the words that Jesus uses in the scene at the end of the Gospel of Matthew - the Last Judgment? [Matthew 25:31-46] They certainly do. Which means that God's standards for true religion are very ancient indeed. Jesus simply calls the attention of his followers to what they should have known all along. Fasting and other religious "observances" are empty if they are not accompanied by justice and mercy. Indeed, Jesus seems to have little use for external acts whose principal purpose is to be visible! The gospel scripture on Ash Wednesday reminded us of that. Today's gospel does the same. However, Isaiah takes center stage today because he goes directly at the issue. It is an uncomfortable one. What good does it do for God to "see" us in church all the time and never "see" us feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, etc? Indeed these acts of justice and mercy can become empty as well if we do them only so that God can "see" us doing them, and not out of love, justice or mercy!
We do not lack models. Francis of Assisi, Martin DePorres, Dorothy Day, Katharine Drexel - the list could go on and on. In short, if we ask ourselves the annual question, "What should I DO for Lent?" Jesus and Isaiah give us a lot of options. The important thing is that once we get started on THOSE options, we need to forget that we are doing them "for Lent" and do them out of justice and mercy long after this Lent is history! AMEN
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