For the 5th Sunday after the Epiphany the three readings to choose from for preaching are Isaiah 6:1-13; 1 Corinthians 14:12b-20 and Luke 5:1-11. The text to interpret and apply will be Isaiah 6:5, “The I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am undone!”

Isaiah is in the midst of a vision with the Lord God sitting on a throne, high and lifted up surrounded by seraphim angels with 6 wings. Is that why he said, “Woe is me”? From an L&G point of view, the Woe is me is the natural response on the part of human beings when confronting God. Because all fallen human beings live under the Law, they are under the impression that their works, their thoughts and their words will make a difference as to whether or not God will decide to save them. Realizing how far short each of us fail to live up to God’s perfect demands, we naturally conclude that we are in big trouble in the presence God Himself. The Gospel reading from Luke 5 reveals a similar response on the part of Peter after the miracle of the fishes.

The goal of the sermon is to see to it that every listener is cut to the bone with his or her inability to be right with God through personal effort. It is a proper preaching of the Law that never uses the Law as a means of getting right with God. Instead, the Law is used to do God’s work of accusation and damnation. The sermon is not to direct the accusing finger of the Law to those outside the fellowship gathered together but rather to hammer home the fearful consequences of those who will die under the curse of the Law.

The Gospel provides no help to the unbeliever or believer, for that matter, in saving oneself. Rather, the Gospel is the announced promise that God will do all the saving with neither cooperation with or contribution from anyone who is attempting to save himself. That comes home so clearly in this passage as an angel needs tongs to remove the blazing hot coal from the altar. What happens next is often overlooked. That same hot coal is then applied to the lips of Isaiah. But rather than a scream from the man, verse 7 reveals that now his iniquity is taken away and his sin purged.

This needs further clarification. For the word iniquity could refer to the sin itself but that would be ridiculous because no one stops sinning when forgiven. Rather, the Hebrew word for “iniquity” refers to the punishment that should be ours because of our sin. It refers to the consequences of being under the curse of the Law. What Jesus did on the cross was not take away our sins but take away our eternal punishment that should have been ours. We are forgiven in the sense that we are no longer held accountable by God for our sins. Why? Because Jesus was held accountable on the cross.

As an aside, this also provides a wonderful opportunity to speak of water baptism. Just as God uses a hot coal that conveys the forgiveness of sins, so also in the Pentecost baptism God conveys the forgiveness of sins through a splash of water into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So also, the same God provides the true body and blood under the form, not of a coal or splash of water but through a morsel of bread and a sip of wine. What a mystery! Or as Jerome translated into the Latin Vulgate, what a sacrament!