What Does God Want? (Aug. 7, 2022) Isaiah 1.1, 10-20

We are moving today from the Minor Prophets to the Major Prophets. These are the prophets whose writings took up a single scroll. The one that we meet today is the first of the prophets in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible: the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah, whose name means God will Save, is by far the most popular and well known of all the prophets. His words are ones heard in services in synagogues as well as churches. The words are part of our culture whenever one hears the performance of Handel’s Messiah. His are the words that one hears when telling of the coming of the Messiah. In the Second Testament the words of Isaiah are quoted almost as much as the Psalms.

Yes, we hear a lot from Isaiah. Many will claim that he is their favorite prophet because his words have so much hope in them. But I must ask, especially after the second reading, “Have you ever really read Isaiah?” Sure, there are the words of comfort and hope, but those are mainly in the second and third part of the book. The first part is filled with thunderous words against the nation of Judah and the wickedness of them. There doesn't seem to be much hope in these words. So, let’s look at some of what Isaiah has to say to the people of Judah.

The book opens with an introduction of the prophet. He is said to be the son of Amoz and that his ministry was to the Jerusalem and Judah, the southern kingdom after the division of Israel after the death of Solomon. There are four kings mentioned that he prophesied to, from Uzziah to Hezekiah which would mean that he was around the for about 40 years. During that time, he would have seen the rise of Assyria and the downfall of the Northern Kingdom, Israel. He would also have seen Judah become a vassal state of Assyria and lose its independence. And in all of this he spoke to the nation about what he heard from the LORD and wanted them to know.

In the verses before today’s text, Isaiah calls out the wickedness of the nation. He tells them what they have done wrong and that they stand in judgement of GOD. He then comes to what I read this morning.

He begins by calling them Sodom and Gomorrah. This would have been a signal to those listening that there was extreme wickedness in the telling. These were the cities that had been destroyed by God in Genesis for the wickedness they committed. To call someone by those names was to tell them that they had no excuse and that God was angry with them.

And God’s anger is telling. It is stated “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]What God is saying is that the sacrifices that are brought to the temple and to that place of worship are not pleasing nor are they accepted. What God had called for in the book of Leviticus with the proper sacrifices are no longer acceptable. God is sated and is no longer willing to stomach these sacrifices.

God continues to state that the worship that is brought by the people is not worship at all. They trample courts and bring sacrifices that were not asked for by God. They come with new moon and sabbath worship festivals, but God cannot abide them. God has grown weary of them and they are an abomination to God. They have become a burden to God.

Now the people were coming with correct forms worship. They were coming with sacrifices and prayers, songs, and praises for all of this to be a burden to God? Why was this so? God even says that prayers will not be listened to, that when they stretch their hands out to God, that God’s eyes will be hidden so that the hands that are raised will not be seen.

Why all of this? Why has God turned away from the proper worship that is being brought by those in Jerusalem and Judah? Because they come not with the correct attitude of worship. They come thinking that as long as they have the correct forms of worship then they are ok. But God says, “Not so fast! You come before me and think that just because you have the correct forms of worship, that because you follow the correct liturgy, that I will be pleased? No, I will have none of it!” Why? God says that the people’s hands are full of blood. As in Amos and Hosea they mouth the right things and do the proper motions, but their hearts are not in it. Their hearts are someplace else. They are not interested in what God wants, but rather in what they want.

This is a hard text to hear. And if you are not uncomfortable with the text, let me give you what a Paul Simpson Duke says: “For the church to hear this text, it will probably need to hear something like: “I hate your worship. Your prayers make me sick. I loathe your music. Your sermons are a sacrilege. Who asked for your offerings? Your Holy Communion stinks. I want none of it.”[2] Now if that does not make you uncomfortable, I’m not sure what will. It makes me uncomfortable and I am one of several leading worship. So, imagine how those hearing the words of Isaiah felt when they first this pronouncement.

But there is a chance of redemption. God says: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”[3]They are to uphold justice. Not just legal justice, following the law. They are doing that. They are to uphold the justice of God. The moral justice. Defending those who are weak and oppressed, the orphan and the widow, those who have no one to advocate for them. It would be like saying that we are to stand for those who are immigrants who are put in cages, standing for those minorities who are pushed to the margins and speaking out for those whose voices (the poor and the oppressed) are lost in the cacophony of sound that surrounds us today.

Then the scene becomes a courtroom. God says: “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.”[4] The scene is one where God is the prosecution. God is calling on the people to argue their case for themselves. God has already given the case against them and tells them that their hands are full of blood. The case looks grim. Then God tells them that the sins can be washed away and be cleaned as snow is clean when it first falls. They will also be as wool when it is first sheared from the sheep. I remember one professor telling us that one thing to remember about wool is that is scratches. There must be a knowing that the sins are being cleaned.

The outcome of the trial is this: If the people listen and turn, being obedient to the call of the LORD, the they will eat of the good of the land. They will stay where they are and not be taken from the land of their ancestors. But, says God, if they do not turn, they will be taken by sword to a land that they do not know.

What does God want? God wants us to worship with the right attitude. Soren Kierkegaard said that worship is like a play with the worshippers and the clergy as the actors and God as the audience, not with those in the pews as the audience as is often supposed. We are to come to God with a clean heart and clean hands. The hands are to be hands that do justice, that stand for those who cannot stand for themselves, that comfort the weak and those who are without comfort. That is what God wants. As stated before, when we come to God with our pretty music, our flowery prayers, our powerful and meaningful sermons, but not with the right attitude, God is not impressed. In fact, God is disgusted. Even our communion, when done without the right heart attitude is a vile thing to God. What can we do? God is not saying that worship is not good. It is good when we have the right attitude. We are told by the prophets, especially Micah who prophesied at the same time as Isaiah, what God wants: To do justice, Love mercy and Walk humbly with our God. And contrary to what it sounds like, the prophets knew that humans could not do this on their own. It had to come from the grace of God. So, let us turn and thank God for the grace that makes our worship and our actions possible when we could not do it on our own. Thanks be to God. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2]Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, ed. Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C Volume 3. Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press. 2010. Pg. 887 electronic [3] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [4] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.