Called to be Sent

Epiphany + 5

Year C

9 February 2025

Isaiah 6:1-8(9-13)

Psalm 138

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Luke 5:1-11

Loving God,

you have called forth disciples

to live and speak your word.

May we hear, respond,

and proclaim the good news of salvation,

which we know in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

________________________________________

I have to admit, the texts assigned for today are among some of my favourite passages. In today’s texts, we see Seraph’s, for the first time as they serve God the Father, in Isaiah’s text.

Isaiah tells us: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs 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.” (Isa 6:1b-2)

Today we encounter Paul exhorting us to lives of faith, saying: “Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved” (1 Cor 15:1-2a)

And here we encounter another miracle of Jesus, although it may not be what we expect.

The gospel tells us: “4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’: (Lk 5:4)

And throughout these readings, today, we find God at work in the world, in the hearts of the faithful, and in the lives of those who doubt. We find God at work offering forgiveness in the face of heartfelt confession.

Now, don’t get me wrong; to doubt within a life of faith isn’t a bad thing. Rather it encourages us to seek answers to the questions that beat against our hearts, like a moth fluttering against a porch light.

Paul tells us: “Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.” (1 Cor 15:1-2)

Paul recognizes that the message of salvation, for those of us who stand distant from the salvific actions of Jesus through the cross can be difficult to believe.

And yet we continue to find teachers and inspiration to help us find our way into a life of faith, and of discipleship in life, and in the pages of the bible.

Paul tells us: “I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.” (1 Cor 15:3-4)

He sees that some of us need to step back from a life of faith to get a better perspective on God’s action in the world before we’re ready to be a part of it, and he gives us his own life as an example.

“8Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” (1 Cor 15:8-10)

And we find that Paul isn’t the only ambassador of faith in the face of self-doubt and fear that we meet, today. We have Isaiah and his reaction when he realizes that he stands before the Most High God, in the Temple, with nothing between them, and he laments.

“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. … 5And 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!’” (Isa 6:1, 5)

And from Luke, we meet Simon Peter for the first time: “4When [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. … 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’” (Lk 5:3b-6, 8)

What we find in all of these texts isn’t just the doubts of the speaker regarding a life of faith, of a life seeking God, but also how God responds to our searches.

Paul, before he was Paul, was zealous for what he thought was the way God intended to treat those who stepped outside of the Mosaic covenant to follow Jesus, the Messiah, as we do, still today.

And yet God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, redirect his zealous energy to bring that message of love and grace to a wider world than they had ever imagined.

He doesn’t hide his past from the communities in which he shares the message of God’s love and salvation but rather he points out that through God’s intervention in his life they are in a position to learn of the love, and the grace, of God through his witness, his testimony, and to take this message not only into their lives and ministry in our own settings, and in our own lives.

“8Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain.” (1 Cor 15:8-10)

For Isaiah, God is looking for a prophet, and because of this,  Isaiah has given us one of the most influential books of the Old Testament / the Hebrew Bible, from a Christian perspective.

And yet it begins with Isaiah’s lament because he is a man of sin standing before the one who is sinless.

He tells us: “Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The 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.’ 8Then 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!’” (6:6-8)

And thus begins Isaiah’s journey as the prophet of God which gives us much to anticipate when we look back at the life of Christ, at the teachings of Jesus, and how the Messiah’s salvific action was foretold in the words of not just Isaiah but the other prophets, as well.

But I think the most interesting, today, is Simon Peter.

Here we meet a self-assured fisherman, who probably has a somewhat sardonic view on life as a Jewish citizen in a Roman dominated world. And he just happens to be mending his gear to prepare for another night of fishing where Jesus is teaching.

And Jesus tells Simon Peter to go out to deep water and let down the nets.

So, what is Simon Peter thinking? He’s in his own element and knows this isn’t a good time of day to fish.

He’s not been pulled into God’s presence of the Most High like Isaiah, he’s sitting in the boat, under the beating sun and he’s tired. He’s probably thinking that this itinerant preacher doesn’t know his fishhooks from his gaff hooks, and yet he’s telling him to let down the nets in deep water.

And the fish are there.

And Simon Peter the only thing he can say is: “‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’” (Lk 5:8b)

He falls on his face, in the midst of newly the caught fish before Jesus and begs him to go away because he like Isaiah before him and like Paul after him are in a state of sin. But like the fish, they’re all caught.

Isaiah, Simon Peter, and Paul don’t see themselves as worthy to follow where God leads, to teach how God needs them to teach, or to prophesy messages that the people won’t interpret until it’s in hindsight, on the road to Emmaus.

And when we look at our own lives, how do we stack up against these pillars of our faith?

Are we as hip deep in the muck of sin as they are? Or do we delude ourselves, as Paul used to into believing that we are the righteous hand of God persecuting all before us who don’t believe as we do?

But in each of these texts, God doesn’t leave us struggling to be clean of sin. Or struggling with the concept of sin.  

Jesus doesn’t accept that because of sin we are unworthy of salvation, of learning, of eventually assuming roles of leadership.

Rather through God’s forgiveness, through Jesus passion, death, and resurrection we are in a perfect place to know how to reach those who because of doubts, because of fear caused by sin have stepped back, but still need to step forward, once again.

For Isaiah, the Seraph takes a live coal from the altar of God, and touches his lips with it, blotting out his state of sin. His mouth is cleansed so that he is able to deliver God’s words of prophesy to the world of his time and place telling the world what he declares from God.

For Paul, he admits that Jesus love knocked him off his ass, or onto his ass in the road and broke the chaff from his heart showing him how love is a so much better way to bring the message of Jesus teachings than persecution ever was, and he carries that message to the world outside of Israel.

And for Simon Peter, well, his journey moves from being face down among flapping fish to becoming the rock upon which Jesus built the foundations of the church is found in the pages of the gospels, and in Acts; and yes, mistakes are made along the way.

Yes, sin has the ability to derail us. It separates us from the love of God, but we are given the right of confession and forgiveness.

We are given the ability to stand in God’s presence because of Jesus. We have the chance to be that example of living into God’s love for the person next to us who, like Isaiah, Paul, and Simon Peter feels that God’s greatness is meant for someone else, not for them.

“Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.” (Lk 5:10b-11)

When we trust where God will lead us, when we are willing to let go of what keeps us from accepting God’s offer to follow, to proclaim, to teach, then our impact might be smaller than theirs, but no less important in a world where we forget who it is that loves us even before we were created.

Today we see God’s forgiveness, and not only that sets us on the path to help others to also see how they likewise are able to forgive and be forgiven.

Amen.