Commentary on Isaiah 1:10, 16-20

Today reading is an attack on hypocrisy and a call for humility in the presence of God and in the presence of our brothers and sisters. The passage is from the very beginning of Isaiah and is primarily an attack on the people’s hypocrisy – the same theme as in today’s Gospel.

There are strong words from Isaiah on his people and their rulers. He calls the leaders of God’s people “princes of Sodom” and speaks of the people as “people of Gomorrah”. Sodom and Gomorrah were the epitome of all that was most evil and repellent to God. They are classic examples of sinful cities completely destroyed (see Gen 13:13; 18:20-21). And just as Jesus addressed Peter as Satan for blocking God’s plans, so Isaiah addresses his countrymen as deserving no better than the corrupt citizens of those wicked cities.

In verses which are omitted, God, speaking through his prophet, denounces the endless round of burnt offerings and sacrificial animals.

Bring me no more futile cereal offerings, the smoke from them fills me with disgust. You may multiply your prayers, I shall not be listening.

Why? Because “your hands are covered in blood.” There is no relationship between the endless prayers piously offered and behaviour which is totally unacceptable to God.

But God’s desire is not to condemn but to call his people to genuine repentance.

Wash yourselves clean!

And how are they to repent? By offering still more sacrifices? By going to Confession? By saying a perfunctory Act of Contrition? No, “make justice your aim”. They are to redress the wrongs done to others, to “hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow”. In Jewish society of the time, these were the weakest and most neglected of people. There could be no real repentance unless care was taken of the weakest and most needy in society. For us, in Lent, the message is exactly the same.

And there is hope.

Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow.

For those who truly repent – and this is shown by a radical change in their behaviour and in the way they act towards the weak and neglected – total rehabilitation is possible. That is what we hope will be our experience, too, this Lent.

The choice is ours, either to submit ourselves to the compassionate way of God and find life, or go our own rebellious, self-centred way and find death.