The last part of the Book of Isaiah was probably written after the Jewish people had returned from exile. You sense that they are trying to get right with God so that another tragedy does not befall them. But they seem to have latched on to doing religious practices instead of understanding the “why” of the religious practice. That helps to explain the prophet’s word from God: This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly … Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless. Our Lenten practices should similarly get the focus off of ourselves and what we are going through and instead help us to situation ourselves in God’s world among those who are brothers and sisters.
