Seeking Comfort Instead of Justice

We like our comfort. So much so that we tell ourselves stories that help bring about our comfort. We’re alright. We’re doing what we are supposed to. Sure there are problems, but since I’m not powerful, I can’t really do much. I’m good. Isaiah’s audience told themselves comfortable narratives about their religious practices too. They did so while turning a blind eye to the injustice around them. At its root, comfort-seeking is self-oriented, not neighbor-oriented. Isaiah’s message, echoed by Jesus a several centuries later, is that self-oriented comfort narratives are opposed to God’s work of justice.