What the Prophet Saw

Back in The Day, we Jr.-Hi boys would spend all our nickels at Rocky Glen Park on the old Nickelodeon machines, where you’d crank a handle and see a “racy” victorian scene: What the Butler Saw. The machines rarely worked..and were always disappointing. Scriptures read this weekend are intended to help humanity see God–or at least appreciate God’s other-ness. They deal with meeting God in a Holy Place or at the seashore. Seems God is everywhere…

ISAIAH 6:1-8 is a passage well-known to every “professional” minister. It compares the majesty of God with the human realization that we’re small imperfect creatures. Says the prophet on our behalf, “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!” But a messenger of the Lord touched Isaiah’s mouth with a hot coal from the altar, burning the sin away. In response, the prophet volunteered to take the divine message to the world: “Here am I; send me!” The story isn’t so much about Isaiah as it is the magnanimity of God’s Grace. The hearer is encouraged to respond in faithful reaction; but God moves first… Isaiah doesn’t heal himself, indeed he cannot; yet he acknowledges God’s might in changing his life, which is more than he can do with any resolutions.

I CORINTHIANS 15:1-11 is one of those Pauline passages emphasizing the divinity and permanence of Christ. Through a litany of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, Paul reminds the Church of their dependence upon Grace. This tweaks our ethic of Being Good, for indeed we ARE a people of unclean lips! Our conduct is to reflect our beliefs. We walk the slippery slope leading to perfection only by Grace, realizing that our world still has brokenness, poverty and homelessness. How do we encounter the risen Lord in all of this??

The billboard reads, “You catch ’em, I’ll clean ’em!”–referring, I suppose, to LUKE 5:1-11. And the message about making James, John & Peter “fishers of humans” is indeed worthy. But there’s more to this story: here is Immanuel (God With Us) being recognized by the crowd and needing a better podium from which to teach about the Kingdom of God. Does the immense catch of fish serve as a reward to Peter for the rental of his boat? or is the point of the tale Peter’s confession of his own shortcomings…? Yet another life being changed by the perception of God!

Unlike the balky nickelodeon machines, the vision of the Holy never disappoints. God seems to like being seen, although we rarely appreciate the holy vision until it appears. This season of Epiphany is created to point to the places where we can point to God! Where will the Lord show up today?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday I’m privileged to stand in awe of scripture to be read on the upcoming weekend: join me at horacebrownking.com