Isaiah 58:1-12

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’”

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?”

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
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?
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.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Isaiah 58:1-12, NIV

I know that was a longer passage than we normally focus on, so I’ll be brief in my reflections. 

What God is telling the people of Israel through His prophet Isaiah is that He does not want vain acts of religiosity from His people. God does not want us to participate in rituals of praise and worship when we are not loving our neighbors. When we participate in various spiritual disciplines, we do not simply follow the letters of God’s law, we do so to follow the heart of God. And the heart of God is one of compassion and deep love for all people. 

It can be scary when we look at Matthew 25:31-46 and see that God separates the sheep from the goats not because of the sheep’s proper doctrine, proper rituals, or the most passionate worship. God separates the sheep from the goats based on how they treated the least of these. This is not to discount the importance of proper theology and doctrine, or any of the other previously mentioned things, but it is to say that those should be manifested in how we treat others. Our Christian practices are empty and vain if they are not leading us to loving our neighbors. As John says:

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

And our brothers and sisters are not simply biological, or even limited to brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that call is held at the same level of loving God. Therefore, let our praise and worship of God, and our devotion to Him, be seen in how we love each other and our neighbors all around us, wherever we may find ourselves.