Isaiah 6:1-13
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!”
And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.” Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.
Luke 5:1-11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Jesus said, “From now on you will be catching people.” We usually take that to mean that Simon was being told that he would now be getting people to follow Jesus. But what if Jesus really meant that from here on out, Simon would be putting out his nets not for fish, but to catch people who, for whatever reason, were falling… to catch them before they went splat?
See someone falling into poverty? Catch ‘em! See someone falling into illness? Catch ‘em! See someone falling into exhaustion? Catch ‘em! See someone falling into life in a war zone? Catch ‘em! See someone falling into addiction? Catch ‘em! See someone falling into loneliness? Catch ‘em! See someone falling into persecution? Catch ‘em! See someone falling into fear, anxiety, or despair? Catch ‘em!
In spite of all the sermons you’ve heard on this and in spite of all the sermons I’ve PREACHED on this, I’m coming to believe that Jesus wasn’t so much talking about “saving people” as in converting people to a new religion but about SAVING PEOPLE as in trying to catch people, who for whatever reason, are on their way to going “splat” in this life!
This past week, the work of Lutheran Social Services was attacked by Elon Musk as “an illegal use of Federal funds” and by Michael Flynn as a “money laundering operation.” In reality, Lutheran Social Services provides services outlined in legal, government contracts in the exact same way that Tesla and Space X provide services outlined in legal government contracts. They don't mind government contracts. They just don't like the idea of putting out nets to try and catch people who are falling! The libelous statements about contracts are just a smoke screen. It’s the organized, willful, enacting of cruelty at work behind the smoke that is the greatest evil.
Scripture… both todays lectionary readings… and the Scriptures as a whole are clear on what God prefers. The Gospel lesson shows us God’s preference is for catching people as they fall. The lesson from Isaiah, on the other hand, shows us what God thinks of those who embrace cruelty when God has called for mercy and compassion. In the chapters leading up to today’s first lesson, we learn that King Uzziah was called by God to build the Nation of Israel into a beacon of light for the world. It was to become that beacon by completely embracing of God’s Ways of love, compassion, grace, kindness, mercy and a self sacrificial care of the neighbor. Do that, God told him, and the nations of the world will stream in to learn from you how to be a successful nation and it will change the world!
Instead, King Uzziah used the power and wealth he had been given for himself rather than as tools to lead the people into God’s Ways of compassion, mercy, humility, and kindness. He convinced himself that since he had the might, that made his way of thinking right. He began to believe he could do anything… go anywhere. His arrogance deluded him so completely in fact, that he convinced himself that it would be God’s honor to host the king for a visit in God's Holy of Holies. As the king arrogantly pushed his way into God’s house, his face broke out in leprosy and in an instant, the king went from a person who could see anyone, to a person who could see no one. From a person who could go anywhere, to a person who could go nowhere. Eventually that disease, born of the king’s cruel, haughty arrogance, brought King Uzziah to the year of his death, which brings us to the opening line of today’s first reading.
In today's lesson Isaiah is tasked to bring God's message to all the people who had backed the ways of their now-dead king. The message was that God, so disgusted by the arrogance, cruelty, and evil of the king and his supporters, was in the process of walking out of Temple in utter disgust! That, some commentators believe, is the real reason Isaiah saw just the hem of God’s robe. God was outta there! “Talk to the hem, the Divine ain’t listening!” Only a tiny, limbless, leafless stump tasked with remembering and passing on God’s dream to a future generation would remain.
The choices these lessons present for humanity could not be more clear. We must choose to walk through this life the Jesus way or the King Uzziah way. Will we choose Justice or Injustice? Kindness or Cruelty? Humility or Haughtiness? For our little, faithful stump here at the center of the Sheffield metroplex, I am certain we will continue to choose to put out the nets of mercy, kindness, and compassion as we always have. We will continue to put out our nets even when the king du jour calls mercy “nastiness” and all the king’s men turn cruelty into policy.
And why will we continue to put out our nets? For the simple reason that someone right now is falling into hunger and we've been called to do what? To catch ‘em! Someone right now is falling into illness. So what will we do? We’ll Catch ‘em! Someone right this very minute is falling into exhaustion, addiction, loneliness, persecution, fear, anxiety and despair! So what will the Lutherpalians of Christ Trinity church choose to do about it? We will, as we always have, choose to do justice, love kindness, and with humility… put out our nets and do all we can to catch anyone and everyone who, for whatever reason, needs catching! Amen.
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