The story of the burning coal.
The first reading today is an absolute corker and as always there are at least two ways of looking at it.
First, there is the literal sense of the passage—what the words mean in their original, historical context—Isaiah’s encounter with the Living God.
The second way is to look at it through the lens of our worship. The reading speaks of the transformation that takes place in us when we receive the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist.
So, … first level. The historical call of Isaiah.
The setting is the Temple of Jerusalem in 740 B.C., the year that King Uzziah of Judah died. Our friend Isaiah finds himself in the house of worship and is granted a vision of the Lord, exalted and enthroned in majesty. He witnesses winged angels, called seraphim, calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts”. Sound familiar? The volume is turned up so loud that it shakes the sanctuary to its foundations. Understandably Isaiah is overwhelmed by this awesome display of God’s glory and his heart is fear… full. “Woe is me!” he cries, “I am lost . . . I am a man of unclean lips”.
Because Isaiah has been so frank about his grubbiness one of the seraphim takes “a burning coal” from the fires of the Temple altar and proceeds to touch Isaiah’s mouth with the glowing ember. “Behold,” says the seraphim. “This has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven” And then Isaiah’s fear melts away. The Lord asks whom he can send as a prophet to his people, and Isaiah steps forward with the unflinching response: “Here I am! Send me”. So it is that Isaiah is commissioned as a prophet and equipped to speak the word of the Lord. It’s a marvellous image for someone like me who is blessed with a vivid imagination.
But what does any of this have to do with what we are doing here today? So we come to the second level. The symbolic level.
Remember that at Pentecost we spent a bit of time thinking about the Holy Spirit as a flame?
Further, I want to use some words from a couple of gentlemen who lived a long time ago and kindly did my homework for me.
First, St. Cyril of Alexandria, who died about A.D. 444.
“One of the seraphim is sent to Isaiah with a burning coal which he took from the altar with tongs. I see this coal as a symbol of Christ. Remember God appeared in this way to the people of Israel as they stood before the Lord at Mount Sinai as flames and smoke.”
Secondly, a gentleman known as St. John of Damascus wrote this about receiving Communion.
“Let us receive the body of the Crucified One. With eyes, lips, and faces turned toward it, let us receive the divine burning coal, so that the fire of the coal may be added to the desire within us to consume our sins and enlighten our hearts, and so that by this communion of the divine fire we may be set afire and deified.” (ie Made Holy)
These guys write in an esoteric way, but their point is just as important as ever. We live in a society that seems to have cast aside the potency of the symbol; an age where we have to understand everything in facts and numbers. We have become reluctant to dive into the symbol and let it wash over us, allowing the experience to heal us and to simply just enjoy the symbol for its own deliciousness.
The encounter with our burning coal we call communion does three things.
First, Holy Communion is a purifying encounter with the Lord. Receiving Him on our lips has the effect of burning away our sins.
Secondly, the fire that touches Isaiah’s mouth shows us that Holy Communion is a deifying encounter with the Lord. That is, it helps us to become more like God.
Finally, Holy Communion is a commissioning encounter with the Lord. In other words, when we receive the sacramental coal from the Lord’s altar, we are equipped to bring the gospel to the world.
That, after all, is what the Eucharist is all about. It cleanses us and sanctifies us for a purpose—to go forth as witnesses to the living Word of God. Many Christians call what we are doing here today a Mass because the last thing that happens is commissioning or sending forth. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. We are dismissed
A couple of things to finish with.
First, you might like to think of Isaiah in a little while when with archangels and archangels we will also say “Holy Holy Holy Lord. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.”
Secondly… notice that the party of redemption can only begin when Isaiah confesses his unworthiness. Oddly, God’s work in us and the world can only start when we are honest with ourselves and with God. Then and only then, the coal of God’s love finds us, touches us, seals us and we are sent out to bring the living flame of faith to a darkened and chilly world.