“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? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn.” Isaiah 58:6-8

Chapters 40 to 55 in the Book of Isaiah deal with the end of the Babylonian exile (597 - 539 BC) and the new beginning. The people of Israel are freed from slavery and can breathe again. Jerusalem is once again populated with people and they could celebrate religious services again. Everything seems perfect.

But soon the mood swings again. At least with some people. The prophet Isaiah takes a critical look at the illusory façade of perfection: social tensions and cold-heartedness have again become the everyday norm. The problem is not that people have forgotten to worship God. They fast and celebrate services. But only for themselves. For their religious feeling, not looking upwards. Not with their eyes on their neighbour.

Isaiah questions this religious practice. He shows what the real meaning of fasting is for God. At the same time, the prophet makes a promise: those who find their way back to real fasting will experience the nearness of God like never before. Isaiah‘s message is that God cannot be found where people expect to find him – in religious services, in fasting or in prayer. The greatest nearness to God that Isaiah can imagine is by practising justice. Wherever there is a community without injustice. God is there where people look after the needy, where they provide shelter for the homeless and justice for the disenfranchised. That is where God will be and that is where there will be light.

How could we not understand these words as a questioning of the way we practice our faith? If we take this passage from Isaiah seriously, the greatest challenge to the way we practice our faith at the moment must be to ask how we can celebrate worship services while other people are starving. While people have no access to medicine. While people end up in prison because they expressed their opinions.

For Isaiah, the nearness to God lies in acting on behalf of one‘s neighbour. Justice comes first, then come religious rituals and worship. Can we say the same about our churches? I honestly don’t know what a church of justice modelled on Isaiah would look like. I don‘t want to do without church services. I need people to join me in thinking about what a church of justice would look like. What needs to be changed so we can move nearer to Isaiah‘s vision. Nearer to God. 

Isaiah describes where the path of justice leads. Those who allow themselves to be led by justice will find more than they need. When people stand up for justice, that’s when they themselves will not want for anything. Isaiah is convinced of this. And so am I.