Isaiah 58:9b-14 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 58:9b-14 on biblegateway.com
Verse 9Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, Verse 10if 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. Verse 11The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Verse 12Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Verse 13If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; Verse 14then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Devotion
A prophet's calling is to speak honestly and openly about the probable consequences of contemporary events. Whether it involves personal actions or public priorities, acknowledging the prophetic witness allows us to engage with the world and hear instead God's vision of what it ought to be. Along these lines, the 58th Chapter of Isaiah reminds us that if we "satisfy the needs of the oppressed," then "light will rise in the darkness," and in turn lead us to "do away with the yoke of oppression."
The prophetic words of Isaiah remind us that although faith is personal, it is by no means private. It has a public bearing surrounding matters of justice and the pursuit of common ground for the common good. In the words of Cornel West, "Justice is love on legs, spilling over into the public sphere." And so, in response to the amazing grace bestowed upon us by God in Jesus, we serve as present-day prophets in ways that are life-giving and life-freeing, so that our communities of faith are not only concerned with life after death, but also life after birth.
Prayer
Gracious God, as you continue to offer freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, help us to be your prophets, and remind us that justice is what love looks like in public. Amen.