Homily: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
As
the director of seminarians for our diocese, I have the honor of accompanying
the men who are discerning and receiving formation for priesthood (two from
your own pastorate here!). Most of these
men, at some point in their discernment, will come face to face with a truth
that is prominent in our scriptures today: a sense—perhaps even a
conviction—that he is unworthy of the call that God is giving him.
When
this happens and they share this with me, I tell them that I am grateful that
they are having this experience.
Grateful, because it tells me that they are deeply getting in touch with
who they are, who God is, and what this call to priesthood really means. In other words, they are acknowledging that they
are sinful men, that, although God is merciful, he is not to be messed with,
and that being a priest carries with it a heavy responsibility of
accountability—heavier than for others—for which he will have to answer. This is a critical moment for a young man
discerning priesthood, because he has to decide whether he will trust that God
can and will give him the grace to overcome his sinfulness and carry the
responsibility. In these short verses
from our scriptures today, we see this same pattern working out.
Isaiah
the prophet is a good Jew—“a righteous man” is the way that we hear men like
him described. God has a calling for
him, however, and so he gives Isaiah a vision; and what an extraordinary vision
it is, right! Almost nowhere else do we
have recorded that God gives a vision of himself on his throne in heaven: not
even the great Moses got such a vision!
I find it so fitting then, that what we hear first is an account of what
seems to be Isaiah’s awe and wonder at such a vision: “I saw the Lord seated on
a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above. They all cried one to the other, ‘Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts! All the earth is full of his glory!’”
Then,
as if he suddenly comes to his senses and remembers who he is, he panics
because he remembers what he had been taught: “No one who is not pure can see
God and live.” He confesses his
sinfulness—“Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living
among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
hosts!” Yet, instead of condemning him
to death or dismissing his sinfulness, a seraphim carried an ember from the
altar—the place of sacrifice and, therefore, purity—and touched his lips, the
very thing Isaiah confessed to be impure, and made them pure; thus, making him
worthy to be there in the presence of God.
Having accepted that God has helped him overcome his sinfulness, Isaiah
is then ready to trust the call of God and so responds readily when he is
called. We, of course, know the rest of
the story: Isaiah became one of the greatest of God’s prophets.
Simon’s
story is quite different in detail, but not in substance. His “vision” of God was decidedly less
awe-inspiring: Jesus, God incarnate, looking like anyone else, teaching on the
shore of the sea. It’s most common for
us to think of Simon as “non-plussed” when Jesus asks to get into his boat to
finish teaching those gathered on the shore, and that seems right to me. They were out all night and had caught
nothing and probably just wanted to get home and rest. The “vision” comes when Jesus invites them to
cast the net once more and then causes a miraculous catch of fish. At this point, Simon “wakes up” to realize
both that he is, somehow, in the presence of God, in the form of this man, and
that he, a sinful man, is unworthy to be in his presence. As we saw with Isaiah, instead of condemning
Simon or dismissing his sinfulness, Jesus shows him mercy. Having received his mercy, Simon is ready to
trust Jesus’ call and so leaves everything to follow him. Once again, we know the rest of the story:
Simon is renamed Peter, and becomes the “rock” on which God’s Church is built.
Friends,
this same pattern has happened (or at least can happen) to each of us. If we are pursuing the Christian life
seriously, there ought to be a time (or repeated times) when each of us comes
to grips with the reality of who God is and of who we are in relation to
him. Yes, we are God’s children—his sons
and daughters—but that doesn’t change the fact that God is still the Almighty
One and that he is not to be messed with.
Reflecting on our lives for just a few moments should cause us to
recognize that, like Isaiah, we have “unclean lips” and dwell among a people
with “unclean lips”, in spite of however righteous we strive to be. The scriptures today remind us that God, who
is all-powerful and to be feared, is nonetheless good, and so worthy of our
trust. Therefore, we can present our
unworthiness to him and trust that he will not destroy us, but rather make us
clean and ready for the good work to which he will call us.
So
the question that comes to us today, I think, is this: “What is the ‘unworthy’
thing about me that holds me back, that keeps me from acknowledging myself
fully in God’s presence?” When I know
this, then I can ask, “Why don’t I trust that God is good and will forgive me
of these things?” My guess is that we
are ashamed and unwilling to forgive ourselves or think that we have to “fix”
everything before we can truly present ourselves before God. If so, let me tell you something: God is not
ashamed of you; and he is not ashamed to be known as your Father… as your
friend. Come to him. Let him see you. And you will see how good he is. God is here.
Come and see. Come and be seen.
Given at St. Joseph Parish: Winchester, IN – February 9th,
2025
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