Meditation for December 10, 2008

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Isaiah 6:1-8 and John 7:53-8:11

Isaiah 6:1-8

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’ 
4The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5And I said: ‘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!’

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’

John 7:53-8:11

53Then each of them went home, 1while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ 6They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ 8And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ 11She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

Life After Forgiveness

Two of our readings in the Daily Office today have similar themes, it seems to me. Guilt and/or a sense of unworthiness is established. In Isaiah’s case, it comes from within. In his vision of the Lord sitting on a throne in the temple, he becomes so aware of the holiness of God that he becomes overwhelmed by that holiness, and almost immediately becomes aware of his own shortcomings and "uncleanness" (and how unclean the people of Israel are, too). In the case of the woman caught in adultery, her guilt was established by being "caught in the act". (verse 4)

And yet, for neither Isaiah nor for the woman is that the end of the story.

As soon as Isaiah confesses his profound sense of being lost and being "a man of unclean lips" (verse 5), a seraph flies to him and touches a live coal to his mouth, and he hears, "... your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out."

The scribes and Pharisees (all men, of course) surround this woman and tell Jesus that according to the commandment of Moses, she should be stoned, and what does he have to say about her? We are told that they were testing Jesus, that they might bring some charges against him, based on his answer. (verse 6) After gathering himself and writing something on the ground - we aren’t really sure what he wrote, although some ancient Biblical authorities add that the second time (verse 8) he wrote the sins of each her accusers on the ground - Jesus puts them to the test. It is a test of honesty, really. "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (verse 7) One by one, beginning with the elders, they walked away. She is not condemned, by the men or by Jesus. He does say to her, "Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."

After Isaiah’s sins were blotted out, he was commissioned as a prophet, and sent by God to give the faithless people of Israel a stern message. He delivered it.

We don’t know what happened to the woman caught in adultery. But I think we can make some guesses. If it were you, how would you react to Jesus’ message? You were just about to be stoned to death by a bunch of religious, self-righteous men, and then this happens. She had to have felt that her life was spared for a reason. She must have been highly motivated to discover what God wanted her to do with her life, just as Isaiah discovered his calling. Would it surprise you at all to meet this woman one day in heaven and discover what a powerful witness she became for Christ - after this incident?

You and I are sometimes like Isaiah. We are given the gift of an encounter with God, and sometimes it is almost too much for us to bear. We can totally relate to what Isaiah felt. "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a person of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet [this also is true] my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" In the midst of experiencing God’s power and holiness, we come face to face with our own unworthiness.

You and I are sometimes like the scribes and the Pharisees. We want to pronounce judgment and condemnation on another human being, either with our words, our thoughts, or our actions. (Often we are too wimpy to condemn someone to his/her face, so we condemn them in our minds and in our hearts - with our awful thoughts.) What’s interesting about the story from John, of course, is that the implication is that no sin is worse than any other sin. They were all in need of forgiveness - the scribes and the Pharisees as much as the woman caught in adultery. It’s enough to make you wonder if any of them, after walking away, sought out Jesus again and fell at his feet, saying, "Lord, have mercy! Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a person of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips!"

The good news is that there is always new life for us after we come to our senses, and confess our sins. God not only "wipes the slate clean", and blots out our sins, as God did for Isaiah and this woman. God also calls us into new life. The Lord says to you and to me, "Leave that old way of sin and self-destruction and broken relationships behind, and follow me. I have some work for you to do. It involves love and service and testimony and doing things that you cannot do without my help - taking risks of faith."

We are called into a whole new life. We are called to conversion. We are called to walk with our Lord, and see as He sees, and hear as He hears. And it is all made possible because we have been forgiven, and set free - free to enter, without fear or reproach, into this new life. We are set free in such a way that we can say, without hesitation, "Here I am! Send me!" Thanks be to God!