Isaiah 6:1-8 New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
6 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. 2 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. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 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!”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 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.” 8 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!”
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The
Revised Common Lectionary invites us to hear a second call story. The first version
of a call story was that of Jeremiah, whom God created to serve as priest and
prophet to the nations. According to Jeremiah’s call, God knew that Jeremiah
would be a prophet to the nations even from the womb (Jeremiah 1:1-4). Now we hear
the story of Isaiah’s call to prophetic ministry. It comes in the year that
King Uzziah died (around 740 BCE). Uzziah reigned for half a century over
Judah, but in the years that followed his death, the years of Isaiah’s
ministry, things would be different. The good times were over. Assyria was in
the ascendancy; the northern Kingdom of Israel would eventually fall, and Judah
would live with Assyrian dominance. The lectionary reading invites us to
consider verses 1-8, leaving verses 9-13 as an optional excursion. The call
comes in the first portion of the text, while the message is revealed in the
optional portion. Understandably, verses 9-13 are made optional. The
message is less than positive. In fact, instead of preaching a message of
repentance, the prophet is supposed to prevent repentance (but more about that
later).
The
call comes in the context of worship, or so it seems. Isaiah is the Temple in
Jerusalem. It doesn’t appear that Isaiah was a priest. He was simply a
worshiper when the vision of the heavenly realm came. When we pray the Lord’s
Prayer, we ask that God’s will be done on earth as in heaven. Scenes like this
invite us to consider the times and places where heaven and earth intersect.
Worship is one of those places. We might not experience visions like this one,
but for Isaiah, this is the point at which his call comes.
For
this reflection, I’d like to focus more on the vision than the call. The call is
important. It’s the reason for the passage, but we shouldn’t neglect this
manifestation of God’s presence. It is, you might say, an unveiling of God’s
presence. Maybe only Isaiah saw this vision, but it was powerful enough to
change his life and vocation. The text is appropriate for the season of
Epiphany. I prefer to think of Epiphany as a season rather than one Sunday of
the year (if that), with the rest of the weeks following Epiphany being
classified simply as ordinary time. There’s nothing ordinary about these
stories of the unveiling of God’s presence.
Isaiah
sees the LORD sitting on a throne. This is an appropriate image, as God is
understood to be Israel’s true king. The NRSV tells us that this throne is
“high and lofty.” I prefer the KJV version, which places the throne “high and
lifted up.” The hem of YHWH’s robe fills the temple, and again I prefer the
King James – “his train fills the Temple.” In my mind’s eye, I see that royal
robe being of great length so that it fills up the space in the Temple. It is
a sign of Divine transcendence. While I am attracted to the idea of
panentheism—God is in all and all is in God—I value highly the vision of God’s
transcendent reality. It’s not that God is distant, because I don’t think God
is distant or detached from reality. However, there is a tendency, especially for Christians, to get too cozy with God. Passages like this remind us that God is
not one you snuggle up to. As Mrs. Beaver described Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: “He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion."
God is not like a tame lion. It is good to remember this when we come to worship
God.
As we
catch this vision of the heavenly throne, where God sits “high and lifted up,”
we view Seraphs attending to YHWH. These heavenly beings have six wings, two of
which cover their faces. Why cover their faces? Because one cannot look upon
the face of God. Yes, Moses did and Paul longs to see God face to face, but
even angelic beings must be careful when it comes to looking upon God’s face. I
wonder, did Isaiah see the face of the Lord or did he cover his eyes as well?
Now, a word about seraphs. Apparently, the seraphim are a rather fiery group of heavenly beings. The word “sĕrāp, [is] derived from a Hebrew verb that means, “to burn.” As Marvin Sweeney points out “the fiery Seraphs and the smoke that fills the Temple recall the imagery of the Temple mĕnōrôt (lamp stands) and incense altars employed during festival worship. [Sweeney, Tanak, (Kindle Locations 7634-7635, 7640-7641)].
Again,
we have before us a vision of Divine transcendence. The barrier that divides
heaven and earth, a sort of thin place, is set aside like a curtain being
drawn. Isaiah can see what normally cannot be seen. We may never have such an
experience. We may have those moments when the curtain seems to be pulled back,
and we catch a glimpse. But for Isaiah, it’s more than a glimpse. It’s a divine
encounter. He shares word of this, so we too might share in his vision.
And
Isaiah observes the seraphs singing before the throne of YHWH: “Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” If
we didn’t already know that God is holy, that is different from us, the angels’
song reinforces it. While Reginald Heber’s hymn draws first and foremost from
Revelation 4, standing behind that angelic song in Revelation is this song in
Isaiah 6. So, we are drawn into the scene, ready to join in the heavenly song
of praise.
Isaiah is now quite aware of his
situation. He is overwhelmed by everything he’s experiencing. He recognizes the
distance existing between himself and God. So, he cries out: “Woe is me! I am
lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips.” The call hasn’t gone out yet, and Isaiah is already backing up. He
recognizes both God’s transcendence and his own sinful state. He senses he
should be there. He has stumbled into a place that is well beyond his
comprehension. This isn’t like the throne room of the Wizard of Oz. There isn’t a magician standing behind a curtain.
There is only God, and God’s presence, represented by the train of God’s robe,
fills the Temple and beyond.
Standing there in God’s presence,
which fills heaven and earth, Isaiah cries out in recognition of his uncleanness.
But, that’s not the end of things. The seraphs hear and respond to his cry of
recognition of his own unholiness. They bring to him a live coal from the
altar, where the sacrifice to YHWH is made. They touch his lips so that his
unclean lips are now ritually clean. Once unclean, now clean, he is ready to
hear the call of God.
Walter Brueggemann offers this word
regarding Isaiah’s experience of sinfulness and cleansing in a reflection on
the Reginald Heber hymn:
The prophet’s response to this vision of God is an awareness of his own sinful unworthiness, his ritual uncleanness before holiness. Isaiah is startled beyond explanation that in his disqualification he nonetheless can receive this vision of the holy God. More than a vision, this holy God, via the ministry of the winged creatures, removes his guilt and blots out his sin. It is astonishing that the Holy One will invest in pardon! Isaiah’s response to this wonder is readiness to be dispatched on behalf of this three-times-holy God. [A Glad Obedience, p. 87].
Where once he was overwhelmed by his own unworthiness, he is
now imbued with faith to be ready to receive his prophetic calling. So,
when God asks of the heavenly court who will go forth and preach God’s message.
Isaiah, now fully cleansed declares “Here am I, send me.”
With
Isaiah’s response, the recommended lectionary text ends on a high note. Isaiah
is now ready to go forth and do his prophetic duty. All is fine until Isaiah
gets his initial orders. When we read verses 9-13, we understand why the
lectionary creators make these verses optional. The message he’s going to
deliver is a rather problematic one. There appears to be no hope here. It’s not
a message of repentance so God might forgive. No, Isaiah is being called here
to run interference so that the people will not repent. In other words, he is
being set up for failure. It’s not a job any of us called to preach would want
to have. It’s sort of like being sent into a dying church with the specific
orders to do all you can to kill it. There is a sense of hope, but not until
everything is destroyed. This leads Isaiah in verse 11 to ask, “How long, O
Lord?” You can perhaps hear a bit of regret in that question. Maybe Isaiah
spoke too soon. But again, the word is ominous. Not until the cities are laid
waste and the people are sent into exile. Things are going to get a lot worse
before they get better. So it will be for Judah.
What
word do we hear? Do we hear a call to stand before God’s throne and celebrate
the opportunity to be in the presence of God? Do we feel a bit overwhelmed and
perhaps even feel naked before the Lord, seeing the magnitude of our own sinfulness?
Do we hear the call of God? If we do, have we thought this thing through? Are
we ready for the hard times ahead? After all, ministry isn’t all fun and games.
There is a reason why large numbers of ordained clergy leave ministry before
they are in this thing for five years.
The good news, as revealed in verse
13 is that the “holy seed is its stump.” That is the hope—the seed present in
the stump. As we reflect on this reality, perhaps we should return to the Temple
and sing before the Lord:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!
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