Who would be a prophet? What a job! Such a thankless task! Now, I know we shouldn’t shoot the messenger, just because his words are unwelcome. But, really!

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.

Lighten up, Isaiah! Give us a break! We don’t like injustice, faithlessness, dishonesty or idolatry any more than the next man. Unless the next man happens to be another Isaiah. And what did you say we were? An unfruitful vineyard? That’s a little harsh, isn’t it? Judgement, destruction and foreign oppression – is that all you see for us, Isaiah? But then, you’re a man driven by vision: something you saw in the year that King Uzziah died. What was it?

“the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.

And what did you say, Isaiah?

And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

Well, the Lord took care of your sin, burned it away, blotted it out and you heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’

And you said, ‘Here am I; send me!’

And he sent you to a people who would not listen with a message they would not hear! Who would be a prophet? Such a thankless task!

But you saw other things too: the sign that God gave to Ahaz

Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

And what else was it? Oh yes!

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.

May we see a vision of the Lord’s holiness and hear his voice: and, as we hear the word of the Lord, and see the one who is the Light of this dark world, may we, with Isaiah, say to God: here am I – send me!