St John 3:1-15/Isaiah 6:1-7/Romans 11:33-36
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Lips that have uttered falsehood and slandered friends and neighbors. Lips that have kissed the idols of money and power and pride. Adulterous lips that have whispered into unwed ears. Lips pursed in wrathful hate. And not only lips, but hands and feet and soul and mind have embraced sin. And all is unclean.
Repent. If these are the thoughts, words, and deeds of the prophet Isaiah, what hope is there for you to stand in the presence of the Holy Trinity? For as St Paul says, He owes you nothing; for who has given a gift to God that he might be repaid? The Creator cannot be in debt to His creation; and there is no one righteousness, no not one. All must stand as Isaiah: unclean, trembling, fearful in the presence of God.
Yet rejoice this day, beloved, for you have been shown mercy to behold the glorious and mysterious thrice Holy God. From the altar of incense comes the cleansing of Isaiah – a white hot holiness that burns off the unclean sores from his sin-chapped lips and makes him new, makes him fit, makes him holy with the Trinity’s own holiness that he might be worthy to stand in the presence of God.
And how is this so? How can this be? Of what are these things that not even the Teacher of Israel understands, yet the mouths of babes and nursing infants confess? What is the meaning of this burning coal to cleanse Isaiah? My dear ones, this burning coal is none other than the Lamb of God, the pure and holy Second Person of the Trinity. It is not just plain wood, but wood that has been joined to the fire of sacrifice that cleanses Isaiah. It is written, Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12) and our Lord says, I came to set fire on the earth and would that it were already kindled (Lk 12)!
And so it is that the Second Person of the Trinity touches your humanity. He shares in flesh like Isaiah’s that He might cleanse him and you and all the world by His once for all Sacrifice. For He is both God and Man, fire and wood, assuming your humanity into the Godhead that you might share in His divinity.
For the love of the Holy Trinity is so great that it spills out of the bounds of the Trinity into His creation. He owes you nothing, yet has given you everything! For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things! The Father loves the world in this way: He sends His only begotten Son, God of God, Light of Light, to take up human flesh that He might cleanse humanity from head to toe.
The Father lays upon the Son the sins of the world that He might bear them in His body on the Cross; for them endure the scorching wrath of the Father. , And thus the Son of Man who is the Son of God, is high and lifted up on the throne of the Cross, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. And all who have been poisoned by fiery venom of that ancient serpent the devil might look to Jesus and receive healing and cleansing.
For no one can enter the kingdom of God with unclean lips. Indeed no one can enter the kingdom of God with any uncleanness at all. You must be remade from head to toe. You must be begotten from above by water and the Spirit. You must be made anew, become a new creation.
It is not enough to merely gaze at the Father’s Son upon the Cross – Jesus must be brought to you and touch your lips and cleanse you, just as happened to Isaiah. So the Holy Spirit, the divine tongs, as it were, the bond of Love between the Father and the Son, proceeds to bring the Love of the Trinity to you. For the Spirit breathes where He wills, Jesus says, that is, He brings the breath of Life to undone, dead, lost creatures, like you.
And as Isaiah found the experience is a bracing one. Indeed, Jesus calls it a new birth. And just as man’s first birth is a traumatic event, so it is with the second. For in Baptism the Holy Spirit has plunged you into the life of God; He has drown you in the death of Christ and raised you to new life in Him!
And now you are clean, forgiven, begotten from above, God’s own beloved child, baptized into Christ. For the inscrutable, upside down mercy of God is this: Christ was judged to the sin of the world and you have been baptized into His righteousness. (It is a sweet swap) Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
Yes you still struggle in this decaying world of sin and frailty. You are not home yet. You still sojourn here on earth. But the Holy Trinity has won the victory for you. The Father loves you and sent His Son to die for you, and He now gives you His Holy Spirit as the down payment on your ultimate redemption: the resurrection of the dead. You are now destined to live with the most Holy Trinity in blessedness forever. And since this is your destiny in Christ, then nothing in this world can harm you – not even death.
So you who have been begotten from above by water and the Spirit, you baptized children of the Father, whose lips are unclean, and hands, and heart as well – Come, have them cleansed. Have the Word of God burn new words your lips and in your hearts, true words, God’s own Word, the words the Seraphim sing in ceaseless praise: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, God of Sabaoth.
And then, have that Word made flesh touch your lips and singe you clean. For the Body of our Lord is a purer heat and a more refining fire than any coal of incense. He places it on your lips and you are forgiven, the sin is removed, your guilt atoned for, you are cleansed.
What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that You visit him? Yet in Christ He has crowed you with glory and honor.
This is the catholic faith: we worship One God in Three Persons and Three Persons in One God by receiving the gift of the forgiveness of our sins, eternal salvation, mercy, grace, peace, joy, and life everlasting brought to us in the wonderful salvation worked by God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to Him be glory forever. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Lips that have uttered falsehood and slandered friends and neighbors. Lips that have kissed the idols of money and power and pride. Adulterous lips that have whispered into unwed ears. Lips pursed in wrathful hate. And not only lips, but hands and feet and soul and mind have embraced sin. And all is unclean.
Repent. If these are the thoughts, words, and deeds of the prophet Isaiah, what hope is there for you to stand in the presence of the Holy Trinity? For as St Paul says, He owes you nothing; for who has given a gift to God that he might be repaid? The Creator cannot be in debt to His creation; and there is no one righteousness, no not one. All must stand as Isaiah: unclean, trembling, fearful in the presence of God.
Yet rejoice this day, beloved, for you have been shown mercy to behold the glorious and mysterious thrice Holy God. From the altar of incense comes the cleansing of Isaiah – a white hot holiness that burns off the unclean sores from his sin-chapped lips and makes him new, makes him fit, makes him holy with the Trinity’s own holiness that he might be worthy to stand in the presence of God.
And how is this so? How can this be? Of what are these things that not even the Teacher of Israel understands, yet the mouths of babes and nursing infants confess? What is the meaning of this burning coal to cleanse Isaiah? My dear ones, this burning coal is none other than the Lamb of God, the pure and holy Second Person of the Trinity. It is not just plain wood, but wood that has been joined to the fire of sacrifice that cleanses Isaiah. It is written, Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12) and our Lord says, I came to set fire on the earth and would that it were already kindled (Lk 12)!
And so it is that the Second Person of the Trinity touches your humanity. He shares in flesh like Isaiah’s that He might cleanse him and you and all the world by His once for all Sacrifice. For He is both God and Man, fire and wood, assuming your humanity into the Godhead that you might share in His divinity.
For the love of the Holy Trinity is so great that it spills out of the bounds of the Trinity into His creation. He owes you nothing, yet has given you everything! For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things! The Father loves the world in this way: He sends His only begotten Son, God of God, Light of Light, to take up human flesh that He might cleanse humanity from head to toe.
The Father lays upon the Son the sins of the world that He might bear them in His body on the Cross; for them endure the scorching wrath of the Father. , And thus the Son of Man who is the Son of God, is high and lifted up on the throne of the Cross, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. And all who have been poisoned by fiery venom of that ancient serpent the devil might look to Jesus and receive healing and cleansing.
For no one can enter the kingdom of God with unclean lips. Indeed no one can enter the kingdom of God with any uncleanness at all. You must be remade from head to toe. You must be begotten from above by water and the Spirit. You must be made anew, become a new creation.
It is not enough to merely gaze at the Father’s Son upon the Cross – Jesus must be brought to you and touch your lips and cleanse you, just as happened to Isaiah. So the Holy Spirit, the divine tongs, as it were, the bond of Love between the Father and the Son, proceeds to bring the Love of the Trinity to you. For the Spirit breathes where He wills, Jesus says, that is, He brings the breath of Life to undone, dead, lost creatures, like you.
And as Isaiah found the experience is a bracing one. Indeed, Jesus calls it a new birth. And just as man’s first birth is a traumatic event, so it is with the second. For in Baptism the Holy Spirit has plunged you into the life of God; He has drown you in the death of Christ and raised you to new life in Him!
And now you are clean, forgiven, begotten from above, God’s own beloved child, baptized into Christ. For the inscrutable, upside down mercy of God is this: Christ was judged to the sin of the world and you have been baptized into His righteousness. (It is a sweet swap) Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
Yes you still struggle in this decaying world of sin and frailty. You are not home yet. You still sojourn here on earth. But the Holy Trinity has won the victory for you. The Father loves you and sent His Son to die for you, and He now gives you His Holy Spirit as the down payment on your ultimate redemption: the resurrection of the dead. You are now destined to live with the most Holy Trinity in blessedness forever. And since this is your destiny in Christ, then nothing in this world can harm you – not even death.
So you who have been begotten from above by water and the Spirit, you baptized children of the Father, whose lips are unclean, and hands, and heart as well – Come, have them cleansed. Have the Word of God burn new words your lips and in your hearts, true words, God’s own Word, the words the Seraphim sing in ceaseless praise: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, God of Sabaoth.
And then, have that Word made flesh touch your lips and singe you clean. For the Body of our Lord is a purer heat and a more refining fire than any coal of incense. He places it on your lips and you are forgiven, the sin is removed, your guilt atoned for, you are cleansed.
What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that You visit him? Yet in Christ He has crowed you with glory and honor.
This is the catholic faith: we worship One God in Three Persons and Three Persons in One God by receiving the gift of the forgiveness of our sins, eternal salvation, mercy, grace, peace, joy, and life everlasting brought to us in the wonderful salvation worked by God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to Him be glory forever. Amen.
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