Isaiah 64:1-9 ; Mark 13:24-37 As we begin to reflect on God’s word, as we have received it from the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel of Mark, I am reminded of the old adage of beginning with the end in mind. At the same time, I want to challenge the notion that Jesus is exclusively – or even explicitly – talking about what many call the eschaton: the end of days. For starters, we should talk about the context of these passages that the Revised Common Lectionary has given us today. Isaiah 64 is part of a block of chapters that most scholars believe were written around the time that Jewish people, who were scattered through Mesopotamian conquests, were returning to Jerusalem and the surrounding area. It’s important to note that this was very different than the modern state of Israel, which really did not exist before 1947. The biggest difference is that our reading from Isaiah was not intended to be about ancestral lands or nation-states. It was a celebration their of identity as God’...
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