Polluted Bread, Polluted Land

The two readings speak with one voice: when a people join idolatry to violence, even their worship becomes defiled. Manasseh did not merely err in private. He rebuilt altars to false gods, profaned the house of the Lord, and taught Judah to practice what God hates. As the Apostolic Constitutions says, “Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, beside his sins wherewith he made Judah to sin in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.” Sin does not remain in the heart of one man; it spreads through a house, a city, a people.

Hosea shows the fruit of such corruption. The feasts remain, the bread remains, the sacrifices remain, yet all is turned into mourning because the worshipers have refused obedience. Cyprian warns from this very chapter: “...when the divine reproof by Hosea the prophet threatens, and says, Their sacrifices shall be as the bread of mourning; all that eat thereof shall be polluted; Hosea 9:4 teaching manifestly and showing that all are absolutely bound to the sin who have been contaminated by the sacrifice of a profane and unrighteous priest.” God is not honored by ceremonies offered with unclean hands.

Therefore let no one think that devotion can cover injustice, lust, greed, or cruelty. If we would keep feast to the Lord, let us first cast down our inner idols, cleanse our hands by repentance, and cease from harming our neighbor. Fast from evil speech. Give bread to the poor instead of bringing polluted bread before God. Pray at the appointed hours with a clean conscience, forgiving those who have injured you. Then our offering will not be mourning, but mercy joined to truth.