Year C Epiphany Isaiah 6:1-13 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Luke 5:1-11

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!’

“Woe is me” seems to be an understatement. The prophet Isaiah is having a vision that is not only very vivid, but also frightening. Everything is immense. The hem of the Lord’s robe fills the temple. There are seraphs with multiple wings. There’s shouting and trembling and shaking and fire. In all this, Isaiah realizes that not only is he privy to amazing sights and sounds, but he has also seen the King, the Lord of hosts. The prophet knows that to see the face of God invites death. To make matters worse, Isaiah is a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips. He feels afraid and hopeless.

We, too, can feel that fear and hopelessness.

That’s because the Bible – in addition to being God’s word to us, the story of our salvation, theology, literature – the Bible is also very good theater. Imagine what a movie director would do with this story. The special effects would be spectacular – so spectacular perhaps that we’d lose the real point of the story. Isaiah is indeed living among people with unclean lips. They have become so unfaithful, so far from being a people of God, that God has almost despaired.

The conversation between Isaiah and the seraph and then between him and God is wonderful theater, too. Isaiah moans, “I am lost!” The Seraph, instead of just telling him that he’s wrong, takes a live coal from the altar and touches his, Isaiah’s, mouth cleansing it from guilt and sin. A little more exciting than our usual absolution for sin, the forgiveness we state after the confession in our communion service. Then we hear from God. God asks, it seems, a rhetorical question: “Whom shall I send (to these difficult people)?”

We imagine ourselves responding, “Please, please send me – just keep those seraphs away from me!” And if we had stopped our first reading there as if it were the first act, the main character would come off as a real hero – very brave and confident. “Here am I,” as if God didn’t notice him, “send me!”

Good for him! We hear that sentiment many times in the scriptures, sometimes in different words – Samuel, David, Mary, eventually the disciples of Jesus. It’s a beautiful thing to say, a selfless and loving thing to say, and we can rejoice with that throng of seraphs crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

But the lectionary offers us the chance to go further in this passage. We can get a taste of what happens when God’s people say, “Send me.”

In the second act (verses 9-13), so to speak, Isaiah finds out that he must take what will be a very unpopular message from God to the people. “Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand. … Make the mind of the people dull so that they will not understand and be healed.”

That seems very harsh unless we understand that the people have ignored every message God has sent so far. Until they hit bottom, they won’t repent. Our brave and selfless prophet has a difficult mission, but he has been anointed and he will be supported by God.

It’s the same in today’s Gospel.

In this passage from Luke, we have one of the “great catch of fish” stories. Jesus is beginning His ministry. He’d been baptized. He too had been “anointed” for a ministry. He’d spent forty days in the wilderness praying and preparing, and now He has come to preach and teach. But He hasn’t started in the court of the king or the temple with the high priest. He’s begun his ministry among the common folk – fishermen, farmers, women, and children.

This might make some interesting theater, too. Imagine how a bunch of professional fishermen felt when Jesus, a carpenter by trade, told them to put their nets out again for a catch. We can almost hear the incredulity in Peter’s voice: “We’ve worked all night and caught nothing. But if you say so…” We can imagine the eye rolling the fishermen did – maybe even the quiet but pointed snickers. But of course, they bring in a boatload, and they are amazed.

But the boatload of fish isn’t the point of the story. It really doesn’t matter how Jesus managed that miracle. The same goes for the vision of Isaiah: it really doesn’t matter how the Lord’s hem filled the temple or the prophet got his lips singed and didn’t die. The point of both passages is that God expects each of us to take a part in building the kingdom of God.

We are baptized to fulfill our calling, and by our baptism we are anointed as Isaiah was – as Jesus was – and as Peter was. It doesn’t matter that we aren’t among the mighty of the land. It doesn’t matter if we’re not even among the mighty in the Church.

Notice that neither Isaiah nor Peter – nor many of the other great people of the Old and New Testaments: David, Mary, Joseph, Anna, Simeon – were numbered among the high priests or important government leaders. What we learn from today’s readings is that we are called to make a difference where we are, just as we are.

We find the same message in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. He talks about his own call – reminding the Corinthians that it was by the grace of God that he became an apostle. With God’s grace he had the strength to continue spreading the Good News of Christ – the same thing we’re supposed to do.

In Corinthians, Paul tells us what that Good News is for him. “Of first importance,” he says, is that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day.” This is something we say in the Apostles Creed and in the Nicene Creed. And Paul reminds the Corinthians that they, too will be raised from the dead and that Christ will come again – that what happened to Jesus will also happen to them.

The Corinthians thought Christ’s second coming was imminent, but here we are, 2000+ years later still striving to live a Godly life. We live a life of faith in the promises of God, and in the profound belief that what happened to Jesus will also happen to us. That we too will share in the resurrection. We are His people, His sheep. We are called to spread His love and build His Kingdom, and no matter what happens to us – good or bad – we are part of God’s family and He is with us.

Like Isaiah, Peter, and Paul, we’ve been anointed and are full of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us has a work to do in proclaiming the Kingdom of God, not just by word but also by example, whether it is by working for the Church or being a witness to a Godly life among our co-workers or in our homes. And each one of us has the same promise that was given to them: Do not be afraid – be at peace.

God is with us every step of the way. We are strengthened to be fishermen – even when it means going out again and again letting the nets down another time, letting our nets down in faith that the Lord will fill them. We are called to love each other, support each other, carry the burdens and share the joys together. This we can do by answering the call, by fulfilling the work for which we were created.

One of our hymns says it well: “Jesus calls us! By thy mercies, Savior, may we hear thy call, give our hearts to thine obedience, serve and love thee best of all.”

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, thank You for the joyful, abundant life that is ours through our Lord Jesus Christ. Guide us according to Your will, and help us become servants whose lives are a worthy example to others. ... In Jesus' name. Amen.