Ordinary 5

The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C – 2016 Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11; Luke 5:1-11

The house my family resides in is over 200 years old, the first house on the block near the Old Champlain Canal in Waterford. The main rooms still have tin ceilings and wooden columns separate the living room from the dinner room. I remember the occasions when dad repainted the rooms; the walls were stripped, the furniture covered and he would remove the shades from the lamps. There is no light as stark and piercing as that from a bare light bulb. Its intensity revealed every blemish and imperfection in the walls. Put the shade back on and those flaws blended unseen back into the wall. But the reality is the imperfections were still there.

That is exactly what happened to Isaiah, Paul and Peter. They had experiences that brought them very close to the light of God’s being and presence and it blatantly revealed to them all of their sins. “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips…”   “as to one born abnormally, [Jesus] appeared to me. For I am…not fit to be called an apostle…” “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” All three men express the reality of their lives; a reality of sinfulness that can only be known when we are in the presence of God’s holiness.

But that’s not what most of us do I expect; I don’t. What do we do?

Don’t we compare ourselves to each other? In so doing we always come out looking pretty good, don’t we. Face it, there is always someone worse, more sinful, than we are (at least by our judgment) and there is always people we think we are better than. By such comparisons, instead of absolving ourselves, we compound our sinfulness by committing the sins of pride and of judging others. What we desire to avoid, facing the truth about our spiritual and moral lives, is the path on which we fall headlong into deeper sin; a false sense of holiness and goodness. Remember the response of the Scottish preacher Robert Murray M’Cheyne: “If you could see into my heart, you would spit in my face.”   Do we want to look into our own hearts?   What would we find, if we did?

Jesus teaches that what most defiles a person are the sins that come out of us: “evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, false witness, arrogance, folly”. [See Mark 7:20-23 and Matthew 15:18] Yet what have many people said to me over the years in self absolution, “But Father, I haven’t murdered anyone.” The philosophy of “I’m OK, You’re OK”.

• Why do we consider murder the worst of sins! Yet Jesus is very clear that anger and slander are equivalent to murder. I expect that makes us a room of murderers.

• Adultery doesn’t begin in the bedroom; it begins when we betray our commitments to those we say we love; when we do not enter into the hard work of relationship building. Adultery is not about sex. It is about betrayal.

• How much unchastity today begins with pornography? The web has made so easy in the privacy and darkness of our homes. In the darkness where no bare light bulbs of God’s holiness can pierce our consciences.

• Theft. It’s not just a matter of money anymore. Consider, have you ever made a copy of a CD to give to a friend? If yes, you are a thief. You have stolen from the composer, the producer, the manufacturer, the distributor, the retailer!   Technology has allowed anyone to reproduce almost anything.  Have you stolen a person’s reputation – not just by the spreading of rumors or slander but by speaking the truth? The Greek philosopher Socrates understood that even speaking the truth about a person can steal a reputation. Do other people have a need to know what we know? Will the sharing of such knowledge bring about a good result or be for a good purpose?

• Does not envy give birth to greed which in turn births deceit? The letter of James puts it succinctly: “You want but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. Adulterers! Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God?” [James 4:2,4] If adultery is rooted in betrayal, it can also refer to our relationship with God. The ancients called it by another name, idolatry.

• How often is false witnessing against a person hidden behind innuendo or worse, silence?

But as long as we compare ourselves to other people we can come out looking pretty good. In the light of other people’s actions and thoughts we are not so sinful, and so, do we ever acknowledge the need to repent, to be sorry for our sins (which aren’t so bad in comparison to other people’s sins) and thus be converted to Jesus Christ?

But we are not called to compare ourselves to other people are we; but to the thrice-holy God! “Be holy, for I the Lord, your God, am holy” [Leviticus 19:2]. God’s holiness is the criteria not out self-righteous comparisons to other people. In the light of God’s holiness, like the bare light bulb, we see our own sinful condition revealed in all its starkness.

But what is holiness? What is this stark light that pierces the soul? What primarily underlies the Semitic understanding of holiness is the concept of cutting off or separation. God’s holiness is what separates God from all other beings.

For example:

From all bread and wine, we separate out some wine and bread to bless and become the Body and Blood of Christ.  From all olive oil, we separate some olive oil and set it apart as the Oil of Chrism used in Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders.  From all time, we set aside one day each week, Sunday and various seasons for rest, worship and renewal.  From all space, we set aside some spaces solely for sacred rites.  From all people, we separate out some people to be bishops, priests, deacons, and married couples.  Thus Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.

It is the separateness that is the essence of holiness. God’s holiness is more than just God’s perfection or sinless purity; it is the essence of “other-ness” or “transcendence”. When we are in the presence of such “other-ness” are own lack of perfection, purity and being earthbound are made evident.

This encounter with transcendence, with holiness, can happen at any time: at work (fishing), as in the case of Peter; on a mission of questionable integrity (the persecution of the early followers of Jesus), as in the case of Paul; or in prayer, as in the case of Isaiah. In all these instances the encounter is initiated by God. And despite, or maybe because of the revealing of their sins each person is not judged but rather given a call. All three men will work for God in spite of their sinfulness and imperfections. Paul is called to become an apostle, preacher and a founder of Churches. Isaiah gains the courage to offer himself to speak for God, (“Here I am, send me!”) and becomes a prophet. Simon Peter becomes a fisher of men and women. Having been in the presence of the light, the shade is placed back on the lamp. The flaws blend seamlessly back into the wall. And though the sins of Peter, Isaiah and Paul are still present God’s grace abounds.

If holiness is separation, then what are you being sifted out from all other people to do for God? The approaching holy season of Lent-Easter (a 90 day spiritual journey) maybe a holy retreat time for us to pray for the encounter which in starkly revealing to us our sins will also reveal to us what God, who is holy, is calling us to do.

Thus being conscious of the presence of God, let us join our voices to those of the Seraphim and Cherubim, the Powers and Dominions, the Archangels and Angels as we do at each Eucharist and sing: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory!”  [Isaiah 6:3; See Revelation 4:8; See the Roman Missal]