Advent Day 1: Do Right, Seek Justice (Isaiah 1:10-17)

 

Isaiah 1:10-17 (NIV)

Hear the word of the Lord,

    you rulers of Sodom;

listen to the instruction of our God,

    you people of Gomorrah!

“The multitude of your sacrifices—

    what are they to me?” says the Lord.

“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,

    of rams and the fat of fattened animals;

I have no pleasure

    in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

When you come to appear before me,

    who has asked this of you,

    this trampling of my courts?

Stop bringing meaningless offerings!

    Your incense is detestable to me.

New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—

    I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals

    I hate with all my being.

They have become a burden to me;

    I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands in prayer,

    I hide my eyes from you;

even when you offer many prayers,

    I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

Wash and make yourselves clean.

    Take your evil deeds out of my sight;

    stop doing wrong.

Learn to do right; seek justice.

    Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

    plead the case of the widow.

I don't know if we can ever really understand how scathing these verses would be to a Jew at the time Isaiah made this prophecy.  In Genesis 19 the story of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah show people that were incredibly evil wanting to rape guests (undercover angels) that had come to visit their towns.

Now Isaiah is saying that God's own people are worse offenders than Sodom and Gomorrah!  They are worse than people who wanted to abuse and rape guests who are weak and have very little, if any, protection!

Yet, God's people had deluded themselves into thinking that everything was OK.  That they were alright with God because they offered all the appropriate sacrifices that God had commanded them to make (see Exodus-Deuteronomy).  They were "going through the motions" and thought that was enough.  Their hearts did not actually trust, love, and fear God.  They did not actually want to live their daily lives the way that God wanted.

So this might be a bit heavy for the first post of Advent!  But besides this being the first chapter of Isaiah, this is probably the best place to start in preparing our own hearts for the coming of Jesus.  When we live our lives "going through the motions"  and our hearts are not in tune with God we begin to do things that are incredibly destructive, sometimes without even realizing it!  

We fail to see how we might be hurting those around us.  Maybe we lash out and are easy to criticize people at work?  Maybe we act as if our spouse significant other only serves the purpose to give "me" pleasure and fulfill "my" life?  Maybe we take advantage of our friends always taking more and more from them, but never showing faithfulness and love in return? 

Or maybe, when our hearts are not in tune with God, we do not see how our decisions to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on bright and shiny new gadgets and gizmos for Christmas could actually be hurting us and others.  We might miss that even a little of that money we spent on the cool, new Christmas toy when shared could drastically change the lives of people living in poverty in our communities and around the world.  

The issue is our hearts.  Do we actually care about what God cares about?  Or are we going through the motions expecting God to bless our desire and do we what we want?  That is not a relationship with a loving God.  That is using and abusing the God who created us, all of us.

Instead, God has blessed each of us in unique ways to bear and reflect His image by doing righteousness, justice and loving others. 

So this Advent, pray that God would help you prepare for the coming of our King by doing what God asks in Isaiah 1:17...

"Learn to do right; seek justice.

  Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

  plead the case of the widow."

Lord, You desire justice, mercy and righteous.  In your mercy you sent your Son to show us how much you love us and want all your creation to be reconciled to you.  Teach us your ways, so that we might do what is right and show us the ways of justice that we might defend those who are oppressed and care for those in need.  Transform our hearts to not merely go through the motions, but to love you with our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Amen.