The World Needs Justice
Isaiah 56:1-8 (RCL 1, 6-8)
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Text: Isaiah 56:1 –
Thus says the LORD:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.
The enforced isolation during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic felt something like exile. We could no longer gather for worship and go about our lives as we are accustomed. We longed for restrictions to end so life could get back to normal.
But did it? Perhaps we’ll never know the same “normal” again. We may never hug as freely or sit as closely as we once did. Some jobs, lost during the pandemic, may not come back. Others may see changes in their previous workplace culture.
Debts that piled up while millions of people were out of work don’t magically disappear. Unemployment checks and government stimulus funds can only go so far – for those who got them.
Life for many may still have the taste of exile.
A continuing challenge (vv. 1-2)
Such thoughts may help us to understand the plight of those who heard the prophet’s sermon that is our text for the day. [DD] The people who had been carried into Babylonian exile had finally been allowed to return to Jerusalem. Many came with high expectations, fueled in part by the hopeful promises of the prophet we often call “Second Isaiah.” (See “The Hardest Question” online for more on this.)
Sadly, their happy hopes soon ran aground on the shores of a city that was largely in ruins and home to an assortment of squatters. Life was hard and prospects were uncertain. Religious leaders like Ezra and Nehemiah, along with the Zadokite priesthood, preached an exclusionary doctrine that called for the returnees to remain wholly separate from Jews who had remained behind as well as foreigners who had moved in.
Lists of former exiles [DD], warnings against intermarriage [DD], and the rejection of help from local people made it clear that purity and pedigree were at the top of the heap for the religious establishment. [DD]
Today’s text insists that their exclusive mood was misguided: God had more in store than preserving a small group of ethnically pure Hebrews.
The prophet believed God had given him a different word: “Thus says the LORD: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed” (v. 1). [DD]
One’s practice is more important than their pedigree. The word translated as “maintain” means “to keep” or “to guard.” One should preserve justice as a primary value. That happens when we “do what is right (tzedakah).”
Still facing difficult days, the people longed for a greater measure of deliverance, and the prophet believed it was coming. The word translated as “deliverance” is the same word used for doing what is “right.” When the people saw God’s righteousness revealed, how would their behavior compare?
The prophet offers a tangible example of right behavior in v. 2. “Happy is the mortal who does this,” he says, “the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.”
The word for “happy” is the same word used to begin Psalm 1. It is echoed in the Beatitudes, where Jesus proclaimed various groups to be “happy” or “blessed.” True happiness comes through following God’s teaching, doing good and not evil.
Sabbath keeping is offered as a prime example or faithful living. Careful observance of the Sabbath was strongly emphasized after the return. With or without a temple, it was a public testimony of putting God’s interests above one’s own. [DD]
An inclusive vision (vv. 3-7)
The delights of Sabbath and inclusion in Israel should not be limited to a special few, the prophet said. Speaking words that would have been radical and provocative, he claimed that God had issued new guidelines that superseded the traditional law with respect to including both eunuchs and foreigners.
Exodus 12:43 declared that foreigners could not share in the Passover. Deuteronomy, which was probably completed during the exile and would have been known, excluded certain foreigners from converting to the Hebrew faith (Deut. 23:3). When the people heard Ezra read aloud the “Book of the Law,” Nehemiah said, “they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent” (Neh. 13:3). Although Israel’s laws often encouraged people to welcome strangers and care for those on the fringes, requirements for full participation in Israel’s cultic life were strict.
Only men fully participated in temple worship, with their wives and children considered members of the broader congregation. But not all men were welcome in the temple courts. In what may seem a strange commandment to us, Deuteronomy 23:1 insists that “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.” The rationale seems to be that such men were not sexually whole or fully male and thus somehow unfit for temple worship. [DD]
The same passage bars people of Ammonite or Moabite ancestry from acceptance in the temple: they were not allowed to convert and share in the Hebrew covenant with God “even to the tenth generation” (Deut. 23:3-6). [DD]
Exclusion was the order of the day for religious leaders like Ezra, Nehemiah, and their allies in the Zadokite priesthood. Seeking to establish a fully separate ethnic identity, they also rejected people of Jewish ancestry who had married non-Jews.
The preacher behind Isa. 56:1-8 had a broader view. It was customary in the ancient world to make eunuchs of males who worked in the palace so they would not be a threat to the royal women or motivated to replace the king with their own dynasty. We may guess that some of the men who returned from the exile had held positions that required castration. Indeed, Isaiah of Jerusalem had predicted just such a scenario: “Some of your own sons who are born to you shall be taken away; they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon” (Isa. 39:7).
Shutting the door on such people was not in keeping with God’s desire to be reconciled to all. “Do not let the foreigner joined to the LORD say ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people,’” the prophet proclaimed, “and do not let the eunuch say ‘I am just a dry tree’” (v. 3).
Rather, God welcomed both eunuchs and foreigners “who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant” (vv. 4, 6).
Practice trumped pedigree. It wasn’t a birthright that brought people into covenant relationship with God, but a desire to live by covenant expectations – that is, to “maintain justice and do what is right,” as commanded in v. 1.
Faithful eunuchs would be granted a legacy stronger than children, the prophet said, and God would bring faithful foreigners “to my holy mountain” (the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was often called “Mount Zion”). God would accept their sacrifices and worship, “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (v. 7).
Do those words sound familiar? Jesus quoted them when he cleansed the temple of priest-endorsed merchants and money changers who continued to practice exclusion: they had taken over the “Court of the Gentiles,” which was designed as a place where non-Jews could gather and pray (Matt. 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17).
Keeping the Sabbath was important. So was demonstrating justice and doing right: which included having an open heart for those who chose to follow God, rather than excluding them for physical or ethnic differences.
A hopeful promise (v. 8)
Contemporary Christians don’t observe the same Sabbath rules, but we are likewise called to worship faithfully, promote justice, and do what is right. Just and right behavior involves a willingness to accept other believers. We don’t run across many eunuchs in our day, but we are increasingly aware of others whose sexual identity may be more fluid than our own. Are we willing to accept such believers who want to worship God and practice their faith within our church community?
We’re also aware that our country is becoming more ethnically diverse. Sometime in the 2040s, America will no longer have a white majority – and the broader church is ahead of the curve. The most dynamic growth in the church is among blacks, Spanish speakers, or other language groups, especially in the Global South.
Many ethnic or language groups prefer to worship in their own language or cultural style, but others would love to assimilate into their neighborhood churches. Do we make them fully welcome?
Likewise, do we welcome people who don’t hew to the same doctrinal beliefs that we hold? Those who are more progressive, or less? Do lifelong church members find it difficult to truly accept those who have moved in more recently? Lines between the “been-heres” and the “come-heres” can remain drawn after years of membership.
God’s vision is more expansive than many want to recognize. The same God who had gathered “the outcasts of Israel” by returning them from exile also declared “I will gather others to them besides those already gathered” (v. 8).
Those who see the world as Jesus does understand that living out God’s call isn’t about deciding who’s in and who’s out: it’s about being just and doing right by all people.
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Isaiah 56:1-8
Youth Teaching Resources
Social Media Challenge
This week, give your social media platforms to someone who has been cast out by society. Don’t post original content but repost what other who have been cast out of society have posted.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Isaiah 56:1-8
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
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“Acceptance Letter” from X+Y
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