Unworthiness and Call

Listening to Deacon Dennis at Mass this morning, I was struck by a word he used--unworthiness--and I realized: Today's Sunday Mass readings all centered around two themes: unworthiness and call.

They really do go together.  In the first reading, Isaiah recognizes his unworthiness before God.  Then God cleanses him to do the Lord's work, and asks, "Whom shall I send?"  Isaiah responds, "Here am I; send me."

In the second reading, St. Paul speaks of himself as "the least of the apostles," as one "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped."  (Okay, that was Macduff, but same idea... Apparently St. Paul read Shakespeare...)  Abnormally born.  Stunted in some way.  By referring to himself in this way, St. Paul shows an acute awareness of his past as a persecutor of Christ.  Yet he is also aware of his call to preach the gospel.  It does not matter whether it be preached by Peter or any of the twelve, or Paul.  It is the same gospel, and the same call to hand it on--and God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called, as Fr. Brett Brannan writes.  We are aware of our unworthiness, but this merely highlights that our call is not about us, or our own message, or our own glory--it is about God's work, for God's glory, so our unworthiness is no excuse.

In the Gospel reading from Luke, we see Simon Peter on his knees before Jesus, so conscious of his own unworthiness that he asks Christ, his best friend whom he has also proclaimed to be God, to depart from him.  And Christ simply replies, "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men."

Perhaps it is often only after we recognize our unworthiness that Christ's call to us begins to sound insistently in our hearts, for it is then that we are ready to undertake it, unto His glory and not unto our own--and thus unto our salvation.  It is in our recognition of our unworthiness that we are able to do God's work: "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9)

And, as St. Paul says in the next verse, "For when I am weak, then am I strong."

None of us are "worthy" to do God's work.  But take comfort in this: God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called.




 

Below, let me give you today's readings again... only, the lectionary is copyrighted material and not for reproduction without prior written permission, so I'm using my beloved and beautiful...wait for it... King James Version!!!  Which is a perfectly fine version in most circumstances.

 

First Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8

(minus the part about the seraphim's wings--really!?  You're gonna selectively cut out half a verse from the lectionary and make it Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8 instead of just 1-8?!  Seriously...)

 

King James Version (KJV)

6 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

² Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
³ And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
⁴ And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
⁵ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
⁶ Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
⁷ And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

King James Version (KJV)

15 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

² By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
³ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
⁴ And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
⁵ And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
⁶ After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
⁷ After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
⁸ And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
¹¹ Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

Gospel: Luke 5:1-11

King James Version (KJV)

5 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,

² And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
³ And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.
⁴ Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
⁵ And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
⁶ And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
⁷ And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
⁸ When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
⁹ For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:
¹⁰ And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
¹¹ And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.