In the Women's Bible Commentary, Revised and Updated, Patricia K. Tull points out that "the prophetic voice in chapters 65-66 gives up on some segments of the population, marking a division between those who continue to rebel and the chosen ones who serve God."
The lectionary this week links Isaiah 66:10-14 to this week's gospel lesson in which the Lord lets them know that some people will respond positively to the missionaries and some very negatively, "Respond positively to the good things, but don't worry any rejections."
In Isaiah, we have seen the pattern between the devastation to the unfaithful Jerusalem and then the restoration, the prosperity and protection offered by God, "I'll be like a mother to you, and you will flourish."
We can appropriate the passage from Luke as encouraging us to do missionary work or as giving us some sort of satisfaction about what's going to happen to people who don't listen to the truth we're trying to instill in them. But, combining the reading from Isaiah, we can also receive comfort that we ourselves can seek consolation and forgiveness for those times that we did not respond in the right ways to those that the Lord sent to us, those times that our words and actions were not Christ-like.
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