5th Sunday After Epiphany
Feb. 8, 2026
Isaiah 58:1-12
Lent is right around the corner and some of you may have already decided what you will “give up” for Lent, what you will fast from. It seems to me, and I don’t have any scientific evidence of this, but Episcopalians seem to have an inordinate propensity to give up chocolate for Lent. And so I’ve always wondered if Episcopalians therefore eat more chocolate on a regular basis.
The prophet Isaiah this morning, with gusto and rhetorical skill, addresses the people of Judah who have returned from exile and who want God to really notice what good fasters they are. His message is particularly for the ruling elite who have promised to mend their ways and honor God. They have learned their lesson. They have been doing so by lots of showy religious actions as if to say, “Look at me, look at me, God!” They are fasting, offering sacrifices, public prayers services, dazzling worship designed to draw attention, and doing it all for the glory of…themselves.
God addresses the people through the mouth of Isaiah, telling him not to hold back but to shout it out, use his voice like a trumpet, an approach most of us would find annoying and obnoxious. But God is frustrated–after the sorrows and sufferings of being led into exile for 70 years, the Israelites have been allowed to return, hope against hope as a changed and humbled people.
But nope. It is as if they learned nothing. Yet they have come home supposedly having learned the lesson of turning their backs on what God has asked of them, after having lost their beloved temple in the destruction, and after having repented of the ways they had oppressed the people. They are serious (58:2) about their “spiritual practices” yet they are disappointed with the results (58:3). God doesn’t seem to have noticed. It’s not that they have abandoned God. These people seek God relentlessly, delight to know God’s ways, ask for righteous judgments from God, and enjoy drawing near to God (v. 2). They fast; they humble themselves. Unfortunately, their zeal is for their self-serving interests. And God is silent.
Sometimes silence is a stronger rebuke. God wasn’t really impressed with this religiosity the people were showing, trying to “be seen” as devoted to God. Fasting has become the new sacrifice since their Temple had been destroyed. But God is not fooled. Making a good impression isn’t God’s business. It’s all about how worship leads to service and service leads to worship. It’s about how the poor are being cared for and if the oppressed are being set free. The measure of faithfulness is spelled out pretty clearly all throughout scripture, as we heard last Sunday from the prophet Micah–What does the Lord require of you? And today from the prophet Isaiah, what is the fast that I have chosen?
God’s people cry out, “Give us a word!” And I don’t know about you, but if you cry out for that, you need to be prepared to hear the word God has for you. Part of the problem is that we don’t want to hear it if it challenges us. We want God to make us feel good, we want to hear what we want to hear. The worship of God easily becomes a reflection of the values of our culture. Many look for congregations that offer comfort rather than challenge. Churches begin to value survival more than courage. Yet survival, the mentality of scarcity, is counter to the promise and abundance of the Holy Spirit’s presence.
During Isaiah’s time, prior to the exile, the temple in Jerusalem was standing room only. No one missed a service. They sang psalms—old ones, new ones, all kinds of psalms. They said prayers and gave offerings. What they did not do was let worship trouble their consciences. If they kept their distance from God, then they could also keep their distance from God’s children. They did not want to make connections between their worship and their neighbors. They ignored the poor and everyone else they didn’t want to interact with.
The point Isaiah is making is that the pairing of Sabbath observance with the exercise of caring for the oppressed were both ways of fasting and therefore clearly demonstrate that neither of these concerns are in direct opposition to each other. Separating worship of God from the charge given at the end of a service to depart to serve is what has God upset. It is hypocrisy to claim to love God and ignore the suffering. A fast that is self-serving produces a people of faith without moral or spiritual awareness—those who “do not see” and “do not notice” the suffering in their midst. Such a self-centered religion reduces divine intention to the pursuit of personal holiness, turning the worship of God into an exercise in self-exaltation.1
But we have been seeking you, God! Why haven’t you noticed us? We’ve been fasting! We gave up chocolate for crying out loud! So God told Isaiah, “Go tell them what’s what. Blow the trumpet. Shout it out loud. They have asked me to respond and this is my response. You act like a nation that acted righteously, that didn’t abandon your God. You act like nothing happened, and think you can just move on. You want justice and mercy but will not show justice and mercy.
God’s real anger is reserved for verses 3 and 4 when God calls out violence of their actions toward each other while seeking mercy from God. “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.” Basically, I’m not buying your fast because it serves only yourselves! God is aware that regardless of all their prayers and piety, the building of the Temple with slave labor, the place where they worshipped God, is in opposition to God’s law and for that God has been silent. It’s almost like a parent muttering, “Why waste my breath.”
So God tells Isaiah, ok, I will tell them once again what I desire like I have generation after generation. Maybe one day they will get it. I mean, if this isn’t an example of how God just never gives up on us. So God puts it in clear terms, almost like a bullet point list, (notice God still thinks fasting is important) here is the fast I want to see from my people:
- Loose the bonds of injustice.
- Untie the ropes of a yoke placed on my people.
- Set free the mistreated. Liberate the oppressed.
- Share your bread with the hungry
- Bring the homeless into your house.
- Cover the naked when you see them.
- Don’t hide from your own family and your community.
But if the people choose the fast and worship that pleases God, then God hears them, God responds to their cries. It’s like the communication tubes with the Divine are cleared out by the holy actions of God’s people. All the promises of Isaiah 58:8-9 are introduced by the word “then”:
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
The promise in verse 10 comes in the form of an “If, then” clause:
If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.
God spells out the consequences of living justly, of working with God for the unity and mercy of the Kingdom of God:
Your light will shine in the darkness
Your gloom will be like the noonday sun.
The Lord will guide you continually.
The Lord will provide, even in parched places.
God will make you strong.
You will be like a watered garden that never runs dry.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And finally:
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of the streets.
Those who pour out themselves, pour out, for the sake of justice and righteousness need not fear darkness or abandonment. It is to them the light of God’s salvation will shine. God will be a lamp unto their feet, lighting each step of the way.
We do not worship God for ourselves alone, we worship for love of God and love of neighbor. We all are interdependent beings and bound to one another through our God, who is Love itself. Our fast is not to make things more comfortable and attractive for us, but what we can faithfully do with the resources God has blessed us with to bless others. God will not bless a ministry that looks holy but does nothing when those around us suffer. Our worship and our service are bound together as one. This takes faith, courage, perseverance, love, grace, sacrifice, and the willingness to be uncomfortable. Then when we cry out, Lord hear us! The Lord will respond, I am here. When we offer the fast that the Lord requires we become what Jesus talks about in the Gospel today, Light for those who hide in the dark. St. Christopher’s, hear the words of your Savior; “You are the light of the world.” Let your light break forth like the dawn. May our worship be for the sake of all. May we live fully into St. Christopher’s, a Light on the Hill.
- Gregory L. Cuéllar. Working Preacher, Feb. 8, 2026. ↩︎
Magdalena's Musings 