One of the seraphim flew to him. He had a burning object in his hands, a heated flat stone like the ones used in domestic baking. He pressed the stone to Isaiah's lips, the lips that had been defiled by the leprosy of the king. It burned away the prophet's guilt and his sin. Isaiah was made holy again, set apart for the Lord. He heard the voice of the Lord speaking, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Isaiah, cleansed and forgiven, responded at once: "Here am I. Send me."

The most noteworthy matter concerns verse six: "Though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he knows from afar." God regards the lowly. This has been the experience of the people of Israel from the very beginning. God regarded Abraham, though he was only a donkey-skinner traveling the trade routes of the mid-east. God regarded the Hebrews in Egypt, though they were only slaves in the land. God regarded the tribes of Israel in Canaan, though they dwelt in the hill country far from the seats of power in the cities. God regards the poor of the land, and he distances himself from the haughty. This is good news, great news, the news of the Old Testament and the New: God cares for the lowliest of people, those out of power, those oppressed, those hungry and homeless and hopeless.

A second noteworthy matter is the tension we find in the psalm between "being delivered by God" and "waiting for God's deliverance." Verse 7 contrasts with verse 8. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou dost preserve my life," the psalmist declares. And then he says, verse 8, "The Lord will fulfill his purposes for me." God has already acted decisively in the life of the psalmist. Verse three tells us how this occurred: "On the day I called, thou didst answer me, the strength of my soul thou didst increase." God hears our calls for help, and God answers by increasing the strength and resolve of our lives. But the purpose of God is still before me. The psalmist knows this, because God keeps the covenant that God has made with the people. Faith always has this tension within it. We remember what God has done for us in days of old, and we trust God that he will continue to act faithfully in our lives in days to come. We say it in our greatest prayer: "thine is the kingdom, . . thy kingdom come."

There is a heart line running through this psalm that we also have to hear. It runs from the gods to the kings to himself. He dismisses all the other gods of the earth and the power that they might have over the world. "Before the gods" I sing my praise, says the psalmist; despite all that the other gods, the gods of Egypt and Canaan, of Syria and Babylon, might do to him, he sings praises to his God, the God of his fathers and mothers. He also dismisses the kings of the earth. They too will be forced to sing the praises of the psalmist's God. From gods to kings, the line comes down to him. God does for him what God will do for all. "Thou dost answer me. . . . The strength of my soul thou doest increase. . . . Thou dost stretch out thy hand against my enemies. . . . Thy right hand delivers me. . . . Thou dost preserve my life." "I give thee thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart."

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:1-11: The bedrock fact of the Christian faith and the Christian church is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul was certain of this. Without the resurrection, there would be no faith and no church. "If Christ has not been raised," wrote Paul in the 15^th chapter of his first letter to the church in Corinth, "your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. Those who have died in Christ have perished. If in this life we have only hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have died."

For support of this statement, Paul quoted a creed of the earliest church. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

We need to look at this statement in great detail.

Paul begins by saying it is something that he had "received and then delivered" to the Corinthians. This was the way important information was transmitted in those days. The information in question was formulated by official persons. It was "received" by others, that is, accepted by someone else in the form in which it was quoted, and it was committed to memory by the person or persons who received it. It was then "delivered" to others, so that they could know it also. This creed in 15:3-8 is of that kind, an official formulation. It was conceived, received, and delivered in the official manner of all authoritative teaching in Jewish and Christian circles.

This is probably an Aramaic statement which Paul, or someone else, had translated into Greek. This is important. It was probably worked out in the church in Jerusalem for which Aramaic was the working language. Its repetitive structure underlies its creed-like nature. It was cast in such form that it could easily be remembered. Its uniqueness is enhanced when we recall that no where else in his writings did Paul use the word "twelve." What the statement includes and what it leaves out tells us that this was an official formulation of the early church.

This is what I received, said Paul:

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture;

that he was buried;

that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture.

Note that two of the three parts say that Christ's action was "in accordance with scripture." Christ had died, but the nature of Christ's death by crucifixion is not at stake in this statement. What is important is that his death was for our sins and was "in accordance with scripture." Scripture had said that forgiveness would come through one who suffered over our sins as God suffers over our sins. Well, Christ had done that. All kinds of sins had put Christ on the cross: the sins of denial, betrayal, desertion, of brutality and arrogance and insensitivity. He was indeed the "suffering servant of God," of whom Isaiah had written in scripture, who came to bear the sins of many.

He was raised on the third day "in accordance with scripture." Hosea had said (6:2) "After two days he will revive us; and on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him." And had not Jonah lived three days in the belly of the whale before he was regurgitated to a new life? By our rules of reasoning, we would call this a stretch of the imagination. The early members of the church did not. It was written down in scripture, and, according to the rules of debate in that day, that is all that was necessary.

Note that the burial was not "according to Scripture." Burial in the case of a criminal, which Jesus was in the eyes of Roman and Jewish law, was illegal. The bodies of crucified criminals were simply cut down, hauled out of the city, and dumped onto the garbage heap. But those Christians who first wrote the creed remembered what Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had done, and they honored it in their statement.

These three statements were part of the first creed about Jesus and his resurrection. They have remained part of our Apostles Creed: "crucified, dead, and buried, . . . on the third day rose again from the dead."

In the account in Corinthians Jesus' appearances are then listed:

First to Cephas (Peter),

then to the twelve,

then to more than 500 brethren,

then to James,

then to all the apostles,

last of all to Paul.

We know that there were more appearances of Jesus than these. What about the young man at the tomb in Mark 16? Had he not seen the Lord? How about the women, Mary Magdalene and the others? Had they not seen the Lord? How could the claim be made that Peter was the first to see him? Mary had reported to Peter and to John that Jesus had risen. What about the two disciples on the way to Emmaus? How about Stephen? Had he not, at the moment of his martyrdom, looked into the heavens and seen the Son of Humankind seated at the right hand of God? Clearly not all the appearances of the risen Lord are contained in this list.

Why not? The best answer is that this is not an exclusive listing of those to whom Christ had appeared. It is rather a listing of the major movements in the early church and the leader of each movement. Three major groups emerged from the days of crucifixion and resurrection to carry on the work of Jesus. They were the Twelve, the Brethren, and the Apostles. The Twelve were Galileans, and they were directed to return to Galilee for their mission. The Brethren were Jewish-Christians primarily centered around Jerusalem. They worshiped in Hebrew, read the scripture in Hebrew, carried on their daily lives in Aramaic or Hebrew. They were commissioned to persuade like-minded Jewish people that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ for whom all had been waiting. The third group were the apostles who were to go to gentile lands and bring gentiles and Greek-speaking Jewish people into the church of Jesus Christ. Each of these groups claimed that the risen Christ had come to them after his death and had authorized them to carry out ministry in his name and spirit.

Each group had a leader. Peter was the leader of the Twelve, James the leader of the Brethren, Paul the leader of the Apostles. When this historic background to the creed is considered, its organization becomes much clearer. Christ appeared, in chronological order:

First to Peter, and then to the twelve;

then to 500 brethren, and then to James;

then to all the apostles, and finally to Paul.

By putting them together in this manner, each leader and each group was authenticated as valid enterprises within the whole Christian movement.

I have no idea how much struggle went into the composition of this creed. No one sat down at a desk and wrote it out, that I know. The movements within the church were at odds with each other over many things. They disagreed on synagogue worship and temple worship, on whether they should read the Hebrew Scripture or the Greek Septuagint, on how they should relate to the society around them, on whether all Christians should be circumcised, on what food they should eat, even on how they should eat the Lord's Supper. The Hebrew-speaking Christians of Jerusalem were so opposed to what the Greek-speaking Christians of Jerusalem advocated that they stood by while a man like Stephen was stoned. How they worked out their differences we can only guess. But work them out they did. Even while they disagreed heartily with each other, they recognized the validity of each others' ministries, and they declared that the same Jesus Christ who had appeared to Peter and the twelve had also appeared to James and the brethren and to Paul and the apostles. This statement which Paul quoted to the Corinthians stands as a monument to their ability to compromise and reconcile.

Paul's self-designation for himself leaps out at us from this creed. He called himself the "ektroma." The word may mean "abortion," one who was born before his time, "untimely born." It may mean that for a long time he had refused the mission to which God had called him. He says of himself that "God had set him apart before his birth" (Gal 1:15), but, instead of following that call he had "persecuted the church of God." It may even refer to his appearance. The word can also mean "ugly monstrosity, dwarf." Whatever it means in this passage, it points to something of which Paul was not proud but which he was willing to accept "because of the grace of God given to him." Paul had been in a most deplorable situation, but nevertheless he had been appointed by God to be Christ's apostle.

Paul called this "the grace of God toward him." Clarence Tucker Craig, of Yale, pointed out that up to now in the letter to the Corinthians Paul had used "grace" only three times. Now he used it three times in this one verse, and with good reason. Paul had been changed from "dwarf" to "apostle," from one monstrously borne to one carrying out the call of God. Paul was himself the new creation that had been promised in Christ. But receiving this "grace" did not make Paul a passive person. Indeed, he said, "because of this grace I worked harder than any of them, though it was not myself doing it but the grace of God that is working in me (15:11)."

For Christ had "appeared" to Paul, as he had "appeared" to the others. The word "appeared," said H. G. Bartsch (NTStud 26 [2 80] 180-196), was used in the historical books of the Septuagint for the appearance of God, or his angel, or his glory. These appearances were confined to the three great Old Testament epochs of salvation, that of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; of Moses and Israel in the wilderness; and of David and Solomon. In the same scriptures, Isaiah had said, "I saw the Lord," and Jeremiah had added, "The Lord appeared of old unto me." Paul replied, "Have not I seen the Lord? He appeared unto me also." Paul's experience was like that of the others, and like theirs it came at the beginning of a new time of salvation.

The appearances caused these early Christians - Peter, James, Paul - to be firmly convinced that Christ had indeed been raised from the dead. The word for "raised," said Strahan (IB8:28 ), is in form "a monumental perfect." It denotes an act of God which is massive and permanent. This word is used seven times in this passage (15:4-20), and it resounds like the stroke of a bell. The word proclaimed that Christ is alive and reigns; as Calvin said, "reigns more for us than for himself." Christ's resurrection opened a new creation that was the fulfillment of the first creation. Jesus died on the 6^th day - when God finished his creation. Jesus rested on the 7^th day - when God rested. Jesus rose on the first day - the beginning of the new creation (R G Watt ExpTimes 88 [9 7]) 276). This is the monumental act that undergirds this magnificent passage.

The story is relatively simple. Jesus has come to the Sea of Galilee; "the lake of Gennesaret" was one of the names given to it. A large crowd has gathered around to hear the word of God. The crowd is so large and is pressing upon him so hard that Jesus got into a boat to address them. The fishermen in the boat were washing their nets after they had returned to the shore from their night's fishing. Simon was the owner of this boat. Jesus sat down - remember, "sitting" was the usual posture that teachers of the day assumed while they were addressing their audiences - and he taught the crowds. When Jesus had finished, he asked Simon to put out into deep water and put down his nets. Simon was not sure he should do it, but if Jesus asked, why not? When they did this, they caught so many fish that their nets seemed to be breaking. They signaled their partners in the other boats to come and help them. They filled both boats with the catch of fish, so that they seemed about to sink. Simon did an amazing thing. He knelt down before Jesus - the story assumes that Jesus is still in the boat - and said to him, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Jesus replied, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching people." The fishermen brought their boats to shore, and they - Simon and his partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee -left everything and followed Jesus.

Who were these men who followed Jesus? The priests in Jerusalem labeled fishermen as uncouth and uneducated men, but that by no means tells the whole story. Fish was an important product in that day. It was the most available source of meat that most people, from the poorest peasants to the persons who sat in the palaces, had to eat. The Sea of Galilee was an abundant resource for edible fish. So a fishing industry of notable importance had grown up around that sea. This industry provided fish for the surrounding areas. It provided a profitable livelihood for the families of the fishermen. It provided welcome tax revenues for the governments of the Herods and for the emperor himself.

The industry was carried out from thirteen towns that were located along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Bethsaida was one such town, Capernaum was another, Taricheae (in Aramaic Magdala) was a third. In some ways Taricheae was the center of the industry. This was the place where fish were salted for later use. The fish were gutted and then rubbed with coarse salt. Then they were dried hard and firm, then eaten or sold.

This seemed a simple arrangement, but there was a problem with it. It was the problem of taxes. The territory of Bethsaida was ruled by Philip Antipas, and Taricheae was in territory ruled by Herod Antipas. For the fishermen of Bethsaida to bring their catch to Taricheae to be processed, they had to pay taxes both to Philip and to Herod. The dividing line between the two governates lay at the Jordan River, on whose west side Capernaum had been built. To avoid the double taxation, some of the fishermen moved their residences from Bethsaida to Capernaum. They would land there, then carry their catch a few miles west along the lake so that they could be treated at Taricheae.

Simon may have been one of those who had originally lived in Bethsaida but had moved to Capernaum. He had married a woman from Capernaum, and he lived in his mother-in-law's house there. His family and he were apparently prosperous fisherman. Their house was huge by the standards of the day, still large by some of ours: it was a spacious 1,750-square-foot house built around three sides of a court-yard. The business they did was so extensive that they had taken on partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. These men were by no means "uncouth, uncultured, uneducated men." They were conducting a business of considerable scale. They hired other men to help them fish. They carried out the accounting procedures that went into the payment of taxes. They saw to the transport of their fish to their markets. They spoke Aramaic, their native tongue, but they had also learned some Hebrew to use in the synagogue and some Greek to use in their business. They even had the leisure to leave their business in the hands of others if they saw a need to do so.

When Jesus came to them, they saw that need. Simon and Andrew his brother (who may have stayed in Bethsaida, according to the gospels) earlier had taken a leave from their business to go south to Judea to hear John the Baptist preach; they probably were baptized under his direction. They had spiritual needs in their lives for which they were willing to sacrifice some or all of their business life. Jesus came, Jesus called them, "and they left everything and followed him."

The most astonishing part of the story is the reaction of Simon to the catch of fish. He knelt down before Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, I am a sinful man." A large part of his amazement at the catch had to do with its timing in the morning, since in the daytime the fish could see the nets that were cast down to trap them. Some scholars even suggest that this reaction of Simon is misplaced in this story; Luke, they say, is recasting the same story that John's Gospel used in his 21^st chapter when, after the resurrection, Jesus returned to Galilee once more to confront the disciple, Simon, who had denied him. At that point, Simon would have known himself to be a "sinful man." But scholarly recreation of the story need not be so. Simon had seen Jesus in action. Jesus had already healed his mother-in-law (Luke 4:3-39). More than likely Simon had heard Jesus preach his message in the synagogues and by the lakeside when Jesus sat in Simon's own boat. Healing, preaching, now a miraculous catch of fish: all three worked on Simon, and Simon began to realize that Jesus was a person like none other he had ever met. Impetuous man that he was, Simon was much in character when he knelt before Jesus with his confession on his lips.

Jesus was very much in character in the next thing that he did. "Simon," he said, "from now on you will be catching people, not fish." In Greek literature, which Luke may have known, the phrase was used by philosophers and teachers as they gathered students around them. The Old Testament and The Dead Sea Scrolls had used a similar phrase for gathering people for judgment, an activity that was shared by the preaching of John the Baptist (3:7-9). Jesus called his followers to become "fishers for the kingdom" to gather men and women for the Kingdom of God. This call continues to resound through the church today as it reaches out to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that Christ has commanded, until the day that Christ comes again.