Second Sunday after the Epiphany

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

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Here we find Jesus calling some of his first disciples

But we’re not yet at Jesus saying, “I have a job for you”

Before Jesus invites them to mission, he invites them to epiphany

He invites them to experience revelation and have an encounter with God

And this invitation to encounter God extends to us as well, which is what we want to talk about this morning

Despite the anger we see boiling over, it’s my contention that most of our world, most of the time suffers from a lack of hope

A kind of resigned acceptance that the world is just what it is and there’s nothing to do about it

The madness that we see in the world can actually contribute to this

overwhelming us so we become numb

comfortably numb (which is a great punk floyd song)

living in maintenance mode

medicating with consumer goods and low level entertainment

In his book ‘Prophet Imagination’ Walter Bruegemman contrasts the kingdom of God with the Empires of the world

And he makes the point that Empires live on numbness

We resign ourselves to

corruption in leadership

inequality in society

casualities in war (or a pandemic)

hidden costs and unintended consequences of our comfortable lifestyle

It is what it is, we say

binge the next show

no sense in hoping there’s anything more to life

And maybe the older you get and the more disappointments you face and the more the world’s problems seem impossibly complex the more resigned you become.

We lose an imagination for the way things could be

And maybe once the church gave us hope for more

but then we learned that the church and it’s leaders were playing the same game as the Empire

And we become cynical and numb.

The empty status quo of the empire rolls on and God feels as distant as ever.

I want to suggest that like the sky opening to reveal the heavens, Epiphany of Jesus breaks through the numbness to reveal God

And in revealing God, revealing life itself

John gives us a beautiful picture here in the story of Nathanael

I don’t want to psychologize the biblical authors but John intrigues me

He is philosophical and poetic

And he refers to himself in his own gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”

Given that one of his favorite metaphors for Jesus is a light in the dark I can’t help but wonder if John was the type of person who really felt the darkness

One for whom Jesus’s arrival was not just an exciting historical event but an opening up of his world to hope

An unimaginable invitation to new life and intimacy with a God who has felt altogether distant

We get little background on Philip’s call, but Nathanael’s is telling.

First, you can see the familiar cynicism in the way Nathanael responds

Philip runs up to him and makes a BOLD claim to introduce Jesus: “the one Moses wrote about. It’s this guy, Jesus, from Nazareth.”

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”

The assumptions and prejudices and experiences of Nathanael’s life are a roadblock to hope.

God can’t move in that place.

God wouldn’t use those people.

Nazareth was a town of like 200-300 people in the region of Galilee and just like the place everyone looked down upon.

Christianity would at times be called a “Nazarean Sect” in the first few centuries and it was meant as a belittling dismissal

You can almost hear the cynicism in Nathanael’s words, “Cool, Philip. The messiah, you say? Let me know how that goes. I’ve got work to do.

Philip’s response is worth paying attention to.

“Well, come and see,” he says.

He doesn’t launch into a debate, or “well actually” him, or offer some historical analysis

He just says, “come and see”

I think maybe that’s the only way through our cynicism.

“I’m not gonna convince you. Come and see.”

Philip already knows there is power in Jesus that is undeniable

Just come join us who are following him and be close to him yourself. Listen to him. Watch him. You’ll see.

That’s really the only evangelistic phrase you need.

“I found the one who was promised. Come and see.”

When Nathanael comes Jesus greets him warmly.

He calls him “a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”

In otherwords, Nathanael is an honest man in the sense that he’s not one to have hidden agendas or lead a double life

There’s no deceit in him

This will take on an interesting layer of meaning because we’ll see in a minute that Jesus is making a connection to the story of Jacob

It’s Jacob who has his name changed to Israel

And if you know the story Jacob acquires his inheritance through deceit

But Nathanael is like, “Do I know you? How do you know me?”

And Jesus shows Nathanael that he has divine insight

“I saw you when you were alone.”

Whether this is the extent of their conversation we don’t know

But for the purpose of the narrative, it’s enough to convince Nathanael.

He makes a confession of faith.

But then Jesus says something interesting: “You’ll see greater things that.”

“You’ll see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

When you read this you have to break out of literal-mindedness

We may be tempted to ask “So did Nathanael actually see this happen and where is it documented?”

But Jesus isn’t promising this is going to literally happen.

He’s speaking poetically and making a reference

This is the reference to the story of Jacob, specifically the famous story of Jacob’s Ladder in Genesis 28:10-17

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

What Jacob’s ladder (stairway) represents is a place where heaven is opened and a real, present encounter with God happens.

Where someone sees God face to face

And God’s presence is tangible

It’s a point of contact with the divine

In making reference to this Nathanael would be like, “Wait, I’m gonna have an experience like Jacob?”

Yes. Except Jesus says he, the Son of Man, is the ladder, so to speak

Meaning he is the point of contact with the divine

He is the one who opens the heavens and reveals the face of God

If God was at Bethel because of the ladder, God was in Galilee because of Jesus, only more so

Nathanael was being promised that he would experience a parting in the separation between heaven and earth

He would encounter God in a way he assumed unimaginable

And the awesome thing is, the promise given to Nathanael is given to us as well

Remember, john writes his gospel so that people like you and I would experience Epiphany as well

And Jesus actually switches from singular “you” to plural “y’all” at the end of his statement

Y’all are going to see greater things that divine wisdom

You’ll experience God himself

Do we dare let ourselves hope for that?

Do we dare cut through the self-protection of our cynicism and numbness and allow the possibility of encountering the divine

Is that crazy talk, wishful thinking, naive dreaming?

I think the only response of to head Philip’s words.

Come and see.

Faith is following.

Press in.

Get out of the boat.

Join others who are following him. Draw close yourself. Watch him. Listen to him.

You’ll see.