Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 6 : 1-6, 16-21
An oft-recycled news story is that religion and politics should not mix. Whenever a senior church leader speaks out about a particular government policy, such as the recent decision about cutting the UK's overseas aid budget, it is suggested that they should keep out of public policy and focus instead on religious matters, such as worship and prayer.
I remember talking to an MP about this some time ago, and he did seem to think that religion was something that was and should be done by consenting adults behind closed doors , as if the heart of religion is performing a set of religious acts either in the home or some well-sealed religious places.
It could seem that in our gospel reading from Matthew 6, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is endorsing this point of view. He seems to be advocating a privatised version of religion where the public square is abandoned for the safety of the shut-up room. It is in private that the rewards of the religious life are to come.
There have been times in the church's history, for example in 1930s Germany, when such an approach was all too convenient ; however, to take our gospel reading in this way is both to misunderstand Matthew 6 and also ignore other parts of scripture.
What is in view in Matthew 6 is not about the exercise of the religious life but rather its audience. Jesus' words to his disciples invite them to consider most carefully who they are doing their religious acts - their acts of piety - for : audience approval or divine reward.
For Jesus assumes that his followers will give, pray and fast, but he challenges them to pursue these acts not to curry favour from a watching crowd but to do so in the presence of God alone. The closed room, the secret giving, the cheerful face amidst the fasting, are the test of whether they are being done for God or others. If they are being done for acclaim, that reward will both arrive and depart immediately. If they are being done for God, then God himself will be the reward now and for the time to come.
But Isaiah 58, which let us remember Jesus and his disciples would have known well, adds a further dimension to these acts of devotion, for this portion of scripture is a reminder that no genuine act of piety can ever stay indoors. That great prophet wrote that a true fast, a true act of repentance, a true expression of humility, must be followed up with action. It is not enough to repent of unrighteousness and then exploit the poor. It is not sufficient to fast and ask the Lord for favour and then oppress your workers. 'Is this not the fast I choose,' Isaiah records the voice of the LORD,' to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?' Such is the path of real and lasting spiritual blessing.
So how do these passages speak to us this Ash Wednesday as, marked with the cross, we start our journey through Lent? Let me suggest a timely challenge for the Church and a hopeful invitation for ourselves.
First, a challenge for the Church. The Church of England is currently in public repentance mode, as evidenced at the last General Synod when there was a time of lament after the safeguarding failures detailed in the Scolding and Makin reports. But the key question is whether this public repentance will be followed up by real action. For me as both Dean and survivor this is less about the specific shape of a new national safeguarding regime and more about the creation of a culture where the presence and experience of survivors within and beyond the church is seen as more important than the experience of those leading the institution and where accountability and transparency are prioritised at all levels of the church. I think in both areas we have a long way to go but this Lent I will be praying and asking what I need to do to further repentance that leads to action.
Second, a hopeful invitation to ourselves as followers of Jesus. Here I think we can have in mind the example of our Lord Jesus who spent 40 days in the Judean wilderness. For like him we can use Lent as a focussed time both to seek God and ask God. To seek God in acts of piety not to bolster our spiritual CV but we want to know and love God more. Acts of piety have been found by generations of Christians to be fruitful ways of seeking the presence of God, and Lent is a valuable opportunity to focus on them afresh as we walk with the Lord on his way to the cross. So, yes to more time for prayer, yes to more attention to fasting, yes to more generosity in giving, yes to anything that will help us in our walk with the Lord. I hope the Lent Talks will help us go deeper in prayer. And secondly to ask God what it means for us to live out our personal faith in our daily lives, in how we use our money, how we speak up for others, how we offer care, how we vote. Lent is a great time to ask of the Lord, in the spirit of Isaiah: what is the fast you require of me?
Let me end with a picture while shows the division between religion and politics to be the false dichotomy it really is. It is inspired by the image at the end of our Isaiah reading of a watered garden. Take a plant whose roots go down into the watered soil. Those roots, taking up the moisture in the darkness of the soil, are a picture of our acts of devotion, going deeper with the Lord in the hidden places of our lives. But the job of the plant is not to have lovely roots but to bear good fruit. And so it is with our lives - to let our love and faith flow into acts of service and mercy in the public square - politics with a small p if you like.
May this Lent be a time when Isaiah's prophetic words become true for us as we both deepen and live out our faith in the world, walking in the way of the cross of Jesus Christ. ' The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong ; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail'. Amen.