”Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow” (Isaiah 1:17bc).
Every once in a while I will run across a criticism of the present Holy Father, Pope Francis. Usually the criticism has something to do with the fact that he is “relentless” in pursuing the issue of care for the poor or that he is always talking about mercy. If they think Pope Francis is “Johnny One Note,” they should take a gander at the Prophet Isaiah.
Some time back I thought I would use a highlighter in one of my copies of the Bible to indicate social justice issues in the Prophet Isaiah. I was astounded at the result. Without a doubt this is the primary focus of Isaiah. We started reading from this prophet on Saturday and will continue to do so for the next few days.
The Book of the Prophet of Isaiah can actually be divided up into three separate tracts. Chapters one through thirty-nine are what is known as pre-exilic prophecy. Chapters forty through fifty-five, sometimes referred to as Deutero-Isaiah (second Isaiah) contains oracles from the period of the Babylonian captivity. Chapters fifty-six through sixty six is Trito-Isaiah (third Isaiah) and focuses on post-exilic prophecy. Each section of Isaiah has, therefore, a different primary concern. This week, we will hear selections from the first forty chapters. In these chapters, the prophet tries to arouse the people to turn back to the Lord before they find themselves at the mercy of their enemies.
Over and over again, the pre-exilic Isaiah asks the people of Israel to remember their covenant with God made on Mount Sinai when they were under the leadership of Moses. The terms of the covenant were rather simple. They were to be God’s people. God was to be their God. If they obeyed his statutes and commands, God would protect them.
Much of the covenant concerned itself with the care of the voiceless and vulnerable people in the midst of Israel. Because they had been voiceless and vulnerable under the slavery of Egypt, God asked them to be mindful of the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the aliens that dwelled among them. In essence, God was telling them, “Remember what it was like when you were oppressed in Egypt. Don’t repeat that behavior now that you are free.”
Sadly, the Israelites did gradually drift away from the covenant. They began to worship idols, and they began to take advantage of the poor and vulnerable people among them. As a result, Isaiah prophesies that they will once again be pressed into slavery. Once again they would feel the lash of the overseer. Once again they would do the bidding of others.
The history of our own country is similar in that most of those who founded this country came here to get away from religious and political oppression. The Pilgrims of New England were looking for religious freedom as were the Catholics who founded Maryland. The U.S. Constitution was formed by these people with a list of rights attached to it. Sadly, like the Israelites of old, we forgot our roots and why we had come to this country. Slavery and oppression became part of our culture as well.
Once slavery was abolished, the United States experienced a huge wave of migrants from Ireland, Italy, and Germany. The Irish and Italian immigrants filled the cities of the Eastern seaboard while the German immigrants migrated to the plains of the Midwest. The Irish were responsible for building the trans-continental railroad which stretched the boundaries of this country to the Pacific Ocean. Asian immigrants have been coming to this country through our Western ports ever since.
However, now we see a new wave of immigrants coming to us from the south and from the Middle East. Just like our Jewish ancestors, we have forgotten where we came from. The Scriptures we will hear this week are bound to make us feel somewhat uncomfortable in the light of our common historical background. Let us pray that, unlike the children of Israel, we will hear the message and take it to heart so that we can once again welcome the stranger and alien and care for the needs of the poor. Pope Francis’ incessant call is simply a matter of iterating the words of the prophet.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator