"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord,
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation---
I cannot endure solemn assemblies
with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals,
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am wearing of bearing them.
When you stretch out your hands
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow."
Isaiah 1:12-17
How many times has we substituted Sunday worship for doing justice?
God does not accept prayers, sacrifices, or rituals to be substituted for seeking justice and doing good.
"Trample my courts no more," can refer, in our context, to those who wield legal power because they have high-powered lawyers, but do not care about justice itself, like the banks who are foreclosing in automated ways on people who are still making payments on their houses, or refuse to re-negotiate mortgage payments with home owners that are behind on their payments.
So for the bankers:
learn to do good;
and for the rest of us, I believe we are called to stand with the oppressed in the following way:
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow."