ISAIAH 58 COMMENTARY

A little less than a year ago, several months removed from the earthquake that devastated Haiti, a team from National Community Church that included both myself and my soon-to-be wife sat in a Miami airport waiting for their connecting flight to Haiti.  Last night I was vividly brought back to this moment as I was reading through Walter Brueggemann’s Journey to the Common Good.  While waiting for that connecting flight I happened to be reading through the 58^th chapter of Isaiah.  I remember reading verses 11 and 12 with amazement.  “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame…your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”  My thought as I read these words were, “This is exactly what we are going to do.”  In retrospect, I believe this was a grandiose dream.  How much can a dozen people lacking carpentry skills accomplish in a week’s time?  In fact we did not “raise up the age-old foundations.”  We were not called “Repairer of Broken Walls” nor “Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”  We did help protect a school from erosion and helped some villages have access to clean drinking water.  However, what I walked away with or had reinforced from the trip was that people living in incredibly poor and dire circumstances tend to have more love and joy than what I experience in my homeland: the United States.

I don’t believe it was coincidence that Brueggemann’s book brought me back to this chapter in Isaiah.  Frankly, I really struggle reading the prophets or any poetry really.  Journey to the Common Good has brought the prophet Isaiah to life for me.  While my reading of Isaiah 58 sitting in that Miami airport was appropriate for the circumstances I believe another reading of the chapter as a whole provides insights and concepts that are paramount to my reading in the Miami airport.

I want to give an analysis of the 58^th chapter of Isaiah, which of course mostly relies on ideas and commentary found in Brueggemann’s Journey to the Common Good.  I wanted to give a quick overview of the book before proceeding.  The main theme of Journey to the Common Good is neighborliness.  Brueggemann uses the Pharaoh story from Exodus and the prophet Jeremiah to juxtapose two opposing triadic ideologies/narratives for society.  The first triad is wisdom, wealth, and might.  The second: steadfast love, justice, and righteousness.  Brueggeman writes that “One is a triad of death because it violates neighborliness.  The other is a triad of life because it coheres with YHWH’s best intention for all of creation” (p. 65).  Brueggemann argues that the triad of wisdom, wealth and might produces a narrative of scarcity while the triad of steadfast love, justice and righteousness produces a narrative of abundance.  The Pharaohic regime found in Exodus is one based on scarcity.   And our current regime in the U.S. is also based on scarcity.  The time is now to move toward a narrative of abundance.

The entire 58^th chapter of Isaiah is devoted to the act of fasting and what true fasting really is and/or should be.  The chapter opens with God declaring to “shout” the rebellion of his people; let them know their short comings.

‘Shout it aloud, do not hold back.  Raise your voice like a trumpet.  Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.  For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God.  They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.’ (vs. 1-2 emphasis mine)

The word “seem” in verses one and two indicate a pretense on the part of Israel.  In other words their fasting is an outward display.  God then moves on to quote his people’s complaint.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it?  Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ (vs. 3)

Verse three continues with God’s response demonstrating how Israel’s fasting uses a wealth and might narrative.

‘Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.  Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.  You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.  Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself?  Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?  Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?’ (vs 3-6)

God then reframes the fast into the narrative of steadfast love, justice and righteousness.

‘Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer shelter—when you see the naked to clothe him and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?’ (vs. 6-7)

What are the results if one fasts with this new narrative that God has proclaimed?

 ‘Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.  Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.’ (vs. 8-9)

In other words, if we live in the narrative of steadfast love, justice and righteousness we will draw near to God and God will draw near to us. 

God then uses an “if then” statement demonstrating that the use of might is not called for but the use of justice is.

‘If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing fingers and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.’ (vs. 9-10 emphasis mine)

We are now back at the verses that I pondered in amazement while waiting for the connecting flight to Port Au Prince, Haiti.  Looking back it is apparent that I was approaching my trip to Haiti from the wrong narrative.  Living in the U.S., it is easy to live in the narrative of wisdom, wealth, and might which is where I was a year ago.  If I am completely honest I am still living within that much-maligned narrative, but reading the first ten versus of Isaiah 58 rather than just verses 11 and 12 has showed me the error of my ways and I am prayerfully pursuing a transformation to a narrative of steadfast love, justice, and  righteousness.

WISDOM FOUND IN LOVE AT LAST SIGHT

It was about a year ago that both my wife and I picked up Kerry and Chris Shook’s One Month to Live.  After we finished reading it we both agreed that we were not very challenged by it.  If I were to have written a review of One Month to Live a year ago I am sure it would not have been that positive. So when I went on Water Brook Multnomah’s website to choose a free book for the purpose of doing a review I was reluctant to pick Love at Last Sight because it was by the same authors as One Month to Live.  However, that is exactly what I did.

Before I discuss some of my thoughts on Love at Last Sight I would like to share some thoughts on One Month to Live because doing so will help frame what I have to say about Love at Last sight. 

One Month to Live focuses on a concept that really did not gain popularity or come into sharp focus until the printing press—individual salvation.  Prior to the printing press scripture needed to be discussed in communities, that is, individuals did not sit down with their own Bible that they just picked up from the local bookstore and read scripture—the clergy interpreted it for them.  This paradigm of individualism reached its apogee in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  I am certainly a child of the 20^th century and became a follower of Christ within the individual-salvation paradigm.  Recently however, I have begun to drift away from this paradigm thanks mostly to the Emergent Movement.  I certainly believe that there is importance in salvation and the individual.  However, our society tends to focus on this to the exclusion of community—we focus so much on ourselves that we neglect those around us.  Sadly, this is true for both Christianity and society in general. One Month to Live is written within the paradigm of individualism and while I believe there are some useful ideas and concepts that one can commit to, I believe the time is now for us to give community a seat at the table with individualism.  By community I mean how we can involve ourselves in the mess of other people’s lives.

Personally, I am pretty good at the individualism thing and pretty bad at the community thing.   Love at Last Sight is a book that is all about community; about how we involve ourselves in the lives of our family and friends.  One main theme of the book is the contrast of “love at first sight” with “love at last sight”. “The concept of love at first sight permeates our music, movies, television, and books.  What we learn as children and continue to believe as adults is that a fairy-tale relationship somehow just happens...I don’t believe in love at first sight; I believe in love at last sight” (p. 6-7) .

While the book does not come right out and say it, it is apparent that love at first sight generally is derived from selfishness while love at last sight is derived from selflessness. 

Love at first sight says, “I’ll love you until…” Until you turn forty.  Until you become too much trouble. Until I feel differently.

Love at last sight says, “I’ll love you even when…”  Even when you’re sick.  Even when helping you is difficult for me.  Even when your eyes dim and your skin sags.  Even when you wrong me (p. 55).

Love at Last Sight challenged me.  The Shook’s suggestions and applications are not easy, but they are God-centered and will provide opportunities for growth and meaning in the beautiful mess of your life and the mess of the lives of your family and friends. 

I would like to include a quick post script.  My previous blog entry was a direct result of reading this book.  I would like to thank Chris and Kerry for this wonderful book and the change it has made in my life.  My wife and I are planning to lead a small group with our church this fall using Love at Last Sight--it may be the best book I have read this year!

CHOOSING GROWTH MEANS CHOOSING DISCOMFORT

Several weeks ago our housemate, Chris, told us that he may need to move out much sooner than the October time frame that we had originally agreed upon when he moved in.  He also stated that he would have more information in several weeks.  Last Friday Helene and I were watching ‘Knight and Day’ when Chris politely interrupted us to say that he will indeed be leaving on May first.  To put it mildly Helene and I were not at all excited about this news.  However, as the conversation went down Friday evening, Helene and I both expressed how happy we were for Chris that he had gotten the unpaid internship that he was hoping to get while neglecting to express the sense of betrayal that we both felt for Chris breaking his agreement to stay with us through October.

I must say that if there is one area of our marriage that Helene and I need to grow in it is in confronting conflict.  Both of us pretty much run from conflict whenever we are given the chance.  Thankfully, we are both aware of this—I believe being aware of the issue accounts for half the battle.  With that said it was not difficult for us both to realize that this running away or avoidance of conflict is exactly what both of us were doing with our situation with Chris.  After Helene and I finished watching the movie we both agreed that we should reopen the dialogue with Chris for a number of reasons.  We believed it was not fair to ourselves to not express how we really felt to Chris.  Moreover, if we considered Chris to be a true friend we also believed that it was not fair for Chris to not know how we felt; Helene and I both discussed the strong possibility of growing resentments at the prospect of having to pay additional rent, searching for a new housemate, and/or searching for a new place to live.

So, the decision to reopen the dialogue was made.  I must say that was the easy part.  I remember the lump in my stomach as I walked upstairs knowing that I would need to initiate a conversation that could be contentious in nature.  Initiating and then having the conversation was really difficult.

Once upstairs I noticed that Chris was in his room with the door closed.  However, I did notice that the light was still on; I remember thinking that I wish the light was out which would have made it really easy to make an excuse about not wanting to wake Chris up and that we could just discuss this tomorrow.  Furthermore, I remember Helene asking me if I wanted to knock on his door to see if he could talk.  My emphatic answer to Helene’s question was, “No.”  However, I also remember adding to that response, “However, what I want to do and what I should do are two separate things and knocking and asking Chris to talk some more is what I should do.”  So, I did what I should do and asked Chris if we could reopen our conversation from earlier that evening.

What transpired from this conversation was an awkward openness and sharing from all three of us.  Jesus is quoted as saying, “The truth shall set you free.”  Neither Helene’s nor my motivation for wanting  to reopen the dialogue with Chris was to get him to change his mind, but to simply share what was on our hearts and how we felt about the decision that Chris had made to move out.  Helene and I did that as openly and as honestly as we possibly could.  I must say that it was a very uncomfortable thing for me to do and it was difficult as well.  Afterwards though, I felt free and I was able to truly love Chris instead of harboring resentments toward him--there is irony in the fact that sometimes the things that will give us freedom and help us grow are the things that are the most difficult.

When I discussed doing a blog entry about this with Helene, she mentioned that we just had our side of it.  We really had no idea what was going through Chris’ mind and hearts with respect to our conversation.  My wife brought up a really good point.  After asking Chris if he could share his thoughts on our conversation he graciously agreed to write a brief summary of it.  I would like to close with what Chris wrote:

I stood outside of the TV room for a minute or two, just staring at the door. I knew that on the other side, Steve and Helene were enjoying a movie. And I also knew that what I had to tell them would probably put a damper on their evening. But I finally mustered up the courage to poke my head through the door, and politely ask if I could interrupt their movie to talk to them. They agreed, so I shuffled in and plopped down on the couch, gave them the “good” news first (I got a job) and the worse news second (I would have to move out). To my great surprise, they seemed supportive, even relieved that I would have a job this summer. The conversation didn’t last very long, and as I left the room, I couldn’t help but think, “That was almost too easy…” My suspicions were deepened when I didn’t hear the movie resume for several minutes afterward, and then later confirmed when I heard Steve knock on my door later that evening. I knew exactly what was going to happen next, and I knew the next few minutes of my life were going to be painfully awkward at best. But in the end, we all walked away feeling a lot better. I think the big thing I took away from the evening is that there’s more to “loving thy neighbor” than just being a nice guy. Sometimes, you have to be lovingly (even brutally) honest, and as Christians, it’s our responsibility to not only love each other, but to love each other enough to tell one another when we’re upset. I think it’s clear throughout the Bible that Jesus had no problem rebuking His disciples – be He did it because He loved them. If we truly seek to model Christ’s behavior, we need to learn to be honest with each other, even about the hard stuff, like sharing our frustrations with each other. By following Jesus’ example of being intentional and embracing the awkwardness of conflict, we grow closer to God, and in doing so, we not only grow ourselves spiritually, but we grow in our relationships with others. It’s uncomfortable and difficult… But is it not difficult for a seed to struggle through the soil it is buried under? And yet, if it failed to struggle through to the surface, it would never grow into a tree. Now there’s a lesson that everyone can learn from.