Seeing the Complete Package

Isaiah 6:1-8, the First Lesson appointed for Trinity Sunday in the Year of Mark, is a great example of a text that invites us to see something.  We are invited to see the hem of the Lord's robe filling the temple; we are invited to see the seraphs swooping about, crying out "Holy, holy, holy"; we are invited to see the thresholds shaking and the house of God filling with smoke.  It is a very vivid scene.  This will be our task as preachers - to help our listeners see this scene as well.

(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but only offered as a way of getting at some fundamental concerns of Law and Gospel preachers.  For more insight into this unique genre of preaching see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  This brief text is the whole package, if you will.  First, we hear the Law:  "I am lost for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips."  Then we hear the word of Gospel:  "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."  Finally we hear a call to obedience:  "Whom shall I send?...Here I am; send me!"  The complete package.

2.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  We are the prophet who sees this vision - the ones who are lost; the ones whose sins are blotted out; the ones who are called to go out and speak the gospel.

3.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  As I said above, the call to obedience is within this text.  It is instructive to note, however, that the call only comes following the absolution.  God does not call us to obedience, without first calling us to repentance.

4.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text?  Because this text is so complete, we can readily see the couplets that are present:  unclean/cleansed; sinner/forgiven; terrified/confident.

5.  Exegetical work:  The ancient commentators have much to say about this call of Isaiah.  Some notes of interest center around the understanding of the live coals which touch the prophet's lips and cause sin to be blotted out.  Cyril of Alexandria thought that these coals were God's word:  "By saying, 'taken from the altar with tongs,' Isaiah means that we receive faith in and knowledge of Christ from the teachings or announcements in the law and the prophets, in which the word of the holy apostles confirms the truth."  John of Damascus, on the other hand, equated the live coals with the sacrament of the altar:  "Isaiah saw a live coal, and this coal was not plain wood but wood joined with fire.  Thus also, the bread of communion is not plain bread but bread joined with the Godhead."  St. Jerome makes much of the order of events in this vision:  "As long as Isaiah's tongue was treacherous and his lips unclean, the Lord does not say to him, Whom shall I send, and who shall go? His lips are cleansed, and immediately he is appointed the Lord's spokesman; hence it is true that the person with unclean lips cannot prophesy, nor can he be sent in obedient service to God."  (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, OT, vol. X, pp. 47-55).

6.  How does the Crossings Community model work with this text?  Steven Albertin does a fine job of ferreting out the layers of Law and Gospel that exist in this text.  He notes that the external layer of the Law is right there in the opening line, when we learn that King Uzziah died.  In other words, we are mortal, kings included.  He goes on to say that our recognition of our uncleanness is the second layer of our lostness, and the cry, "Woe is me!" is the third.  The layers of the Gospel are also to be found in this text.  To see the entire analysis, go to crossings.org/text-study.

Blessings on your proclamation!