“Empty rituals”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, November 28, 2022
Isaiah 1:10-20 (Forward, p. 30) CEV p. 695
Here, in today’s passage, God seems almost counter-intuitive, almost counter ‘religion’, going against, it would seem, the very things that He has previously ordered. After all, are not animal and other sacrifices the very heart of Jewish corporate and individual worship? However, it would seem that God is interested in far more than the mere practice of religion, the mere mechanics of it. He is interested in the heart, yes, but even more, He is interested in what lies behind the worship. It is a question of whether the worship truly represents a surrender of one’s life, activities and agendas over to God, as evidenced by the lives they leave. In today’s case, the evil they do, the violence they participate in, the depraved living that is part and parcel of their lifestyle and their easy acceptance of injustice towards the most vulnerable in that society—the widows and orphans—says eloquently that God is not really being honoured by their worship. It is all an empty show, a meaningless ritual.
Interestingly, Jesus says the same kind of thing in the New Testament, this time to do with prayer. The Pharisees are guilty of long, wordy, public prayers, but it is all ‘for show.’ Their prayers are not really an expression of the heart, an expression of their love and devotion towards God. Instead, they are simply meant to impress others. And so, they too, are condemned.
But, fortunately, this is not the end of the story. The latter part of today’s section from Isaiah invites people to return to the Lord and repent of their ways. If they return to God and obey Him, even their more heinous sins, their most indelible misdeeds (here likened to the indelible, lasting stain produced by scarlet dye), can be bleached out totally and become as white as newly fallen snow or wool. So, yes, their worship can once again become meaningful, and become a testament to what their lives are really about.
Somehow, all of this seems quite relevant to this newly inaugurated season of Advent, when we are invited to become more intentional and disciplined in our devotions. It serves as a cautionary tale, namely that they need to be sincere, from the heart, and not simply a pious or expected exercise. Amen.
Forward notes: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats” (verse 11).
“There is a passage in Homer’s Odyssey, where Odysseus’s men act in direct opposition to the will of the gods. They choose to kill and eat the sacred cattle belonging to Helios, the sun god. To cover their crime, they plan to offer a sacrifice of the best of the cattle, as though giving back to the god what was already his would allay his wrath.
“Scripture teaches us that obedience is better than sacrifice. Nothing good in our lives—peace, health, relationships, even tangible wealth—is truly our own. We are entitled to nothing. These blessings are ultimately divine gifts. And while we should hold them loosely, we do God no favours, earn no credits, by offering back what is already truly God’s. The one gift I have to offer is my obedience, freely asked for and freely given.”
Moving Forward: “What gifts of obedience do you bring this Advent?”