000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Isaiah 56:1, 6–8* (Paired)
Proper 15 [20]/Year A 75
The first chapter of Third Isaiah beautifully articulates themes that come
to prominence in the New Testament. We deal here with the first eight
verses of the chapter; in omitting verses 2–5, the lectionary drops part of
the text that could help the church think about some contentious issues it
faces today.
The Lord who speaks in this chapter is “the Lord GOD, who gathers
the outcasts of Israel” (v. 8). The people Israel has been scattered in exile
and the prophet seeks to shore up the faith of those who had returned to
Jerusalem that their fellow Jews still in exile would yet be brought home.
Luke, in the Pentecost story about “devout Jews from every nation under
heaven” (Acts 2:5), stresses God’s faithfulness to scattered Israel, prior to
developing the case for the admission of Gentiles to the community of
Jesus-followers.
Our passage begins with a dual emphasis on justice and salvation:
“Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed” (v. 1). The Hebrew word translated as
both “justice” and “deliverance” is God’s love freely given. God frees us
to respond with love of God and the neighbor, a love acted out in deeds
of justice and loving-kindness. Together, they effect salvation. We are
tipped off that there is something about the common life of the returned
community that calls for an emphasis on doing “what is right.”
Verse 2 emphasizes the importance both of keeping the Shabbat, “not
profaning it,” and avoiding evil. The temptation to conform to the religious
and political norms of the surrounding societies of the Persian world
was strong. This temptation remained after the return and brought with
it the danger that the witness to YHWH’s kindhearted justice might be
altogether lost. Sabbath keeping is an identity marker, but before we dismiss
identity markers as exclusivist, we should note that Israel’s identity
markers were its most profound rituals and behaviors: worship, study, and
deeds of loving-kindness. The church’s most obvious identity markers are
its sacraments: Baptism and the Eucharist, and its commitment to spreading
the love of God and neighbor.
Verse 3 shows that identity markers need not be exclusivist: “Do not let
the foreigner [the resident alien, the stranger] joined to the LORD say,
‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people.’” Verse 6 picks up the
theme of foreigners again: God will bring to God’s “holy mountain,”
Zion, those foreigners who “love the name of the LORD ... who keep the