Loving Each Other>>fasting (Zechariah 7:8-14) Series

Last week, we entered into a new section of Zechariah that runs from chapter 7 through chapter 8. It's often described as a prophetic sermon. Today's verses directly build off of last week's, and the simplest way to launch today, is just to reread our verses from last week. So let's read Zechariah 7:1-7:

(1) And then, in the fourth year of King Darius, the Word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day, of the ninth month, in Kislev,

(2) and Bethel sent Sharezer, and Regem-Melech and his men, to ask a request before the presence/face of Yahweh,

(3) saying to the priests who were at the house of Yahweh of Armies,

and to the prophets, saying,

"Shall I weep in the fifth month [on the anniversary of the first temple's destruction],

doing acts of self-denial just as I have done already for so many years?,"

(4) and the Word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying,

(5) Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying,

"When you fasted, and grieved, in the fifth and seventh month these 70 years, did you actually fast [toward/for] me?,

(6) and when you are eating, and when you are drinking, is it not [for] you, the eating, and [for] you, the drinking? ["you" is focused]

(7) Are [these] not the words that Yahweh proclaimed by the earlier prophets, while Jerusalem [was] inhabited and at ease, and its cities around it, and the Negev and the Shephelah [were] inhabited?"

The city of Bethel sent this group of people to Jerusalem for two reasons: to seek God's favor, and face, and to ask a question. At a surface level, their question revolved around whether they should practicing acts of self-denial-- and specifically, giving up food during the fifth and seventh months, as way to remember the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. At a deeper level, their question reflects an awareness that God seems to be ushering in a new age. The time of judgment and suffering seems like it's over; a time of God's blessings and favor seems to be emerging. And so they are also asking, if they're understanding the situation correctly.

So they send people to the priests and prophets in Jerusalem, to get their answer. And God responds to this request, by giving Zechariah a word for everyone. God wants everyone to know how this particular question should be answered.

But God answers their question indirectly, by asking three questions of them. First, when they fasted, did they actually aim that fasting toward God? And the answer seems to be no. Second, when they ate and drank, didn't they just focus on themselves, rather than eating and drinking toward God? And the answer seems to be "yes." They ate and drank without any thought of God. Third, isn't all of this the type of thing that the earlier prophets had talked about? Is there an answer to their questions, in the old words of prophets like Jeremiah, or Amos, or Micah, or Isaiah?

If you know the old prophets, you should find yourself able to give a beautiful Sunday school answer to all of this. God's people have always seemingly struggled to understand God's priorities. God's people focus on the outer forms of religious practice-- sacrifice, prayer, worship, fasting, weeping. They get this sense that when you do Sunday morning worship type stuff, that you are giving God what He wants most. They think that God must be happy with them, that they must be living in a place of God's favor. They think that when crazy prophets come and warn them about God's coming judgment on them, that those words must be nonsense. Doesn't God love us? Isn't God slow to anger, rich in love, abounding in mercy? Don't we worship God at his temple, the place where He has put His Name, the place where He dwells among us?

Last week, we read a sample from Jeremiah 14, where God addresses this. Let's read a different one this week, from Jeremiah 7:1-15 (NRSV updated no reason):

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah, you who enter these gates to worship the LORD. 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you[a] in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is[b] the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.”

5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, 7 then I will dwell with you[c] in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.