NOTES for Isa 1:10-17

What does God expect from us? In what can we satisfy Him, in order that His wrath doesn’t turn against us? These questions, and especially in such incorrect way, always interest us. The prediction of Isaiah, which we read today, answers to it with reprimands in important things and what are most unpleasant, very familiar things. God speaks through the prophet about ingratitude, infidelity and cruelty. In the first part of the prediction read today, God binds the adversities reaching us with the fact that we do not know our Master. "Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more" - exclaims the prophet. Well, which adversities do we have to undergo again to see that their reason is in the fact that we left the Holy Israel? Which wars and revolutions, repressions and impoverishments are still necessary for us, so that we can see all the ungodliness of our life, cease to do evil and learn to do good?

Lately it seems to us that we have seen that, and began to take place what we call "the religious revival" of our world. And of this speaks God: "When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? ". Terrible words. Can it be true that God doesn’t want us to come to His House? But it is even more terrible what He says further: "… when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood." It comes out here that we can "renew" everything in big quantities, but not be heard and not have mercy for one simple reason: our hands are full of blood.

It turns out that instead of a pompous cult and abundant offerings, God completely needs something different from us: "... seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."God speaks to us today that only like that, by fulfilling His law of mercy to the neighbor, we shall be able "to eat the good of the land". Otherwise, whatever we do: "if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword".

It is the beginning of the book of the prophet Isaiah. Here becomes very obvious the task of any prediction: in a situation, when people lose all the spiritual and moral orienting points, God through His prophets restores the genuine representation of righteousness.

Thus, firstly: wash you, make you clean. For that, it is necessary to accept that we are unclean, to recognize our failure and our sinfulness. And then – cease to do evil, put away the evil of our doings "before the eyes of God ", which is completely from life, because God sees everything. And after that - do good, the criterion of the authenticity of this good is the disinterestedness. Indeed, to save the slave, to protect the fatherless and the widow – it means doing something good to the weakest, the most poor, to the most deprived of right people in the world of that time, those, from whom can’t expect for any remuneration for your good action. The disinterestedness is a sign of mercy and of beneficence, so dear to the heart of God.

Certainly, this call of the prophet in itself doesn’t give to man the strengths for life according to these orienting points, it [the call] awakes only the desire of such life, but the possibility of the plenitude of righteousness reveals itself in the New Testament with Christ.

People have reflected on communion with God and on what is needed for it in every age, even when they remembered God poorly and remembered poorly what He wants from them. With Abraham's calling a new era began: God Himself spoke to people, and not only spoke, but also began to create His people, raising it from a small tribe. Now, it would appear, there could be no questions concerning communion with God: God Himself could answer any question and resolve any uncertainty; one only had to ask Him. But people tend to cling to traditional paradigms, whether in behavior or in thinking.

Sacrifices had long been regarded as a form of communion with higher powers, as a shared meal of gods and people. But fallen man has always tended to seek convenience and emotional comfort more than spiritual renewal. Communion with higher powers created obligations; their nearness at times began to feel burdensome. Sacrifices ceased to be communion with higher powers and turned into a treat by which people tried to appease those powers so that they would leave in peace those who prepared the treat for them. The history of Yahwism began from a clean slate, but fallen man, even when receiving revelation from God, remains fallen man. And in Yahwism too, especially when it spread widely and became, as it was in the time of Isaiah of Jerusalem, the state religion, sacrifice, which in the days of Abraham and Moses had been a shared meal of God and people, also became a means that allowed religious but not very believing people to buy God off.

The logic was simple: keeping the commandments is difficult and often inconvenient, while it is easy to organize a splendid festival with many sacrifices so that God will be satisfied. Will a multitude of sacrifices replace keeping the commandments? Through the mouth of His prophet God answers: no, it will not. Stop doing evil, learn to do good, and then come to Me, He says to those who hoped that sacrifices could replace the path of righteousness.

And the point here is not even that God is repelled by violators of the commandments, though their choice can hardly please Him. The point is that the sacrificial meal has meaning only as a form of communion with God. That communion with God is impossible without keeping the commandments. And the arithmetic of offense and ransom, violation and penalties that remove guilt from the violator, is out of place here. God offers man only one choice. Nothing else can replace it.

This is the beginning of the book of the prophet Isaiah. Here the task of every prophecy becomes very clear: in a situation where people are losing all spiritual and moral bearings, God through His prophets restores the true understanding of righteousness.

So, first: wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. To do this we must agree that we are unclean, acknowledge our failure and sinfulness. And then we must stop doing evil, remove evil deeds "from before God's eyes," that is, remove them from life altogether, because God sees everything. And after that we must do good, while the criterion of this good's authenticity is selflessness. To save a slave, to defend an orphan and a widow, means doing something good for the weakest, poorest, and most powerless people in that world, those from whom one could expect no reward for a good deed. Selflessness is a sign of mercy and sacrificial love, so dear to God's heart.

Of course, by itself this prophetic call does not give a person the strength to live according to these guidelines. It only awakens the desire for such a life, while the possibility of the fullness of righteousness is opened in the New Testament with Christ.

Isaiah utters terrifying words. Through our lawlessness we have deprived ourselves of the possibility of God's constant presence. We try to observe rules—the rules of fasting and prayer—and offer sacrifice, but we do not fulfill the law. If it were not for the Salvation to come, we would be wiped from the face of the earth. It is important to fulfill the law constantly and actively. The one who fulfills the law will receive his reward. But the one who follows the Lord and performs deeds according to the word of the Lord fulfills His will. No sacrifices are required from him. What is needed is love, which will allow God once again to commune with His children, to receive us once again into His home. To meet us again like the prodigal son and arrange a feast, to slaughter the “young goat” in our honor and bestow His love upon us. He created the whole world, and we try to offer Him part of His own world as a sacrifice. We take what does not belong to us and give it instead of ourselves. Yet all that is required is to give ourselves—such as He has already made us, but to whom He has given freedom. And in this freedom we have the opportunity to take the difficult path, but the path of the Lord's works.