The Gospel
John 1:43-51
Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
The Sermon
Come and See
In this reading from John, Jesus is
forming his group of Apostles. Philip has chosen to follow Jesus
because he is convinced Jesus is the Messiah. Philip approaches his
friend Nathanael and wants him to do the same. Nathanael is
skeptical to say the least. After all, Jesus is from the backwater
village of Nazareth and nothing good has ever come from there.
Nazareth's main source of income was from a Roman military barracks
and the Romans were despised by the Jews. Towns get reputations and
Nazareth's was not good.
Philip simply responds, “come and
see.” The interaction between Jesus and Nathanael is mystifying.
Jesus makes this insightful statement, “Here is truly an Israelite
in whom there is no deceit.” Nathanael makes the skeptical
response that he had never met Jesus so how would he know that he had
that quality. Then Jesus says “Well, I saw you under the fig tree
before Philip called you.”
I have to assume that the fig tree was
not in the line of sight of Jesus before this encounter. This
statement from Jesus is enough for Nathanael. He is in this all the
way. Jesus reply is the equivalent of “you ain't seen nothin yet”
and then he gives Nathanael a verbal taste of heavenly things to
come.
We had a healthy discussion last
Tuesday at bible study about evangelism. That is what Philip was
doing by inviting his friend Nathanael to check out Jesus the
messiah. We do not have Jesus in our midst so our evangelism works
under a few handicaps that Philip and the apostles didn't have. None
of us can perform miracles like walking on water or reading people's
minds.
That doesn't mean we should be hesitant
about sharing our faith with others. I have the good fortune of
wearing a clerical collar and this symbol of my faith is a natural
draw for people to talk about their own faith. Several years ago
when I had freshly been ordained a deacon I was at the grocery store
and a man came up to me and said “hello padre”. I responded with
a hello and went on my way down the aisle. We ran into each other
again in the frozen food section and he asked me, at which church I
was the priest. I responded St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. He then
shocked me by getting out his wallet and handed me two twenty dollar
bills. I began telling him what charitable purpose I would use it
for and he cut me off saying, “I don't care what you use it for.
Just take it.”
I am not sure if that weird story has
any connection to evangelism. If nothing else maybe it says there is
profit in being a Christian. Seriously though. We should not be
hesitant to let people know that our faith is an important part of
our lives and sharing that “good news” is what we do.
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