The Gospel According to Isaiah, Part 4:
God’s Call for Justice
Isaiah 1:16-26
March 18, 2012
Rev. Stephen Aram
Probably most of us have heard people speaking about their faith as a very private thing, something you feel in your heart, something you don’t talk about. Sometimes you hear politicians say that they have a deep personal faith in God, but they assure us they won’t let their religion have any influence on the decisions they make in office. Corporate executives are expected to toe the line of maximizing profits above all else and not worrying about the impact that their decisions have on society. And they face stockholder lawsuits if they stray. Social commentator, Glen Beck said just some months ago that if you are in a church and he pastor talks about social justice, get out of that church. He felt that talk of social justice has no place in church.
For our scripture text this morning we are still in Isaiah chapter 1. Will we ever get out of chapter 1? It takes 66 chapters to save all of Isaiah’s writings; will we ever get out of chapter 1? Yes, we’ll break out of chapter 1 next week. But chapter 1 introduces many of the themes that are developed in the following 65 chapters, so I’m happy to hang out there for a while.
Our scripture lesson is Isaiah 1:16-26. After I read it, you tell me whether Isaiah saw religion as an inward thing, related to the realms of personal feelings, or whether he saw religion as something that impacts all of life and even includes social justice. Now hear the word of God from Isaiah 1:16-26.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
21 How the faithful city has become a whore! She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her -- but now murderers! 22 Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water. 23 Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow's cause does not come before them.
24 Therefore says the Sovereign, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes! 25 I will turn my hand against you; I will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. 26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
Last week we talked about God’s complaint against the people of Judah, which was a very personal complaint. They were his kids and he wanted them to love him, but they were rebelling and getting themselves into trouble and he really wanted them to come back.
But I hope you heard that for God, being a Christian can never stop with just a heart relationship with God. It also includes right relationships with our fellow human beings.
And this morning I want to look quickly at 5 commands in verse 17 that make that concrete.
God told the people of Israel to “learn to do good.” In the New Testament the apostle Paul repeatedly told the early Christians to do good works, and when he specifies what he’s talking about, often the context is clearly the good work of sharing with others in need. That’s a Christianity that goes beyond feeling good and secure inside. It’s a Christianity that reaches out for others.
Then, also in verse 17, Isaiah tells the people of Judah to “seek justice.” Now there are a lot of different ways of defining justice.
There’s a kind of justice that says, “I’ve got mine, and nobody’s going to take it from me.” And we believe in protecting property rights. We are against theft. That’s a sort of a start to justice.
But Isaiah tells the people of Judah, and he tells us, too, that we need to go beyond that. “I’ve got mine” justice can be content to look at a kid whose lost his parents, and maybe feel sorry for the kid, but feels no obligation to help. And that’s no justice at all. It’s not fair to that kid at all. The kid has very little chance in life. The kid is really hurting inside. Justice shouts out to us, “When the parents aren’t there, we need to help that kid.”
“I’ve got mine” justice can build a really nice life for itself, but it takes no responsibility for others. Isaiah tells us that justice is about more than me. And our responsibilities in life never stop with just me.
Isaiah calls for a kind of justice that watches for the oppressed, those who are held down. And what are we supposed to do when we see them? Are we supposed to feel sorry for them? Are we supposed to analyze whose fault it is that they are in that shape? Are we supposed to argue about whose job it is to help them, the government, the church, business or private charity? Isaiah doesn’t let those arguments distract him. What do we do if we see someone oppressed? Rescue them.
And who is that talking about? The idea is someone who is weighed down, held down, doesn’t have a fair chance.
When we lived in Oak Lawn, on the edge of Chicago I had friends from black churches in neighborhoods where the schools were terrible, where even those who endured to graduation were not equipped to compete for good jobs. I’m proud of the work that the United Methodist Church does in those neighborhoods with food pantries to help those kids get a proper diet, tutoring programs to give them a chance at a decent education. And we need to work to even out the school funding in Illinois so that all children get a chance at a quality education. We are shooting ourselves in the foot as a state when we allow millions of kids to graduate from high school who are not prepared to support themselves as adults.
When the BUMYs did the Thirty Hour Famine we saw people trying to make a living in Bangladesh, where the Ganges River floods a third of the country in many years, were crops can be really good if the river leaves you alone, but because it keeps flooding it’s just about impossible to ever get ahead. We learned about people in Zambia where Malaria has run wild and no matter how hard you work, you or someone in your family is going to come down sick and it will keep you from working because you are sick or because you have to take your child to the hospital. I’m so proud that we raised, now it’s $850 for World Vision, to rescue the oppressed. I’m proud of UMCOR for the work it does in poor countries.
If we’re talking about people who are oppressed, how about the people whose homes and businesses were wiped out by tornados 2 weeks ago? UMCOR is there. FEMA will carry the bulk of the assistance, but UMCOR is great about finding the people who fall between the cracks and for sending in teams long after the immediate emergency to help people rebuild. UMCOR goes straight to the United Methodist Churches who have been on the spot, who know the needs, who know who is hurting, so it can do the most good.
Isaiah gives another example of what biblical justice looks like by calling us to defend the orphan. What theory of justice in this world could say “I’ve got mine, too bad about that orphan”?
Today Africa has some 12 million children who have lost their parents to AIDS. How big a number is 12 million orphans? Take the entire population of Chicago, 2.7 million, and then add the entire population of Chicago again, this time with the suburban area, reaching into far across Illinois, and into Wisconsin and Indiana, 9.8 million. That’s about how many children are AIDS orphans in Africa today. What chance do they have as orphans in villages where there isn’t much hope for kids who have both parents? What justice would there be in a world that does nothing to defend those children? Well, thank God for organizations like World Vision and UMCOR and many others who are there. And let’s do all we can to help them.
But there are a lot of vulnerable children in our area, too. What about kids whose parents are failing them or even abusing them so badly that the court needs to take them out of their home? We have dedicated social workers to help them, but as budgets have been cut their ability to give the kids the support they need is really, really stretched.
I’m really proud that our congregation supports CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, who support an advocate for children who have had to be taken under the protection of the courts. It is so important that we send money each year to make it possible and we have had volunteers who meet with the kids.
When we support United Voices for Children with an offering 4 times a year, we are defending the orphans. I’ve visited a very nice residential facility run by Childserv that cares for children in the foster system who have had problems living in private homes or are between foster homes, or perhaps in families that are too big for one foster family to take in. I saw a really nice facility with staff who really cared. That’s the defending of the orphan that Isaiah was talking about.
Right now our nation is in a major crisis as we have spent a whole lot more money out of the national treasury than we could afford and we are desperately looking for places to economize. Let’s remember that Isaiah calls us, that God calls us through Isaiah, to defend the orphans. And I think it’s fair to expand that to include children who have parents, but parents who can’t provide proper nutrition or proper medical care for their children. And in all the talk of needing to cut our government deficits, too often it is programs to defend vulnerable children that people want to cut. I think that should be the last place we cut.
And, finally, Isaiah tells us to plead for the widow. Isaiah lived long before social security, in a time when women may not have even had clear property rights. And if their husband died they could be in big trouble. Today our government has stepped in with social security and Medicare and they really, really help.
But any sense of justice calls us to watch out for our widows, to comfort them as they grieve, to support them as they may struggle with maintaining their homes, to visit them when they are lonely.
This morning I want to affirm, with Isaiah, that our faith is not just an inward, personal thing. Our God is very concerned that we “do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” AMEN
As a response to God’s commands from our passage in Isaiah, I invite you to join me in our affirmation of faith, The World Methodist Social Affirmation:
ONE: We believe in God, creator of the world and of all people;
And in Jesus Christ, incarnate among us,
Who died and rose again;
And in the Holy Spirit, present with us to guide, strengthen, and comfort.
ALL: We believe; God, help our unbelief.
ONE: We rejoice in every sign of God’s kingdom:
In the upholding of human dignity and community;
In every expression of love, justice, and reconciliation;
In each act of self-giving on behalf of others;
In the abundance of God’s gifts entrusted to us that all may have enough;
In all responsible use of the earth’s resources.
ALL: Glory be to God on high;
And on earth, peace.
ONE: We confess our sin, individual and collective,
By silence or action:
Through the violation of human dignity based on race, class, age, sex, nation or faith;
Through the exploitation of people because of greed and indifference;
Through the misuse of power in personal, communal, national, and international life;
Through the search for security by those military and economic forces that threaten human existence;
Through the abuse of technology which endangers the earth and all life upon it.
ALL: Lord, have mercy;
Christ, have mercy;
Lord, have mercy.
ONE: We commit ourselves, individually and as a community to the way of Christ:
To take up the cross;
To seek abundant life for all humanity;
To struggle for peace with justice and freedom;
To risk ourselves in faith, hop, and love, praying that God’s kingdom may come
ALL: Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen
