This is one of the passages in the Bible that most inspires me. Here the prophet challenges the people when they think they’re getting all their religious practices right but are treating each other and the poor terribly. Specifically it nails in on the issue of fasting and the challenge is set “so you think you’ve got the fasting thing sussed? Well you know what kind of fasting I want? The type where you get your community right, where you look after each other, deal with exploitation, feed the poor, clothe the naked, enact justice.” That’s the challenge the prophet lays down here as the words of God. In The Message version of the Bible Eugene Peterson took the line about untying the cords of the yoke (symbolising oppression) and shifted it to getting rid of exploitation in the workplace - I love it. It’s not the only place in the Bible where cultic practices are challenged and social acts of justice are given priority in order to challenge society and those who claim to follow the God represented in the Bible towards enacting more just communities. It’s a good corrective to those who pursue Christianity as a mere private matter or simply the domain of church buildings on a Sunday. Brilliant.
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This is one of the passages in the Bible that most inspires me.

Here the prophet challenges the people when they think they’re getting all their religious practices right but are treating each other and the poor terribly. Specifically it nails in on the issue of fasting and the challenge is set “so you think you’ve got the fasting thing sussed? Well you know what kind of fasting I want? The type where you get your community right, where you look after each other, deal with exploitation, feed the poor, clothe the naked, enact justice.” That’s the challenge the prophet lays down here as the words of God.

In The Message version of the Bible Eugene Peterson took the line about untying the cords of the yoke (symbolising oppression) and shifted it to getting rid of exploitation in the workplace - I love it.

It’s not the only place in the Bible where cultic practices are challenged and social acts of justice are given priority in order to challenge society and those who claim to follow the God represented in the Bible towards enacting more just communities. It’s a good corrective to those who pursue Christianity as a mere private matter or simply the domain of church buildings on a Sunday. Brilliant.

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  1. servant posted this