5th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Isaiah 58:7-10)

            The Prophet Isaiah sounds like he is quoting Jesus in the first lesson today. Much of what he says, sounds like the beatitudes Jesus preached about in last Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew.  How is that possible?  Isaiah lived over 700 years before Jesus was born. How could he be repeating Jesus’ words?  Maybe we should step back and reflect.

                We have heard it said that Jesus’ teaching was revolutionary. He had all kinds of new ideas. But really Jesus drew on teaching that had been part of Jewish tradition for centuries but had been diluted.  Often, he referred to the prophets. Very often, he reflected on the words of the prophet Isaiah. He quotes Isaiah approximately 20 times in the Gospels.  Isaiah then, along with Psalms and Deuteronomy are the scriptures that Jesus quotes the most.

                Who is Isaiah?  Isaiah is one of the longest books of the Bible.  One popular theory is that there were three Isaiahs.  The reason for this is that this biblical work was written over an extremely long period of time covering three distinct historical events. 

                1st Isaiah was written before the time of the Babylonian Exile. The first Isaiah writes 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah.  What was his concern?  He was preaching conversion.  1st Isaiah was trying to save the people of Israel from destruction.  His basic message was “repent.”  The people of Israel had forsaken the law, had forsaken the one true God.  No longer did they scrupulously follow the law.  He believed if the people of Jerusalem would recommit to scrupulous practice of the Jewish faith disaster would be averted.  This didn’t happen so Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians.

                2nd Isaiah wrote the next 15 chapters of the Book of Isaiah during the time of the Babylonian exile.  His purpose was to encourage people to return home to Jerusalem.  He wanted to see liturgical worship restored.  He felt this was the key to Jewish survival.

                And then we have 3rd Isaiah. He wrote roughly the last 10 chapters of the book.  His concern was very different.  He was not so concerned with keeping the Law of Moses.  Nor was he very interested in temple worship.  He was interested in justice.  He said we can make all the sacrifices we want but if we are dismissive of the poor we will frustrate the plan of God.  If we reject the foreigner in our midst this will offend God.  3rd Isaiah was all about charity, peace and justice.  He asked the question which is so pertinent, “Who do we want to be as a nation?”

                His words today sound so much like Matthew 25.  When judgement time comes Jesus asks, what will God look at?  Jesus practically quotes Isaiah verbatim. “Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed ……clothe the naked….do not turn your back on others.”  3rd Isaiah’s words have been the crux of Jesus’ teaching for 2,000 years. As Isaiah and Jesus put it, giving  to others isn’t always a matter of charity, no, it is a matter of justice.

                St. Basil the Great, one of the early church Fathers restates Isaiah’s thinking as well as Jesus’ when he says:

                “When someone steals another’s clothes, we call them a thief.  Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not?   The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which your hoard up belongs to those in most need.” 

The surplus things that we own, according to Isaiah, Jesus, and Basil aren’t really ours.  We will have to give an account of those possessions when we meet Jesus face to face at the end of our life. When I look in my freezer after seeing starving people throughout the world I wonder what I will say to Jesus. When I look at my bank account I wonder what more I could do?  Somehow that isn’t Catholic guilt. No, it is an examination of conscience. Examining my conscience is something I need to do for my spiritual health.

                Isaiah reminds us that how we handle our worldly goods is the measure of what kind of faith we have.  The way we judge others will be the way we are judged. In this time of turmoil in our world, we cannot forget to love our neighbor.  No, we must love them more intensely.