( Sermon Isaiah 58:1-9a ) [ German Sermon ] [ Announcements (German)497.32 KB ]
Dear congregation, today the paraments are still green; from next Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, they will be purple, the start of the Passion season. A time to be more focussed during quiet time, to reflect on one's life and maybe even fast - 7 weeks without sugar, meat, alcohol, social media. What would be good for me? Maybe you have already thought about it, maybe not yet. Then the sermon text is a good starting point to think about it again. We hear from Isaiah, who proclaims the will of God.
Isaiah 58:1-9a
Dear congregation, clearly there is wrong fasting and there is correct fasting. The people to whom Isaiah is speaking here on behalf of God are obviously doing it wrong. Their situation is as follows: The captivity of the Israelites in Babylon had come to an end. After decades of foreign rule and life in exile, peace finally returned to Israel. At least on the outside. Life went on as usual. Some had even achieved some prosperity, but others also suffered hardship and became dependent. People were considering rebuilding the Temple and the city walls of Jerusalem, and everyone was trying to make ends meet as best they could.
Everyone is trying to make ends meet. Sounds kind of familiar to me right now. Every country is trying to make ends meet somehow, to get vaccines, to get the numbers down, everyone is trying to cope in the family with home schooling, with economic hardship, with lack of childcare. Making ends meet. Day after day. Sometimes a feeling emptiness fills our whole being.
The Israelites lacked vision, they had no hope for the future, they lacked enthusiasm. God seemed so far away.
Therefore, some tried pious rituals to make sure that God was nearby. "If I fast and go in sackcloth and ashes, God must be merciful to me," some said to themselves, "then he must be kind to me and help me succeed”. But God apparently remained distant, and the people complained, "Why are we fasting, and you God, don't even see it?"
Isaiah is angry: "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today."
And in the name of God, he asked: " Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?” Is God supposed to be pleased with what you are doing?
God is different: He does not like this kind of worship. He is not vain or conceited and takes no pleasure in a service that has no impact during the week. Some people go to church and leave unchanged, continue to do their business, continue to talk as if there were no God. Without Christian charity. Without seeing others. No self-reflection on what I am doing to others and to the world with my actions and what I say.
I tell you what God delights in, Isaiah rants: a fast in which you release those you have yoked with wrongdoing. Release those you oppress. Break your bread with the hungry, provide the poor wanderer with shelter, clothe the naked and do not turn away from your flesh and blood.
For this is what Isaiah has already called out to the Israelites: when you do it right:
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
When you finally understand that everything is connected to everything else, you to God and you to each other.
It is wonderfully fitting that today is not only Estomihi Sunday, but also Valentine's Day. The name day of St. Valentine; day of lovers; day of love.
A brief background: St. Valentine is said to have given roses to the lovers he saw beyond the walls of the monastery. And although this gesture was rather small, it has survived the ages. Valentine, who was also a bishop and martyr of today's Terni in Umbria, Italy, lived and died in 269 AD. The reason for his execution on 14 February is also known despite a ban because he married lovers in a Christian way. It is also said that Valentine gave flowers from his garden to newly married couples. St. Valentine wanted to express his appreciation for lovers and for love.
Love comes from God. God is love. And where there is love, there is God. Where is God? The Israelites asked that too. God, where are you and how can I get close to you? Isn't that also the question during Passion and Lent?
Behold, here I am, says God. God cannot be closer to us than He already is.
Those who care for their neighbour - even those they do not choose themselves - are surrounded by God. "Here I am", God will say - and what more could we want? Whoever wants to find God will find him in his service to others. Whoever wants to be light in the world becomes it by taking care of his neighbour. Care means closeness to God, Isaiah says. And he says it so beautifully that one just wants to set out on this path, on the path of love for others. Yes, it is sometimes arduous, but the gain is priceless. The gain is God's care for me.
Maybe it does not have to be 7 weeks without, but rather 7 weeks with:
- Quiet time just for me
- A change of perspective towards my neighbour
- Connectedness with each other
- Renunciation to give something to others
Dear congregation, I believe that this is one of the benefits of such a time of Lent: the realisation that “Truly rich is not he who has much, but he who gives much”.
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Upon that lies the blessing:
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
Prayer
God, we seek you and often do not find you.
Change our line of vision towards our neighbour.
Let us share without the fear of falling short ourselves.
Let us care for our fellow human beings with love.
Let us sense your presence close to us. Wherever we are.
Show us the way to LIFE in these weeks.
Amen