Come, Let Us Reason Together

On this Clean Monday, The Creator invites you to sit with Him and be honest. This will be the most important appointment you will ever keep.

Today is Clean Monday. It is the start of what some have called “The Arena of the Virtues.” As we begin Great Lent, we should stop and reorient our minds and hearts away from the details of the Great Fast and towards WHY we are doing this spiritual and physical labor. We are preparing for Pascha, the Resurrection.

In fact, if you only focus on what you “can’t have,” you will miss the greatest treasures of this season. Set your mind and heart on the Feast of New Life in Christ, which will give you the strength to make this Lenten journey powerful.

This is why the Church gives us many Old Testament readings during this time. God has established a healthy rhythm of living since the beginning, and our Orthodox faith is in complete continuity with all the wisdom that came before.

The passage is long today, but read it all. Look at our lesson in Isaiah 1:1-20:

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzzi'ah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezeki'ah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: "Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand."

Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.

Why will you still be smitten, that you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds; they are not pressed out, or bound up, or softened with oil.

Your country lies desolate, your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence aliens devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by aliens. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.

If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomor'rah.

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomor'rah! "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.

"When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and the calling of assemblies -- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

“This good judge is a lawyer and a doctor,” says St. John Chrysostom in his homily on Isaiah 1. St. Isaiah spoke to the People of God in the 8th Century BC while Uzziah was king of Judah, the Southern Hebrew kingdom. His ministry was meant to wake the People of God up to their treating their Faith as a mere cultural habit.

And St. Isaiah does this with language that would be considered “not very politically correct” today.

He begins his jeremiad by saying that the “sons” He has reared have rebelled against Him, comparing their rebellion to the fact that even animals know to follow their master. He asks His people why they continue to rebel even in the face of the consequences of their sin. He accuses them of being utterly estranged.

The key is the clear message that this is about a broken relationship with God, not a mere fracturing of some rules. All the wisdom the Lord has given His people in the beauty of the liturgical life that is supposed to form and shape them has been reduced to mere ritual repetition without any love for God in their hearts. And this coldness is the exact reason WHY they have become the exact opposite of what they were meant to be! Their sacrifices and prayers have become so hollow and meaningless to them that God rejects their empty worship. He tells them, “I have had enough of your burnt offerings.” And “Bring no more vain offerings.”

Instead, He commands them to “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

On this Clean Monday, God calls you and me to do that today. Make sure your worship is reflected in your choices and behaviors so that your prayers are more than merely repeating “old” words out of nostalgia instead of deep love for God.

St. Cyril, Patriarch of Jerusalem, understood the connection between what he said he believed with his mouth and how he lived his life. He was a Patriarch that cared for the poor, both body and soul. He was exiled from his seat several times but was always called back because he was a beloved bishop for his people. He fell asleep in the Lord in 386 AD.

Today, on this Clean Monday, is your home “clean” so that you can focus on the spiritual journey towards Pascha? Is your heart “clean” with the liberating wisdom of forgiving others? Are you reorienting your thoughts towards growing your relationship with Christ through His Church? All of this is what we enter today as we seek to live a Normal Orthodox Life!

P.S. A model of faith and the image of gentleness, the example of your life has shown you forth to your sheep-fold to be a master of temperance. You obtained thus through being lowly, gifts from on high, and riches through poverty. Cyril, our father and priest of priests, intercede with Christ our God that He may save our souls.