A Relationship or a Money Sacrifice? Isaiah 1

A text – Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

1:1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
1:11 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.
1:12 When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more;
1:13 bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation– I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
1:14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.
1:15 When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
1:16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
1:17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
1:18 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.
1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
1:20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

A reflection:

Isaiah was writing when the Hebrews had long been established as a nation. Their culture and customs had been codified. They had institutions for government and for religion. They had a calendar and festivals and books of stories that they rallied around that made them a true nation. They had certain foods that they ate at certain times. And they had rituals for everything that had to do with God. Their rites were well known, and to be a good Jew, you observed the customs and fulfilled the rites.

What did God think of the nation that God had established through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God had liberated from captivity though Moses and Joshua, that God had brought to the promised land at great cost to everyone? God was the doer of all those action verbs. God had made them happen.

God loves to be in relationship one-on-one with human beings. We see it with Abraham, with Moses, and with the prophets and the judges, and with John the Baptist and with Jesus. So what does God thinks of a nation who observes holidays and religious celebrations by making the appropriate sacrifice for the occasion or paying for participation in their religion? God loves people. God craves their belief, their trust, their love. God loves them, more than their money, their sacrifice, and their observances.

How might we show God we want a true relationship, a believing, trusting relationship with the One who makes and keeps promises to us?

A prayer:

Dear God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for keeping your promises to us every day. Help us to find ways to let you know that we love our relationship with you and that we believe in you. Amen.