This message is based on Isaiah 58:6ff, Isaiah 61:1-4, and Luke 4:14-30.

Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of injustice,

to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them,

and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up quickly;

your vindicatora shall go before you,

the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

a Or vindication

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Is 58:6–9.

Faith and Suffering