Matthew 25:35 and Isaiah 58:6-7

“Isn’t this the fast I choose: … Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry… ?” Isaiah 58:6a, 7a, CEB

As I read through Scripture, I love how it talks to itself, references itself, speaks as one big, connected tissue of living, breathing Word. We find in today’s reading of Matthew a reminder to feed one another, and it would be easy to name this as simply another radical move of Jesus, something new and novel for the early church to cling to on the other side of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

And yet.

And yet, we’ve been given instructions to feed one another from nearly the first moment. The book of laws (Leviticus) is quick to instruct the farmers, “When you harvest your land’s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don’t gather every remaining bit of your harvest. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 23:22 CEB). 

Isaiah continues this theme in chapter 58 as he seeks to define fasting for the Israelites. They believed it was simply abstaining from food while they behaved however they liked. Isaiah reminded them it had little to do with the food they didn’t consume and so much more to do with what food they offered the hungry around them. “Isn’t this the fast I choose: ... Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry ... ?” (Isa. 58:6a, 7a).

You see, while Jesus does indeed offer new understanding on much of the original laws, this one remains the same. “I was hungry, and you offered me food” (Matt. 25:35). Today, my friends, let us consider how to care well for the hungry around us, realizing it is in this act that we most reflect Jesus.   - Allison