Today’s readings: Zechariah 5-7, Psalm 104
Zechariah 7:8-10
And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
These chapters begin with some wild and crazy visions, with symbolism that is at once obscure and plain as day. A huge flying scroll represents God’s curse going out over the land; a woman named Wickedness is sealed inside a basket and carried away to Babylon; and four chariots emerge from between two bronze mountains and go out through the earth at God’s command. The images themselves are strange, but Zechariah is given enough explanation that we are not left entirely to guess what they mean.
God explains the visions through an interpreting angel who accompanies Zechariah, answering his questions about what he sees. The explanations are often brief: the flying scroll is identified as the curse going out over the land; the woman in the basket is identified as “Wickedness” and is carried to Shinar; and the four chariots are identified as the four spirits of heaven going out after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth.
Then comes chapter 7 and the issue of fasting. God asks, “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?”
They had fasted regularly. But they had not listened to the prophets who had spoken to them in previous times. This is why Judah had been taken into exile and Jerusalem sacked and ruined. So now that God’s people are back in Jerusalem, God calls them to faithfulness.
The call of God is always to humble faith, compassionate mercy, and loving justice – not just formalistic religious practice. Fasting has its place. In fact, it is a valuable spiritual discipline to heighten our awareness of our need for daily bread, and to remind us that man does not live by bread alone – a lesson the children of Israel should have learned in the wilderness after leaving Egypt.
Amidst the confusing visions of flying scrolls and four chariots comes this clarity. God wants our hearts to be devoted to him. He delights in true worship. But when worship is used as a way to hide arrogant self-righteousness and blind selfishness, it is of no value. The fullness of true worship overflows into a life of justice, mercy, love, and grace.
That’s what we have seen and experienced ourselves in Jesus, who was grace and truth incarnate. He has shown us mercy and given himself for us, and he calls us to follow him and reflect that character to a world turned in on itself and in need of that same grace we have received from him.
Click on this graphic or the link below to watch the Bible Project overview of the book of Zechariah.
https://bibleproject.com/videos/zechariah
Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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