Isa 6
It appears to me that God likes subtlety, like it is his preferred way of engaging with us. Why is it that the prophetic books for instance, which were to be understood as the very words of God, had to be written in such floral language. I like reading the Prophets, but sometimes, as I plowed though several chapters of simile and hyperbole, I think to myself that I could have easily fitted its message into a straight sentence or two. For centuries now we've had to plunge into the syrupy depths of lyrical prose to try and figure out what actually happened to the poor Moabites. Why? Unless I have it wrong, we basically read the Bible for two reasons; we want to learn from it what we should believe and understand how we should live. This exercise can get real tricky, having to extract such important contemporary insight from reams of ancient narrative, poetry, lyrical prose and the like. Our heads just don't work like that. Who would have read 7 Habits for Highly Effective People or How to Win Friends and Influence People if all self-help books were written as historical narratives or lyrical poems?
Today's reading, Isaiah 6, is just like that. It seems a bit harsh at the first ten or twenty readings, since God basically proclaims that people should not hear, see or understand, for if they do they would come to their senses and not incur his wrath. If someone had to start their Bible reading journey with Isaiah 6, he'd probably end up thinking that the Christians' God enjoys punishing people, and that the crucial information required to avoid certain obliteration is maliciously shrouded in innuendo and mystery to shield it from discovery. Nothing could of course be further from the truth, but you still don't see missionary types hanging out in shopping mall parking lots on Saturday mornings handing out tracts containing Isaiah 6. It's a chapter, like so many others in the Bible, requiring a bit of additional perspective.
Part of why Jesus came to live among us was to show us what God is actually like (see Col 1:15). It comes as no surprise then that Jesus taught in parables (sigh!). He liked saying things indirectly. His disciples were apparently not so poetically inclined. After hinting and alluding for days around the drama around Lazarus, and them still not getting it, even Jesus eventually came to a point of giving up (probably rolling his eyes), and spelling it out: "Lazarus is dead." Straight talk, at last. It solved the mystery, straightened out the ambiguity and ended the discussion. No theologians required anymore. Everyone now knew what the case was with Lazarus. Why didn't Jesus just start there? But no! His teaching more often than not left his audience nonplussed. What kind of a way is that to teach? In stead of people engaging with the point you make, they are left wondering what the point actually was if ever there was one. Their Master's teachings regularly left the disciples with blank stares, shaking their heads and shirking at one another. One day they couldn't handle it anymore, and they came to Jesus, probably utterly frustrated, asking what's with the parables (Mat 13:10). Jesus answered them with another parable. Great!
Have you ever noticed how you can be walking over something for days without noticing it, until someone asks you to look for it. Then, what was obvious all along but missed, becomes visible to you. The reason for the sudden change is that now you were looking for what you couldn't see before. God's way of speaking indirectly seems to be drawing a line though humanity. On the one side are those who want to see and hear, on the other side those who don't. The mystery-laden imagery reveals (not determines) which side of the line anyone is on. It shows whether they want to hear or not. Many people - it turns out - doesn't want to hear. They want to live as they choose, not as they're told. In Matthew 13, referring back to Isaiah's prophesy, Jesus explained that in reality when people do not understand, it is because deep down they do not want to understand. Calloused hearts is not something that were handed out to them, but something they had chosen.
When Isaiah saw the Lord, he cried out in shame, recognising his own state. As a result of his confession he was cleansed. Isaiah's response to revelation is in direct contrast to the response of the people of Israel he was sent to. They could have also received the purifying touch from the altar had they wanted it.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Mat 5:6
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