Repentance and Renewal
Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 103
II Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Tim
Christoffersen
St. Anselm’s
Ash Wednesday
February 13,
2002
Let
me ask you to put yourself, as best you can, in the shoes of those who are
addressed by God and the prophet Isaiah in the reading we just heard. Listen
again to some of those words spoken to them and see if it doesn’t make
you a little uncomfortable.
The prophet quotes the people’s own words back to them: Why do we
fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?
He then goes on and says, "Is such the fast that I choose, a day to
humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth
and ashes?"
In a few minutes, most of us will be kneeling here to have a cross of ashes
marked on our foreheads. Still comfortable?
So what is the prophet Isaiah, speaking God’s words, saying? I believe
he is saying the people are rebellious toward God and they are serving only
their own self-interest. They are a little arrogant and expect God to notice
their piety and their humble manner.
We hear a closely related theme in Jesus’ words in Matthew. "Beware
of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then
you have no reward from your Father in heaven." And when you fast, Jesus
says, "do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their
faces so as to show others that they are fasting."
Jesus’ words could easily apply to those addressed by Isaiah who fast
and complain that God does not notice. Is there a way in which Jesus’
words might also apply to us here today? In Jesus’ day organized religion
or the ‘church’ centered on the Temple, the priests, teachers, scribes
and the ritual of sacrifices. Jesus’ followers remained within the religious
community but they heard and saw a new message in Jesus’ teachings and
healings.
One of the important teachings was that the individual person would be spiritually
transformed by true repentance. God would create a new heart in you and you
would be renewed to live a new life.
There is a deep connection between a penitent heart and a renewed life. Let’s
go back to the words of Isaiah. The prophet, speaking God’s words, says
to the people: "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds
of injustice… to let the oppressed go free…to share your bread with
the hungry…to bring the homeless into your house…and not to hide
yourself from your relatives."
It is clear Isaiah is saying fasting or repenting in ‘sackcloth and ashes’
is meaningless, is just indulging in self adulation, is just "feel good"
religion, unless it results in action to serve those in need or suffering
injustice. God’s choice of fast is what meets the needs of others.
The admonition to "not hide yourself from your own relatives" strikes
closest to home for me. I can look back to situations in my earlier years
with an uncle in jail, another uncle in a mental hospital and some nasty family
quarrels. I never visited either uncle and contributed little to the resolution
of family quarrels.
Most of us live in isolation from direct personal impact of homelessness,
poverty or injustice. But few of us are insulated from family situations from
which we might well want to hide or insulate ourselves. I think of Jesus’
words in Matthew a few verses after the end of today’s reading. Jesus
says, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that
your brother has something against you, leave your gift there…and first
go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."
The word ‘brother’ here does not literally mean your blood brother,
but it certainly applies to a relative as well as any other person. And I
believe the phrase ‘your brother has something against you’ includes
our ‘hiding’ or ‘turning away’ from a difficult relationship
with a parent, a child or any relative.
I believe it is really easy for us to lose sight of or miss the deep connection
between true repentance and being forgiven, on the one hand, and a new heart
and a new life, on the other hand. We see the connection in Isaiah where God’s
choice of fast is what meets the needs of others.
In the last verses from our reading in Matthew, we see the kind of reward
that true repentance produces. Responding to the needs of others is not an
earthly treasure. You cannot measure it by your bank account, the kind of
car you drive or even the kind of recognition offered by our contemporary
culture. I believe it is a treasure in heaven, where as Jesus says, "neither
moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal."
True repentance and accepting in our hearts that Christ died for our sins
and God forgives us will lead to a new heart, a new life and a new Spirit.
And that new Spirit will lead us to store up treasures in heaven.
For in confessing our sins and truly repenting of them, we will experience
God’s love for us and we will know in our heart that "where [our]
treasure is, there will be [our] heart also.".
AMEN.
