“TODOS, TODOS, TODOS!” - In our First Reading for today, Isaiah is describing Israel’s post exilic future. While in exile, the Israelites felt alone and abandoned. They felt exile was the end of their story and they would be swallowed up by those
who brought them into exile. Yet, here is the prophet, sharing the good news that Israel would indeed have a future. A future that is full – full of God’s presence and — full of unexpected people. The prophet proclaims that in this future when God gathers them together from the exile, all will be welcome. Being an outsider, like a foreigner or a eunuch, cannot keep you from God’s community. This was a shift for the Israelites because, in Deuteronomy 23, eunuchs and some nationalities and ethnicities were explicitly kept from joining in God’s worshipping community.
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