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Isaiah 64:1-9

Writer's picture: Danny QDanny Q

“All of Us!”

A contemporary TV show, “This is Us,” explores the lives of the Pearson family across decades, going back and forth between present day and the past. One of the particular innovative ideas of the show is the way in which the past narrative is woven into the present and shows the connections between family members across time.

In Isaiah 64, the writer of Isaiah 64 highlights Israel’s interconnectedness in the repeated phrase “all of us” or its shortened form “us” and “our” which is used ten times in the last four verses. I am particularly struck by this and the repeated use of “us” throughout this passage because the prophet emphatically reminds Israel that their present situation is not simply the result of some bad fortune or the consequence of a few bad apples among the group. No, for Isaiah, the present unhealthy reality is the result of everyone’s failure. Everyone, all of us, failed to live faithfully into the right type of relationship with God and one another. Our best attempts, not only now, but also throughout history have become, as the words of verse 6 suggest, “like one who is unclean, all of us; all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual rag.” (author’s translation) The devastating realization that Isaiah proclaims to his community is no one can claim exemption from responsibility for the current state of affairs. No one can claim, “I am clean!” In fact, Isaiah reminds the people that they are never removed entirely from their past nor are they free of responsibility for one another in their present.

As we enter into this journey of Advent, I wonder what might happen in our communities if we took Isaiah’s reminder of communal responsibility more seriously? In our culture where division and separation are all too often the norm, what might happen if we took the concept of “all of us” to heart? What if we thought significantly about those on the opposite side of whatever spectrum (theologically, politically, economically, socially, etc.) and considered them as part of the “all of us” and took responsibility for them as a part of us? What if their past became our past? What if their brokenness, our own? How would we pray? How would we lament? How would we hope? How would we look for the long-expected Jesus we anticipate this season?

Too often, I think our prayers, laments, hopes and expectations are based solely on our own experience. However, if we are to fully proclaim the good news, Isaiah’s reminder is that we must see others as part of our larger story. This means that our neighbors are not merely people who live around us, they are actually a part of the “all of us” who share a story and a predicament in which we are in great need of the redeeming work of God. This means that it is not just “those people” with whom we disagree, on whom we place the blame for our present misery, or to whom we look for easy scapegoating. Rather, those very people are part of the “all of us” for whom we, like Isaiah, ask for God to open the heavens and come among us.

We are not left without hope in the text. While Isaiah pushes the community to recognize their brokenness, Isaiah also points the community toward the way forward. The passage is a lament calling God to look upon God’s people and remember the covenant. God’s covenant loyalty is always greater than our disloyalty. As we confess our brokenness and return to God, God is always faithful to the covenant. Isaiah also reminds the people that God is the one who will form the people into the proper type of community to reflect the requirements of the covenant. As a potter shapes clay, so God will shape all of us to look like the community of God who reflects God’s character to the world.

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