Sermon for May 26, 2024: Send Me! based upon Isaiah 6:1-8

Isaiah 6:1-8 A Vision of God in the Temple
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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!’

Seraph by Johann

Isaiah was living in a time of crisis. We don’t actually know very much about Isaiah other than that he was a prophet and that he was living in a time of crisis. He is called the “Song of Amoz.” In his introduction to Isaiah, Walter Brueggemann notes that scholars generally believe that he lived in Jerusalem from 742 BCE to 689 BCE. In some parts of the collected prophecies we now call the book of Isaiah, it appears that Isaiah knew members of the royal court well enough to have conversations with them and even to get an informal meeting with the king. But, this is most of what we know of the prophet’s life outside of prophecies preserved in this text.

The prophecies themselves aren’t a product of one person sitting down to write up all of the messages they have received from God. Instead, it’s a product of generations of faithful curation that includes the prophecies of Isaiah as well as insights offered by later disciples of Isaiah. In his introduction to the book we call Isaiah, Joseph Bleckinsopp invites us to think of this work as an on-going communal interpretation from different times and occasions that are passed down and used to help make sense of the events of another, more recent era. When we read Isaiah, we’re reading the work of a people looking at lessons from the past to help them address the issues of the present.

As I said, Isaiah was living in a time of crisis, specifically jockeying for power among several smaller kingdoms, including Israel and Judah, and the threat of war from the large Kingdom of Assyria. As we know, in war, the suffering is not limited to the people who lead their countries into battle. According to Bleckinsopp, the whole of Isaiah is addressing the consequences of multiple wars: the Syro-Ephraimite War, Assyria’s invasion of Israel and takeover of territory in Judah, the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and capture of leaders who they took into exile, and finally, the return of those who were taken. Isaiah the prophet was alive and active during two of those events, the Syro-Ephraimite War and the Assyrian invasion. When you hear his call story, know that he felt this call to a prophetic mission in response to these significant tensions.

Isaiah’s vision is extraordinary, isn’t it? The prophet sees God sitting on a high throne in a robe so enormous and overflowing that its hem fills the temple. That is an incredible amount of fabric. Angelic being called seraphs are floating above God’s head. Remember, these aren’t cute little angel babies. According to Bleckinsopp, the word “seraph” literally means “burning one.” They might have been serpentine in form (they are in other parts of Isaiah, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). They have six wings. They cover parts of their body with some of the wings and fly with one set of them. These flying snakes are singing to each other as they fly around God: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of God’s glory.” We also sang that today. I’m sorry that I couldn’t provide flying snakes for our service.

Dr. Wil Gafney, in a commentary on this text, calls it “a visit into the presence of the living God.” And, this visit is completely harrowing and overwhelming. Kee Boem So, in his commentary on this text, talks about this moment as “tremendum mysterium”... a tremendous mystery. He notes that Isaiah, like many people who encounter a holy mystery, is overcome with feelings of shame. For what it’s worth, I don’t believe shame is the natural response to this kind of awe. But, I do understand how people can feel small in the face of grandeur, and in that smallness, feel unworthy. This definitely appears to be Isaiah’s impulse.  And yet, even as he feels unclean and unworthy, he is certain that he had seen God. It is good to be reminded that feelings of shame don’t keep you from also recognizing the divine.

A seraph flew to Isaiah with a hot coal, touching his mouth with it, and declaring him purified. Kee Boem So speaks of the next few verses as a movement encounter with the Divine to personal spiritual transformation which, then, empowers Isaiah to call for a second transformation, that is social transformation. It is rare in the Hebrew Bible to speak repentance and restoration in solely individual terms. The prophets aren’t roaming around yelling at individual people to try to get them to change their ways. Well, maybe they yell at kings sometimes, but that is usually because the king is leading the whole nation astray and the prophet is offering wisdom, exhortation, and correction from God to the whole nation. Prophets serve God by speaking to the people and offer a whole people message from their God.

Julián Andrés González Holguín, in his commentary on this text, points out that this particular reading emphasized the connection between an individual’s transformation to hope for a community’s transformation by placing Isaiah’s vision of God within the context of a political change of power. Uzziah has died. He served for many years. The crowning of a new king would be an important and tumultuous time in the life of the people. It is perhaps appropriate to have a new messenger from God appointed and empowered, ready to go to speak truth to whomever would be king. In the same way that God’s cloak will fill up every corner of the temple, Holguín argues that God’s sovereignty will “permeate” the nation. Isaiah will become one more conduit for the Spirit to move in this whole nation that was on the cusp of a dangerous and destructive time.

Isaiah sees God clearly and also sees the mission ahead clearly. He is unafraid. God asks a question, seemingly to the ether, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah seems to shout, “Here I am; send me!” He has been moved by the Divine. He has been empowered by the Divine. And, he is hopeful that the Spirit can help him show his nation that they can change. May we all remember Isaiah’s story when we are in awe and overwhelmed by our encounters with the Divine. All of our transformations are tied up with one another. Salvation is never just for one but for all. Kee Boem So says of this passage that our encounters with God can lead us to our responsibility in the world. May you hear clearly the voice of God inviting you into this work of love and justice. And, may all of us, like Isaiah, be willing to shout, “Send me!” when the time is right. 
 
Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
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Julián Andrés González Holguín: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/the-holy-trinity-2/commentary-on-isaiah-61-8-8

Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003)

Joseph Blenkinsopp's introduction to Isaiah in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Wil Gafney, "Epiphany V, " A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year B (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2023)

Kee Boem So, "First Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday)," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice , Ronald J. Allen, Dale P. Andrews, and Dawn Ottoni- Wilhelm, eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)