Something Good from Nazareth

Intro Story

I like the story of the young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?"

Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst.

To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders.

We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower."

Practical Theology

In Seminary, I remember the nearly tangible eagerness of our class to get out in the world and to lead. We were on fire for the Gospel. Excited about our faith. Excited about all that we were learning. And fully ready to jump out there and turn the world upside down with all we had learned.

And in the midst of that eagerness to lead and to begin changing the whole of the church… I remember one particular class in our senior year that caused us to pause. The course was entitled, “Practical Theology” as we looked to take what we had learned through studies of Greek and Hebrew and understanding of the Trinity and of the sacraments… and bring it into the congregational life.

And as we sat there, eager to graduate, eager to lead, eager to begin changing the world… our professor stood in front of the class and said:

“Now before you go changing the world, understand that you when you get into your new congregations that you likely won’t be able to change a lot of things, possibly ever. To make good, strong, lasting change you generally need to be in a congregation for 4-5 years before you can even start to have enough credibility with the congregation to work on making change together. Before they will step off the ledge with you, they have to know that you love them, and that takes time.”

We were blown away. With all of our new tools and wisdom and insights… wouldn’t we be able to just enter into a new congregation and change everything?!

Couldn’t we pull the pews away and put in chairs… couldn’t we redo the sanctuaries and set them just the way we want them? Or, more importantly, couldn’t we just tell our new congregations that we needed to be the Body of Christ together out in the world all all be out there doing mission work every week?!?

Was all of that really too much change to ask for in our first week in for our new calls?!?

But we were on fire for the gospel!! We didn’t want to wait.. we wanted to change things -now-. We KNEW what was best!!! Or at least, we certainly thought we did.

No. The professor responded. You need credibility first.

You need to walk with them.

You need to care for them.

You need to pray with them.

You need to weep with them.

And even when you don’t see eye to eye with one another, you need to love them. And then… then... you will change each other because you will have shared life together.

I remember Bishop Mike at my ordination service nearly five years ago echoing and enhancing that idea as he said that a pastor is not a shepherd… but another sheep in the flock… a sheep that hopefully helps nudge the other sheep along in a good direction... but still a sheep. Still one looking to the Great Shepherd.

Jesus calling his disciples

All of this comes to my mind as I hear today’s story of Jesus gathering his earliest disciples and asks them to jump of the ledge, so to speak, into something unknown.

Leading up to today’s story, we had the calling of Simon Peter and Andrew.

And it’s a curious story.

John the Baptist was standing around with two of his disciples when Jesus passed by. John says, “Look, there is the Lamb of God.” Curious, these two disciples of John’s take a u-turn and start traipsing after Christ.

Why? Because someone they knew and trusted had pointed to Christ.

Now, I’ll admit when I have read that text in the past I had always assumed that those two disciples that were mentioned as standing by John the Baptist were Andrew and Peter. But no… it was Andrew and then some other person who we don’t hear about again.

So just one of these two disciples of John’s actually becomes a disciple of Jesus. And what does he do? He does a very Oklahoman thing here. He says to Jesus, Lord, I gotta tell my brother about you! And so Andrew runs off, finds Simon Peter and says you won’t believe this… but we have found the Messiah. You gotta come and meet this guy.

And Simon Peter… goes. I mean… it’s his brother encouraging him to go. He knows his brother… he trusts his brother. And his brother is genuinely excited. So why does he go? Because someone that he knew and trusted pointed him to Christ as well.

Now today’s text, Jesus goes to Galilee. Jesus is a regular circuit rider the way he is going from town to town here. But he finds Philip and he says, “Follow me.” And the very next verse which might be easy to skip over… We hear this little bit of information. “Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.”

There’s a good chance that Philip knew Andrew and Peter already… ans as they came up on him he recognized them. Those he had perhaps known for years, walking with this one they called the Messiah. Follow, he says. and they go.

And then in verse 45 Philip finds Nathanael and says, “We’ve found him… we’ve found the Messiah. You gotta come see this guy.”

Nathanael gives an answer that would make bedlum fans proud, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It’s as though he is saying, “Can anything good actually come out of OU?”

And Philip’s response? “Come and see.”

So what does Nathanael do? He listens to the one he knows and trusts, even though he isn’t sure about what he’s hearing. And he goes… and he sees the one that his friend calls, ‘the one whom the prophets wrote about.’

Nathanael’s Response

Each of these disciples to be became disciples because someone had pointed them toward Christ.

Andrew became a disciple because John the Baptist had pointed Jesus out initially.

Peter became a disciple because his brother, Andrew, said hey you gotta see this guy.

Philip became a disciple because when Jesus showed up he was flanked by two guys from his home-town.

And Nathanael became a disciple because his friend Philip persisted that Nathanael just come and see for himself.

They were all sheep, nudging one another. Encouraging one another forward to follow the Great Shepherd.

And out of all of the sheep… I think Nathanael’s story is the one that I have always appreciated most.

You see, for Nathanael he isn’t particularly interested in this Messiah business. Or at least, he doesn’t seem to be. He’s full of snark and a bit of sarcasm. Reading into it a bit, I wonder if Nathanael isn’t a little begrudging of the world. He calls it like he sees it. He doesn’t hold back.

But because of his friendship… because of his trust in his friend Philip and maybe even just a desire to get Philip off of his back… he goes to find out about this so called Messiah himself.

And here’s what I find truly remarkable. By the end of the story… Nathanael chooses to continue to walk along Christ. He jumps off the ledge and into the unknown with a guy he had just met.

Why? I suspect that because when Nathanael encountered Jesus… he encountered a Messiah who saw him for who he was… and loved him. For what others might have seen in Nathanael as a pain in the rear who calls it like he sees it… Jesus says of him that Nathanael was an Israelite in whom there was no deceit. In other words… he was willing to say what he felt, what he believed.

What others might see as flaw… Jesus found something to rejoice in.

He loved Nathanael just as he was. And as they began their journey together, it started from a place of compassion. A desire to share life together. And my professor’s words ring in my mind.

You need to walk with them.

You need to care for them.

You need to pray with them.

You need to weep with them.

And even when you don’t see eye to eye with one another, you need to love them.

And that’s what Jesus does. He loves Nathanael… even before Nathanael realized who Jesus was… even when Nathanael was filled with snark and doubt… Jesus loved him. And I would imagine that Nathanael continued to be filled with his fair share of snark. And that Jesus continued to love him all the way to the cross.

Conclusion

And perhaps that’s the Good News for us today. In a time when we perhaps feel pretty confident in our own opinions, God loves us anyway. In the midst of our brokenness, God turns to us and gives thanks for our passionate selves… even if at times we are misguided.

And we hear that as we walk this imperfect lives, sometimes filled with doubt and frustration. When we find ourselves in those moments where we say that we are at an interesting point in our faith life… we hear the Good News that Christ sees us where we are at. Christ comes to us, right where we are. And Christ embraces us as that lost sheep being brought nudged in back with the flock.

So may we give thanks this day for the Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who doesn’t give up on his sheep. May we give thanks for the Shepherd who sees reason to celebrate in who we each uniquely are. And may we be reminded of the importance of that nudge from fellow sheep… and just how important our own nudgings might be in the lives of those around us.

Final Conclusion

Now, let me close with the story of the man with two umbrellas. Dr. Gordon Targerson, a Baptist pastor in Worcester, Massachusetts, was crossing the Atlantic by ship some years ago. He noticed on several occasions a dark-skinned man sitting in a deck chair reading a Bible.

One day Dr. Targerson sat down beside him and said, "Forgive my curiosity. I'm a Baptist minister. I notice you are a faithful Bible reader. I'd like to meet you."

After introductions, the dark-skinned man said, "I am Filipino. I was born into a good Catholic home. I went to the United States as a young man to study in one of your fine universities, intending to become a lawyer.

On my first day on campus, a student dropped by to visit. He welcomed me and offered to help in any way he could. Then he asked me where I went to church. I told him I was Catholic. He explained that the Catholic Church was quite a distance away, but he sat down and drew me a map. I thanked him and he left. 

"On the following Sunday morning it was raining. I decided to just skip church. But then there was a knock on my door. There stood my new friend and he was holding two umbrellas. He said that he worried that I might not be able to read his map. So, he said he would escort me to the Catholic Church. I hurriedly dressed, thinking all the while what an unusually thoughtful person he was. I wondered what church he belonged to.  

"As we walked along I asked him about his church. He said that his church was just around the corner. So, I suggested that we go to his church this Sunday, and then to mine the following Sunday. He agreed. But somehow I felt so much at home in his church that I never got around to finding mine.

After four years I felt that God was leading me into the ordained ministry rather than into law. I went to Drew University Seminary and was ordained a Methodist minister. Then I returned to the Philippines to serve in a Methodist parish. My name is Valencius, Bishop Valencius, Bishop of the Methodist Church in the Philippines."

The hero of the story is not the Bishop, important though he is. The hero is that anonymous young man with two umbrellas. The one who pointed Valencius toward Christ. Whether they ended up at the Methodist or Catholic churches doesn't really matter. Go all the way back to the beginning of Christian history and you'll always find him or her.

You’ll find that unnamed man or woman, holding two umbrellas… whose own life has been touched by Christ and who now stands pointing someone else to the Word which provides Life. I’d imagine if you thought back on your own faith journey… there has been someone holding that umbrella for you.

You can be that person with two umbrellas, perhaps you already have been and didn’t realize it. But you too can be like Phillip, or Peter, or Andrew… or even John the Baptist. And it doesn’t have to take 4-5 years. And you don’t have to convince. Just love… and encourage. Come and see that's all I ask, just come and see, and you will learn that something good can come from Nazareth!! Amen.