Woe to Me!

             In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:1-5)

And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.  But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:18-20)

          Today’s passage includes one of those mysteries that people can’t explain to me, or I to people. Exodus says no one can see God’s face and live, yet there is at least one passage in Exodus, and the one in Isaiah that talk of someone (or even a group) seeing the Lord on the throne. Perhaps the key here is that people talk of seeing God in a vision, meaning that God could have looked like anything so long as they understood that thing to be God.

          As I read the passage, however, it was the fifth verse that caught my attention. What if you or I saw a vision of God. What would our response be? There’s part of me that likes to think it’d be like when my dog sees me after I’ve been away for a few hours. But somehow, I doubt Isaiah was a major, world-class sinner and atheist prior to this vision, yet he said, “Woe to me!” I have to suspect that the best among us would say “Woe to me!” and the worst among us would try to hide in caves and holes in the ground.

          I’m not sure I fit into the “best” category, but the question remains. If you or I say “Woe to me!” What is the next part? “For I am a (wo)man of unclean…” what? Lips? Hands? Heart? Eyes? Feet? I suppose the argument could be made that the answer is “Yes, all of them.” But prayerfully, thoughtfully, is there one? What does it mean that the thing is unclean? Even if we both said “Hands,” that might not mean the same thing to both of us. But I can tell you one thing specifically about unclean hands. As a gardener and an employee at a garden center, I’ve found that when hands get dirty, they’ve very difficult to clean. Even using a scrub or brush, the dirt manages to get into the cracks in my skin, under the nails, etc.

          And what of the second half? We live among a people of unclean _________. The point seems to be that we see in our nation the uncleanness that we see in ourselves. It could be a cultural thing – everyone else does it so you do, too.

          There may be folks – maybe everyone but me – who would read the “Woe to me! I am a (wo)man of unclean…” and know that it doesn’t apply to them. But it is food for thought.