Sing Praises to the Lord
Epiphany 5 – February 9, 2025
Isaiah 6:1-13
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
Our psalm for today was written after the return from the Babylonian exile and sings praises to the LORD who had delivered the Israelites from captivity. It is also a praise of God in the midst of struggle. I suppose that it’s easy to give praise to God in the midst of abundance and joy. To praise God in the midst of trouble is a sign of deep faith. And we know the return from exile was not easy and involved a great struggle. Even surrounded by problems the psalmist was able to sing praises to God.
It is not easy to praise God in times of trouble; Isaiah reminds us of that. Standing before the throne of God he is called to proclaim God’s word to God’s people. He claims that he cannot do so because he had unclean lips (this just might be an excuse). God does not take “no” for an answer and an angel touched his lips with a hot coal from the altar – to cleanse his lips but also as a symbol of the struggle ahead. For his service to God – for telling the truth – he was ridiculed, outcast, and threatened with death. Isaiah showed great faith as he continually told the people what they did not want to hear. He was able to do so because of his faith in God.
We also hear that message from Paul. Recall his argument from the last two weeks. He is reminding the Corinthians of God’s call to them. Unfortunately we skipped over chapter fourteen. In that chapter he seems to contradict himself in that he is criticizing those people who speak in tongues. But it’s not the gift of speaking in tongues that he is criticizing, it is that the people who spoke in tongues were using their gift to build themselves up and not the community. They should be more like those who prophecy because they were using their gift to build up the community. By prophecy he is talking about sharing the good news of Jesus to others and inviting others to join them in the church. All this after the chapter on love which is what we all are to strive for. He then gives himself as an example of one who was misguided but changed by God. He reminds the Corinthians that he was a persecutor of the church acting “as one untimely born.” The Greek word here actually means aborted or miscarried. It was used in the Greek of Paul’s day to describe someone disfigured. Paul is recognizing that he had misused the gifts that God had given him to tear down the church instead of building it up. Instead of punishing him God called him to repent and use his gifts to build up the church. Paul answered that call and was able to sing praises to God for the salvation he had received despite all the struggles and troubles he experienced.
While we cannot be sure what Simon, James, and John thought they were getting into by following Jesus. It has to be faith since, instead of trying to get Jesus to become part of their fishing business – he seemed to be better at it than they were - they gave it all up to follow him. Their future was to be filled with trials and tribulations and in spite of them they were able to sing praises to God as Pentecost demonstrated.
Now it is your turn to sing praises to God for our salvation. You can do no other knowing how unworthy you were to receive God’s salvation. Listen to Paul and sing praises to God by building up the Church. Share God’s love with others. Take care of those less fortunate than you by answering Jesus’ call to share his good news and work so that all people will experience God’s love and be able to sing praises to God.