November 2nd - Reflection

Zechariah 7:1-14 (NRSV)
Fasting versus justice and mercy

In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev. Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men, to entreat the favor of the Lord, and to ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, "Should I mourn and practice abstinence in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: Say to all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink only for yourselves? Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, along with the towns around it, and when the Negeb and the Shephelah were inhabited?

The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear. They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. Just as, when I called, they would not hear, so, when they called, I would not hear, says the Lord of hosts, and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and a pleasant land was made desolate.

Reflection
When fasting becomes empty of any meaning to God and just a ceremony, then it is just a diet.

If fasting is a true response to what God wants then it is fasting.

In this passage fasting had become meaningless. Rather than fasting, God would rather the people show kindness and mercy to one another, especially the widow, the orphan, the alien and the poor. God would rather we not devise evil against one another. Fasting would only become an outward and selfish expression of religious arrogance to those who were already hungry and in need.

When we observe ritual, let us not forget the purpose God intended. Let us fast in order to hear the Word and observe the call and follow the direction.

Prayer
Lord teach me to love truth and live the love you direct us to live and honor those in need. --- Amen