Sermon -- 5th Sunday after Epiphany (February 6, 2022)

This sermon also leans on the Gospel for the day: Luke 5:1-11.

ISAIAH 6:1-8

GOD’S MERCY IS PROCLAIMED BY THOSE TO WHOM IT IS GIVEN.

In the name + of Jesus.

     If you’ve grown up in the Christian church, you probably never give much of a second thought to the way Jesus did things.  Of course he healed the sick and disabled.  Of course he had mercy upon tax collectors and prostitutes.  Of course he found fault with the scribes and Pharisees.  Since we’ve heard these stories from our youth, we don’t have any sense of surprise when we hear them again.  The same goes for the men Jesus chose to be his disciples and apostles.  We know their names, and we hold them in high regard for the calling they had and for the writings which bear their names.  But when we consider the kind of people Jesus called to be ministers of the gospel, we might be surprised at the way Jesus did things.

     Jesus did not recruit anyone from the synagogues.  That seems a logical place to find someone to be a disciple.  Nor did Jesus recruit from the rabbinical schools.  If he had, he might have run into a young Saul of Tarsus studying under the rabbi Gamaliel.  Instead of finding people who were theologians, he found common laborers.  Instead of visiting the synagogue or the seminary, Jesus went to the wharf.  He called unschooled fishermen to learn from him and to preach the Gospel he would teach them.  God’s mercy would be proclaimed by those to whom it was given.

     The same is true for the prophet Isaiah.  We know precious little about him.  But one thing we know for certain is that Isaiah was a sinner.  We have his own confession on that.  Isaiah’s call to be a prophet came from a vision he had.  He explained, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him stood the seraphim.  Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew” (Isaiah 6:1-2).  Even the holy angels acted in humility before the Lord.

     Isaiah was way past humility; he was petrified.  He was not like a tourist who would have said with giddiness, “This is awesome!”  He averted his eyes for fear of being struck down and thought, “This is too awesome for a mortal man to look at!”  If the seraphim covered their faces, surely a sinful man would, too!  In regard to the Lord, the seraphim declared, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3).  In regard to himself, Isaiah could only confess his sin: “By my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault.”  Well, the way Isaiah confessed it was this: “Woe is me!  For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5)!   

     Let us learn the lesson from Isaiah who was quick to acknowledge his sinfulness.  We don’t give it the kind of thought we ought to.  Since we do not see God face-to-face, we don’t think he poses that much of a threat, and we don’t take our sins that seriously.  Perhaps the easiest way to illustrate this disconnect is by what we see in social media.  Because it is impersonal, people are emboldened to say horrible, insulting, and hateful things.  Why?  Because we don’t think we will suffer any consequences for the harm we inflict with our words.  Because we don’t expect we will ever come face-to-face with the people we insult.  Because the anonymity of the internet lets us expose the depths of wickedness in our hearts.  It allows us to boast about our sins.  It allows us to spew out wretched words and scathing sentiments.  Then other people will click the “like” feature when they see our comments, and we become emboldened us to embrace and to flaunt our wickedness all the more.  Now, imagine Jesus standing in front of you.  Would you dare say all those things to his face?  Repent.

     The fact is, Jesus is ever-present.  The Commandments of God are always in force.  Psalm 139 reminds us, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.  …Where shall I go from your Spirit?   Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” (Psalm 139:4,7-8,11-12).  There are no secrets before the Lord—not in the night, not behind closed doors, not even in your heart and mind.  You and I should not have to stand in before the throne of God like Isaiah did to be terrified over our sins.  We should not have to witness the miraculous power of Jesus like Peter did to be brought to our knees.  If God is to be taken seriously—and he most certainly is!—then we ought to yearn for forgiveness every day.
     Isaiah confessed: “Woe is me!  For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5)!  For Isaiah, there was no place to run or hide.  He despaired of hope right then and there.  For Peter on the boat in the Sea of Galilee, he thought his only hope was for Jesus to go away.  If he did not have to face Jesus, maybe he would not have to face up to his sins.

     But God showed mercy to the men who would be his prophet and who would be his apostle.  He did not leave them alone, and he did not leave them in their wretched condition.  He does not treat us as our sins deserve, either.  The Lord vividly showed Isaiah that he would not perish.  A seraph took a burning coal from the altar and touched it to Isaiah’s lips.  The altar is where sacrifices are made to atone for sins.  From that altar, the coal was applied to Isaiah’s unclean lips to make atonement for them.  Isaiah’s lips were purified of every wicked word—for any insensitive joke, for any obscene word, for boasting, for lying, for slander, even for blasphemy.  The seraph told Isaiah, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7).  Isaiah’s sins were covered.  The punishment for sins was turned aside.  God’s mercy was given to a sinner, and God’s peace was delivered to a terrified man.

     The Lord has had mercy upon you, too.  Just as a coal from the altar was touched to Isaiah’s lips, so also an atoning sacrifice spares you, too.  Isaiah was assured; “Your guilt is taken away” (Isaiah 6:7).  Your guilt and the punishment for your guilt have been turned away from you.  They have been redirected to Jesus.  While you are not treated as your sins deserve, Jesus was.  He did not deserve such treatment, but he willingly endured cruel sufferings and a cursed death on behalf of sinners.  Jesus died a merciless death so that God would be merciful to you.

     Isaiah was also told: “Your sin (is) atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7).  This is the same verb from Psalm 32: “Blessed is the one … whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1).  This was applied to you in your baptism.  The Scriptures tell us, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).  Therefore, the innocence of Christ covers over all your guilt, as the prophet Isaiah later proclaimed: “He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).  God’s mercy is given to sinners through Jesus. 

     After Isaiah’s unclean lips were purified, they were given a new and noble purpose.  “I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’  Then I said, ‘Here I am!  Send me’” (Isaiah 6:8).  God’s mercy was to be proclaimed by one to whom it was given.  Isaiah would go forth from the Lord and by his authority proclaim the word of the Lord to sinners.  It was the same for Peter and his friends.  They were shown mercy; they would be commissioned to go and proclaim God’s mercy to others.

      Now, none of us is a prophet or an apostle.  You are not pastors, either.  But you have been shown God’s mercy.  Your lips have been cleansed of sin and have been set apart for a noble purpose.  You get to do what Isaiah has called all of God’s people to do— “make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted” (Isaiah 12:4).  And who better than you to do it?  You know people who are trying to hide their sin and pretend that if they ignore it, God will too.  You know people like Peter who would beg God to go away from them so they are not confronted with their guilt.  You know people like Isaiah who are just flat-out terrified at the thought of God.  You might not know the specific shame or fear that they are hiding, but if people do not know God’s mercy, then they have no real way to deal with sin and death.  God’s mercy is proclaimed by those to whom it has been given.  It has been given to you.  It continues to be poured out upon you.  And you get to proclaim it to others.

     Maybe you feel inadequate to tell people about the mercies of God.  You may not be any better than Isaiah, Peter, or Jesus’ other disciples, but you are not worse, either.  They were all sinners; so are you.  But Jesus Christ came for sinners.  Therefore, you don’t need to pretend to be anything different.  The Christian faith is not about putting on a show; it is about a confession of faith in Jesus.  We are not Christians because we are better; we are Christians because Christ has taken away our sins and forgiven us.  We are God’s people because God has been merciful to us.  We remain in the Christian Church, not because we have learned how to behave, but because our Lord continues to cleanse us of every sin and to keep us covered in the righteousness of Jesus.  So, if you are proclaiming God’s mercy, you get to do it as someone who needs it just as much as anyone else you are talking to.

     The day will come when we will all stand in God’s presence.  Jesus will come in glory to judge the living and the dead.  While that can make anyone shudder, you need not fear.  You come regularly to dwell in his presence now.  You join with the song of the angels and sing, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of heavenly hosts; heaven and earth are full of your glory.”  He comes to you in mercy as you kneel before his altar.  The elements are taken from the altar, and the divine decree is given: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7).  He does not treat you as your sins deserve, but he is merciful and grants you a full pardon.  What better news is there to proclaim?  God’s mercy is proclaimed by those to whom it is given.  And it is given to you so that you can proclaim it to others.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.