This Fall, we have talked about stories. About the epic story of God and God s

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1 Holy Call, Holy Prophet Westminster Presbyterian Church Isaiah 6: 1-8 Doug Browne Luke 5: 1-11 November 13, 2016 Isaiah 6: 1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts! Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here am I; send me! Luke 5: 1-11 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Simon answered, Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man! For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people. When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. This Fall, we have talked about stories. About the epic story of God and God s people, and how all of our stories are, thank God, part of that epic story. We began with Creation and Adam and Eve, and continued with Abraham and Sarah. The story goes Holy Call, Holy Prophet 1

2 on through the trip to Egypt and the Exodus from Egypt, and into the Promised Land. God has stayed with the people all through this story, making and keeping extravagant promises. This week we have the story of Isaiah s call. Isaiah is a priest in the southern kingdom of Judah in the eighth century BC. He goes into the Holy of Holies, the centermost part of the Temple in Jerusalem. This is the part of the Temple that was built to be the very resting place of God. The Ark of the Covenant is there. If any of you remember the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, this is the same ark that we re talking about. It is a large gold-covered wooden box that was built to hold the tablets of God s covenant with the Hebrew people, and to be God s throne. 1 This place in the Temple is so holy that only priests are allowed to go there, and only one priest goes in, once per year, on the holiest of holy days. It is dangerous to go there. There is a danger that the priest might see God. Seeing God is a dangerous thing. Adam and Eve used to see God on a regular basis, before the Fall, but, you remember, after they ate the forbidden fruit, they hid from God. Moses saw God up on the mountain, but only briefly, God s back in passing. God told Moses that Moses would not survive seeing God s face. 2 After speaking with God and just seeing God s back, Moses face was forever changed, so that it shone. Moses used to wear a veil, because, otherwise, people were afraid to come near him. 3 We ll come back to that. 1 Exodus 25: Exodus 33: Exodus 36: Holy Call, Holy Prophet 2

3 So, when Isaiah enters the Holy of Holies and sees God, he figures that he is a dead man walking. The seraphs, God s attendants, are so mighty that just their voices shake the doors on their hinges, but even they keep their faces covered so that they don t accidentally see God. Isaiah realizes the danger that he is in, and here we see why he is a famous prophet. Where many of us would say something about as profound as, Oh, <expletive>, he says, Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! One of the seraphs takes a coal from the fire. Now, this coal is so hot that even the seraph cannot handle it with its bare hands it uses tongs. The seraph touches the coal to Isaiah s lips, and informs him that he is no longer a man of unclean lips. His sin has been blotted out. He is now worthy to speak on behalf of the Lord God of Hosts. Then the Lord says to Isaiah, Whom shall I send? Isaiah has the right answer. He says, Here I am. Send me! In our New Testament reading this morning, we see something similar. Jesus is walking along the lake, and the crowds are unrelenting. They will not leave him alone. They are desperately hungering and thirsting for the word of God. So, Jesus borrows a boat from a local fisherman named Simon, and he preaches from the boat. After he preaches, he tells this professional fisherman who has just helped him how to fish. Your experience may be different from mine, but my experience is that most people do not like someone coming along and telling them how to do their job Holy Call, Holy Prophet 3

4 And Simon and his partners, James and John, have spent all night fishing and not caught a thing. Maybe this is just me, but I do not expect that this would make them any more amenable to a beach-walking amateur telling them how to fish. But they do what Jesus tells them, and they catch so many fish that their nets are starting to break from the weight. Simon makes the intuitive leap, and knows who this is. His response is the same as Isaiah s, if a little less eloquent: Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man! He knows that it is God who stands before him, and that he is not worthy to see God. It is dangerous to see God. Moses saw God in the burning bush, and he was given a job to do that he did not believe he could do. With God s help, he did that job he spoke to Pharaoh, and convinced him to let the Hebrews go. After Moses saw God again, his face shone for the rest of his life. He served as an intermediary between God and God s people, and led God s people in the wilderness for the rest of his life. Isaiah saw God, and became one of the most important prophets in all of history. He spoke truth to power, confronting kings and generals, and he told the story of the coming of God s Messiah. The fisherman Simon saw God, and even his name changed. He became Peter, the rock on which Jesus built his Church. It is dangerous to see God, because no one who does, remains the same. It changes people Holy Call, Holy Prophet 4

5 When we see God, it humbles us. It exposes the complete and uncensored truth about who we are. Not who we would like to be. Not who we pretend to other people that we are. Not even who we pretend to ourselves that we are. God sees us as we are, without any illusions. If that concept does not scare you, then I don t know what to say. God sees us as we are, and God loves us. Isaiah was, indeed, a man of unclean lips, who lived among a people of unclean lips. He did not deserve to stand before God as if he were truly a holy man, holy like God is holy. But God saw him as he was, and God loved him. God did not obliterate him. God forgave him and cleansed him. God sees us, and God loves us. God cleanses us in our baptism, dispensing to us grace that we did not earn, grace we could not earn. This is why I pour water in the font every Sunday, after we have confessed our sins -- to remind us all that God has cleansed us, and that our sins no longer define us. We are the Children of God. This is part of God s plan for all of Creation. And one more thing happened. God gave Isaiah a job to do, a job that transformed who he was. Isaiah was no longer just a priest in the Temple. Isaiah was God s prophet, charged with speaking God s word to kings and generals, whether they wanted to hear it or not. Moses went from being a shepherd with an anger problem to being God s spokesman to Pharaoh and God s press secretary with God s people for a generation Holy Call, Holy Prophet 5

6 The simple fisherman Simon became Peter, who preached God s word to crowds and to individuals, who healed the sick, and who was part of leading God s Church in the first century after Christ ascended to Heaven. Each of these people saw God, and God changed who they were. God transformed them into the people whom God wanted them to be in that time and that place. So what? What does that have to do with us, here in the twenty-first century, in America? The answer is this: God is still here to be seen. God is here in the eyes of a hungry child who needs food to live and to grow. God is here in the stranger to this land, who does not understand this place, and needs someone to welcome her. God is here in the vulnerable person being harassed, no matter who that person is. God is here in the sick and the prisoner, 4 the refugee, the widow, and the orphan. 5 If you look, you will see God, but, if your goal is just to be comfortable, I would not recommend it. You see, if you see God, you will be changed. God still sees to the core of who we are, beyond all the illusions and pretense. God still cleanses us in baptism. 4 Matthew 25: Jeremiah 7: Holy Call, Holy Prophet 6

7 And God still sends us out, to do God s work in the world not to stand by and watch, but to love God and our neighbors; to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. 6 When God says, Whom shall I send? I pray that all of our answer would be, Here am I, send me. AMEN. 6 Micah 6: Holy Call, Holy Prophet 7