The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

 The Calling of Prophets

02/09/25

This week is the fifth Sunday after Epiphany. I will be looking at the calling of two prophets. I want to start off by discussing what it means to be a prophet. The first thought that comes to mind when someone is said to be a prophet is that they have spoken about future events. Prophets are often thought of as foretellers of the future. But that is not always the case. A prophet is a messenger. It may be a grand prognostication about future events, but it may be a communication of facts or spiritual instructions that are directly applicable to our daily lives. I like to use the phrase foretelling vs forthtelling, or telling something forward to the audience that is listening. 

With that definition of prophet in mind we are going to look at both a New Testament and Old Testament prophet today. From our reading, we will be in Isaiah and Luke, looking specifically at early contact between the Holy Spirit and Isaiah and Peter as they are called into prophetic service for God. In both cases we see the men share a similar response to the experience.  Isaiah is recorded to say “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, … yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Peter’s response is similar, he exclaims “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Both men begin their response to God by declaring their unworthiness. Both men also responded with a risk taking act of faith, despite their feelings of unworthiness. The journey from feeling unworthy to living a life of purpose is fueled by risk taking obedience, revealing that worth is found in the surrender to a higher calling despite your limitations and imperfections.

Isaiah’s call to be a messenger for God is found in Isaiah chapter 6. It starts with a magnificent vision of God sitting on his throne. God is surrounded by angels each with six wings. They are singing continuous praises to God. The passage tells us that the thresholds of the house shook and the house filled with smoke. It was to this experience that Isaiah responds by declaring his unworthiness. In response to this declaration, one of the angels approaches the altar and picks up a red hot coal with a pair of tongs. It then approaches Isaiah with the burning coal and reaches to touch it to his lips. It is to this act that Isaiah must now decide how he will respond. Will he stand before the angel and allow him to press this burning coal into his face, or will he turn away. He has to choose in a second. He chooses to stand.

The angel then says to Isaiah, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” This is well and good for Isaiah. The angel of the Lord has burned away his guilt and he is apparently still able to speak. Now the Lord speaks. He is looking for a messenger that will go forth on his behalf to the people. Isaiah, with freshly cleansed lips and spirit, replies to God “Here am I, send me!” Did that one moment remove all of Isaiah's self-doubt? Probably not, but it did give him the courage to continue to respond to God. God then goes into detail about the message that Isaiah is to take to the people, and it is not an easy one. However, strengthened by this encounter with God, Isaiah continues to stand and agrees to go forward to be God’s voice to the people. He becomes a great prophet telling about the hard times ahead as well as about the future restoration that is promised. There is much we can learn from the message brought to Israel by Isaiah the prophet.

I don’t think there are many who would argue against Isaiah’s status as a prophet. That may not be the case for our second individual. Now I am turning to Luke chapter 5 and we will see a similar experience taking place for Peter. However, this experience does not happen in a vision. There is no fire and smoke, no Lord sitting on a throne surrounded by angels. Peter is sitting in his boat with his brother, mending his nets after a long and fruitless night on the water. Jesus approached, being pressed in by a crowd wanting to hear him speak. Jesus climbs into Peter’s boat and asks him to push out into the water so that he can speak to the crowd. Peter obeys, but this act does not require radical obedience. He is cleaning his nets, and that can be done at the shore line, or pushed out a little into the water. 

Peter was apparently happy to help this traveling preacher, one that he may have been introduced to but was not yet familiar with. He continues to work and listen as Jesus speaks to the people. Once Jesus is done speaking he turns to Peter with a request, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” On this surface this may not seem like much of a request then to push out from the shore. That is not the case. Peter and his partners had spent the night fishing. They had already completed the morning work of cleaning and mending the nets, after having no catch. Now it was time to rest. The next day's trip would be around soon and dropping the nets into the water, probably for another fruitless catch, would mean the mending and cleaning process would have to start over. Peter, after having heard the message of Jesus replies, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” This is Peter’s burning coal moment. Instead of facing a fire in his personal vision, Peter faces a possible failed public attempt at a catch, resulting in more work for him and his partner. Just like Isaiah, Peter submits to the experience. We need to take a minute to ask why. Peter was not having a heavenly vision of smoke and singing angels. Peter was sitting in a boat hearing a man give a message to the crowd. But something let Peter understand the significance of the experience. He begins his reply by calling Jesus master. The Spirit of God was at work in Jesus in such a way that Peter knew the power of the moment, and the authority of the man who was speaking to him.

Peter drops his nets. His brother may have looked at him suspiciously at first thinking about the work they had already completed and would have to repeat. However, the nets did not come back empty. As they tried to pull the net up, it began to tear and they had to call the other boat to come assist them. As they pulled the nets up into two boats they began to sink due to the weight of the fish. The Spirit continued to move on Peter and this is where he gives his confession of unworthiness. Overwhelmed by the power on display in Jesus, Peter wants to be left alone.

Jesus responds by telling them not to be afraid. He invites them to join him, and tells them that if they do they will no longer be fishermen, but would instead catch people. Just as Isaiah was called to speak to the people of his generation, Peter was called to be a messenger to his. We may ask, does that really make Peter a prophet? If we look ahead in his life we see again and again that he brings the message of Jesus to the people. He makes clear the mission that Jesus had given him. Peter was more than just one of 12 who followed Jesus for three years. Peter was a bold spokesman for Jesus. He declared his faith in Jesus boldly when even other disciples were being challenged by Jesus’ messages. More importantly, when the time came, Peter stood boldly in the public square and declared Jesus to be the Messiah.

These two prophets had very different experiences. One had a profound, heavenly vision, while the other simply allowed a man to use his boat. Both of these men were impacted by the Spirit of God in such a way that these experiences changed their lives. Both men knew they were sinful and unworthy of such a divine experience with God. Both men were put to a test that required them to take a risk, and both chose to obey. Both decided that risk taking obedience was the only way to respond to the Spirit of God in their presence. The result for both men was life changing.

Will you or I have a vision of angels praising God, and hear his voice? Will we have the opportunity to let the Son of God get into our car and ride around declaring his message? Probably not, but in what ways has the Spirit of God been present in our lives? More importantly, how have we responded?

Those are two important questions, but they are not the most important questions for us to consider. What is more important, perhaps far more important than what has been, is what will be. Every day we have opportunities to encounter the Spirit of God. We do not have to be pulled away into a heavenly vision, and we probably never will be. We live on the earth that God created, full of the people that God loves. It is in this place, with those people, that we are mostly likely to experience the Spirit of God. The Spirit can move in the most mundane of circumstances. When that happens we are likely to be overwhelmed. We are likely to feel unworthy of the experience. But will we look past that feeling and be obedient anyway?

A life of purpose does not mean we have a life that looks like Isaiah’s or that we are speaking to crowds like Peter. We each have a purpose that is specific for our time and our talents. We are called to serve God in a way that is appropriate for us. We may change the world, or we may just touch one individual life. We may even act in obedience and not see a single thing change. But if we decide not to act, then nothing can happen. Are you open to hearing the Spirit in your life, and then acting in obedience? The journey starts, and continues, with each step we take in response to the Spirit.

Thanks for reading.

David

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