Open-ended,
Life-centred,
Gospel-Focused Explorations of Hebrew Bible Readings from the
Australian Prayer Book.
ISAIAH 58: 9b-14...13th S. after Pentecost, C
(for LK 13:10-17, scroll)
NOTES: 1]Read
the Hebrew Bible in the light
of our understanding of God in Jesus.2] Chs.55-66
of IS were likely written by followers of 'Deutero' (2nd)
Isaiah in the mid 500sBC or as late as the 400s. 3] To appreciate this passage, read
it as poetry. 4] v.12
suggests the land is in ruins, during or after the Exile. 5] In v.13, the Sabbath ('rest') was
Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, not our Christian Sunday which marks
Jesus' Resurrection after
resting in the grave.
WARMING UP: Can we
imagine what it must be like to be exiled from your homeland?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
9b-12 If the 'yoke' represents oppression of any kind,
what yokes do we need to remove from people for God to see we have
mended our ways? Are there particular people or groups of people we
habitually put 'yokes' on. Rather than assume we don't do that kind of
thing, might it be wise for us to audit the way we behave towards
others, not least those 'not like us'? As 'pointing the finger'
apparently refers
to the 9th Commandment (No making false accusations!) even if we don't
do that ourselves, do we tolerate it from our politicians (this is an
election year in Australia!), the
media, many in public life, & in other aspects of society? Does the
'speaking of evil' net catch us up in it too, at least sometimes? As
victim or perpetrator?
How
dutiful are we in 'offering our food to the hungry' in some practical
way? Does food represent a wider range of needs than just what people
can eat? Are we more inclined to leave 'satisfying the needs of the
afflicted' to professionals of one kind or another today? Given the
tenor of what IS says here, is that an unlikely 'out' for us in God's
eyes? How bright a light do we actually shine as in our family,
church, wider community, etc.?
How conscious are we of God
continually a) guiding us?
b) satisfying our needs when the going is hard? c) keeping us strong?
d) making us flourish? e) making us life-giving water to refresh
others? Do we have any 'ancient ruins', other than in a physical
sense, that we need God to rebuild for us? What kind of
foundations have we put in place for / been for any generations we've
any connection with? Is it just young ones who need such things? What
breaches (holes), or 'streets' (means of communications?) do we need to
restore, or are in a position to restore, between us & another, or
between other persons?
13-14 Is the keeping of a
Sabbath on some day of the week still
in God's interests / our interests / the community's interests? As the
idea was to rest from pursuing our own affairs in favour of God's, has
the rationale been undermined by our taking any rest day we may get for
our own affairs, never mind God's? As Sabbath- keeping (on whichever
day) has gone out the window has God gone out the window too, &
what God stands for? Or should that be vice-versa? Is the way we keep
any Sabbath we observe a) a delight? b) honouring of God? c) a
real 'high'? d) a feeding in the best sense? What light does the
incident in today's Gospel (above) throw on Sabbath-keeping?
