Series: The Book of Zechariah
Sermon: Meaningless Religious Rituals
Bible Passage: Zechariah 7:1-14

Introductory remarks:

• Fasting was not stipulated in the Law, but people fasted as a mark of piety/devotion
• In Exile, people fasted as a ritual for remembering and reliving their tragic days
• However, God preferred their fasting to be both vertical and horizontal (i.e., both spiritual and social)
• In Isa 58, acceptable fasting in a practical way is outlined
  • Isa 58:3b “Look, when you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires
  • Isa 58:4 “Look, your fasting is accompanied by arguments, brawls, and fistfights
  • Isa 58: 4b “Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your voice heard in heaven
  • Isa 58:5 “Is this really the kind of fasting I want?” Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, bowing their heads like a reed and stretching out on sackcloth and ashes?
  • Isa 58:6 “the type of fasting I want—I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke.
  • Isa 58:7 I want you to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood!
  • True fasting had social implications!

Zechariah 7:1-14

• Verse 1: In King Darius’ fourth year, on the fourth day of Kislev, the ninth month, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah—
• Verse 2: The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord
• Verse 3: “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
  • During the Exile, Jews fasted four times a year
    • Fourth month, because of the capture of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:2–3; Jer 39:2)
    • Fifth month, because of the burning of the Temple (2 Kings 25:8–9)
    • Seventh month, because of the assassination of the Jewish governor, Gedaliah (2 Kings 25:25; Jer 41:1–2)
    • Tenth month, because of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:1)
    • Mourning/weeping was more a ritual than being real!
  • Now that the Exile is almost over with Cyrus’ Edict, the people wanted to know if they needed to fast and continue the practice

The LORD responded to their question with three reciprocative questions

• Verses 4-5 Question #1: Then the word of the Lord Sabaoth came to me [Zechariah], ^“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past 70 years, was it really for me that you fasted?
  • The LORD did not answer the question directly; instead, He questioned the sincerity of his people
  • When they began this tradition seventy years earlier, it probably was a sincere initiative, but it potentially devolved into mere ritual legalistic performance—it was a mere religious practice
  • It probably had turned into an occasion for self-pity
  • It probably devoid of its original intent—i.e., repentance and appropriate moral conduct
  • So, the LORD wanted them to discern their inner motive for their fasting
  • We are not sure what it means to fast for the LORD, but it looks like it refers to a fasting that results in a change to the priorities of the LORD that were communicated by the earlier prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah
  • It looks like the LORD was asking, “What is the use of such fasting?”
• Verse 6 Question #2: And now when you eat and drink, are you not doing so for yourselves?’”
• Verse 7 question #3: Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”—
  • The LORD called their attention to the messages of the earlier prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah before the Exile
  • Had their forefathers heeded to God’s message, the entire situation could have been averted
  • They heard the messages of the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, but their messages did not have any effect in them
  • There was a disconnect between their fasting and their behavior
  • Instead of pleasing God their fasting displeased God
  • Instead of godly sorrow, they produced self-pity
  • Fasting as a religious practice did not result in spiritual growth and deeper relationship with Him
  • In other words, it did not produce godly sorrow and repentance, but it created self-pity and loss of their country and the Temple
• Verses 8-10: And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah:  “This is what the Lord Almighty said:
  • Administer true justice—
  • Show mercy and compassion to one another
  • Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor
  • Do not plot evil against each other
  • Covenant with God is measured in the horizontal behavior!—it is measured in how they treated their neighbor
• Verse 11-12 Their forefathers responded the following way to the LORD’s expectation
  • But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears
  • They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.
  • So the Lord Almighty was very angry
• Verse 13-14 The response of the LORD to the forefathers who refused to pay attention to Him (the LORD puts the responsibility of the destruction of the City and Temple on them)
  • When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty
  • I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers
  • The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it
  • This is how they made the pleasant land desolate

Principles

• Mere religious practices like singing, gathering, etc., alone is not a guarantee for real worship, but there needs to be a significant life-transformation by the Word which is evident in one’s ethics, treatment of others, and handling of power and prosperity
• Gathering, singing, and fellowships need not be for God, they can be merely for selfish objectives
• You may do many religious activities mechanically without regard for God and His pleasure
• Deliberate rebellion against God and disregard to God’s instruction result in God’s righteous anger

Matthew 25:42-45

• Verse 42 I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink
• Verse 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
• Verse 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
• Verse 45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

 Take Away:

Demonstrate your relationship with God by doing what pleases Him