Isaiah 1:10-18 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 1:10-18 on biblegateway.com
Verse 10Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! Verse 11What 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. Verse 12When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; Verse 13bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation- I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Verse 14Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. Verse 15When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Verse 16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, Verse 17learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Verse 18Come 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.
Devotion
Near our house is a small temple where tribal people come to worship nature. Occasionally, we have seen them bring a black goat or a hen to sacrifice. Their god, according to their beliefs, requires blood. We keep our kids inside during those sacrifices.
By contrast, the Lord says in today’s text, “I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.” God was not revoking the sacrificial system, but God was unhappy with the meaning of the sacrifices. God wanted sincerity from the leaders, who were faithful in rituals but unfaithful in their hearts. Stop doing wrong and come reason together, he says, for I can make your scarlet sins as white as snow.
What a joy it is when God calls us to him with all our sins and shortcomings! By God’s grace we have been saved by faith, so that we may share his loving forgiveness with the whole world.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, we come to you - just as we are - to ask you to wash us, cleanse us and make us worthy of your calling for the extension of your kingdom. In your holy name we pray. Amen.