The kind of fast that pleases me
1 Cry out aloud for all you are worth;
raise your voice like a trumpet blast;
tell my people of their offenses,
Jacob’s family of their sins.
2 Is it true that they seek me
day after day, longing to know my ways,
as a people that does what is right
and has not forsaken the word of its God?
They want to know the just laws
and not to drift away from their God.
3 “Why are we fasting,” they complain,
“and you do not even see it?
We are doing penance and you never notice it.”
Look, on your fast days you push your trade
and you oppress your laborers.
4 Yes, you fast but end up quarreling,
striking each other with wicked blows.
Fasting as you do
will not make your voice heard on high.
5 Is that the kind of fast that pleases me,
just a day to humble oneself?
Is fasting merely bowing down one’s head,
and making use of sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call that fasting,
a day acceptable to Yahweh?
6 See the fast that pleases me:
breaking the fetters of injustice
and unfastening the thongs of the yoke,
setting the oppressed free
and breaking every yoke.
7 Fast by sharing your food with the hungry,
bring to your house the homeless,
clothe the one you see naked
and do not turn away from your own kin.
8 Then will your light break forth as the dawn
and your healing come in a flash.
Your righteousness will be your vanguard,
the Glory of Yahweh your rearguard.
9 Then you will call and Yahweh will answer,
you will cry and he will say, I am here.
If you remove from your midst the yoke,
the clenched fist and the wicked word,
10 if you share your food with the hungry
and give relief to the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the dark,
your night will be like noon.
11 Yahweh will guide you always
and give you relief in desert places.
He will strengthen your bones;
he will make you as a watered garden,
like a spring of water
whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt,
the age-old foundations will be raised.
You will be called the Breach-mender,
and the Restorer of ruined houses.
13 If you stop profaning the sabbath
and doing as you please on the holy day,
if you call the sabbath a day of delight
and keep sacred Yahweh’s holy day,
if you honor it by not going your own way,
not doing as you please
and not speaking with malice,
14 then you will find happiness in Yahweh,
over the heights you will ride triumphantly,
and feast joyfully on the inheritance of your father Jacob you.
The mouth of Yahweh has spoken.
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Comments Isaiah, Chapter 58
• 58.1 Why are we fasting and you do not even see it. The people of Judah fast so that God will hear their petitions. These could be public prayers to ask for rain.
Is it true that they seek me… as a people that does what is right? In spite of having a clear conscience, they are concerned because of God’s silence. They may have committed some sin without knowing it? Perhaps God likes to see humiliated people ask for favors? So, they lie in sackcloth and ashes. They resemble many Christians who are satisfied with being “practicing” Christians without understanding that the kind of practice that God seeks is to give peace to all his people.
Is it perhaps only a matter of bowing the head? God neither wants the death of the sinner nor the humiliation of his creature. God loves people, but he loves them all and not only the little landowners of Judah fearful for their crops; he also loves the laborers and the slaves of these little landholders. God’s de mands are clear: do away with unjust chains and share with the rest.
Unfastening the thongs of the yoke. Here we have a glimpse of the tremendous effort demanded of all in order to do away with every form of slavery: from the small privileges that working companions compete for, to the laws that keep entire groups marginated. It includes breaking the yoke of husbands’ domination over their wives and the disputes between neighbors when no one dares to take the first step.
Unfastening the thongs of the yoke. It is not enough to be converted to God “from the heart,” for conversion comes about by changing both per sons and structures. These make us share in the injustices and sins of the society in which we live. An incredible number of sins – corruption, prostitution, violence – are linked to colonialism and the eco nomic and cultural dependence that go with it.
Sharing your food with the hungry: and that on a world scale for humankind is one, the only Adam of whom Christ is the head.
Your light will break forth as the dawn. We see the leaders of the nations come together, discuss and study in order to solve the urgent problems of humanity. No light breaks forth. It is a known fact that the research of a scientist does not bring him directly to great discoveries. Rather, he often finds the solution suddenly where he did not expect it. In the same way, human problems resist theoretical solutions, but unexpected ways will be found when every nation and every segment of society willingly shares and no longer oppresses others.