Isaiah 65:17–25, Luke 21:5–19
Sandwiched between All Saints and Reign of Christ, we have one more Sunday of Ordinary Time before Advent. Year C, however, is unwilling to wait for the changing of the calendars and dives right into some apocalyptic texts that serve us well as abolitionists and those of us who await the outcome of the US elections that occur this time of year.
It’s tempting to look to the state for the just world we seek. When reproductive rights, access to the vote, marriage equality, and so much more hinge on the outcome of elections, we are right to be worried. So when we look past the state for our hopes for a world made right, we are not ignoring the stakes in a participatory democracy and we are not embracing some spiritual opiate to divert our attention from what’s right in front of our faces. To look beyond the state is to both acknowledge reality and put our faith and trust in God.
Both Isaiah 65 and Luke 21 present apocalyptic visions of a world made right through some kind of dramatic intervention. “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth,” the Isaiah text begins, marking the creation of a new cosmos (65:17). “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down,” Jesus says as he looks upon the Temple in Jerusalem (21:6). Both passages warn of trials that come before, but both also promise good to follow. “They shall not labor in vain,” Isaiah promises (65:23). “By your endurance you will gain your souls,” Jesus vows (21:19).
Regardless of who wins what seat in the elections in the US this week, things will get worse before they get better for the cause of abolition. Republicans have run a successful closing campaign message on crime, animating racial prejudice and other forces counter to the message of an abolitionist Gospel. It will gain them power. In my home county, a sheriff primarily known for his former advocacy of the notorious 287(g) immigration program will likely return to office after being ousted some years earlier. It’s tempting to despair in moments like this that our work and our hope does not matter.
We must look beyond the machinations of the state because the state will always disappoint us. By necessity, our strategic goals, policy priorities, and campaign objectives will always focus on the state because it is the chief perpetrator of carceral violence. Ultimately, however, our hope and our work must be grounded elsewhere. Mariame Kaba reminds us that our individual efforts “will lessen harm to be sure, but only building power among those most marginalized in society holds the possibility of radical transformation. And that’s an endless quest for justice. That’s a struggle rather than a goal. Only movements can build power. We need a movement for transformative justice.” [1]
Both the Isaiah and Luke texts this week point to transformation, but neither promise that it comes through purely worldly means. Both texts were written in the context of historical cataclysms, but they stubbornly kept to the work and kept their faith. We must trust in the realm God is making in our midst and the world that God will ultimately make. Our work will not be in vain, God will hear our cries, and justice will come even as we endure trials in the meantime.
[1] Mariame Kaba, “Whether Darren Wilson is Indicted or Not, the Entire System is Guilty” in We Do This ‘Til We Free Us, 56.
Wesley Spears-Newsome (he/him/his)is a writer and Baptist pastor in North Carolina. You can find more of his work at wespearsnewsome.com.