January 14, 2024

 Beloveds in Christ, we have been asleep.  Every night we sleep and God is so near, like Samuel sleeping near the ark of the covenant, not knowing God’s presence, not knowing we were being called, ignorant of how God is changing the world, unaware that we were being invited this whole time to help transform it. 

We, like Nathanael and Phillip and Samuel, are being called by our Savior Jesus.  We are being called from our former ways, from the comforts of our lives, from lives of waste and pollution and temptation and prejudice and greed.  We are being called to follow our Savior Jesus.  We are on the cusp, the edge, the boundary between two worlds, heaven and earth.

We are on the boundary, like Nathanael.  He’s been living one way, on his own path and suddenly he is found.  Notice the finding language all over this Gospel.  Jesus finds Phillip.  Was he looking for him specifically?  Phillip finds Nathanael, which seems to be part of his following Jesus.  Jesus says, “Follow me.”  The next thing Phillip does is run off to get his friend but it doesn’t seem to bother Jesus any.  Phillip and Nathanael have found the one Moses was talking about.  What indication did they have that Jesus was the Messiah, the one Moses talked about?  How did they know?  Maybe following and finding go together.  Maybe following doesn’t just mean shadowing someone closely, but might mean invitation.

We are on this boundary of being lost and being found, saint and sinner.  Nathanael is on this boundary, so no wonder the confusion.  He thought that when he was found, it would be by someone from the inner circle, from Jerusalem, or Bethlehem next to it.  He should be found by someone with some clout, some authority.  But here’s someone from Nazareth of all places.  Jesus is coming out of left field.  Nazareth is so small, it isn’t even mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures.  When did Moses ever talk about that?  Still Phillip invites Nathanael to cross the boundary into this new life, the life of a follower, a disciple.  Nathanael is curious and he goes.

Jesus recognizes something in Nathanael.  “Here is truly an Israelite without deceit.”  Jesus could have called him a Judean or a Bethsaidan or a person, but he calls him an Israelite.  This is the only time the word “Israelite” is used in the Gospels.  Jesus is comparing Nathanael to Jacob, who God later names Israel.  Jacob was full of deceit.  He tricked his brother out of his birthright.  He lied and tricked other people to shape his path in his own favor.  He had a vision at Bethel of a ladder with angels ascending and descending.  Jesus is taking Nathanael to the book of Genesis where all this occurs and is telling him he is like Jacob, on the threshold of something new and yet different from Jacob in that he is a truth-teller.  He has no deceit.  And Jesus links Nathanael even more to the book of Genesis in saying he saw him under a fig tree.  In one of the Creation stories in Genesis, Adam and Eve discover their nakedness and they use a fig leaf to cover it up.  Not Nathanael.  He isn’t covering anything up.  He’s at his Genesis, his beginning and he’s going to follow Jesus and serve him.

So here we are also on the cusp, invited to follow Jesus into new life, invited to leave deceit behind, invited to speak the truth, invited to see new life coming from unexpected places and people.  Nathanael responds with one of these amazing statements of faith, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Where does he get this?  He has no evidence, except that Jesus seems to know something, maybe there’s an inside joke or insight that we don’t know about.  This is a statement of faith in that with such little evidence, Nathanael is apparently on board.  He believes without seeing which is what faith is.  Yet he is invited to come and see and so are we.

We will see greater things than these.  We will see what freedom really looks like.  We will see the prisoners set free.  We will see people of different races and languages worshiping together.  We will see opportunities for education for poor children.  We will see all wars cease.  We will see people have enough to eat.  We will see suffering and crying and pain come to an end. 

We will see it because we are disciples and followers of Jesus, and he’s bringing this world into being through us and all sorts of left-field, unexpected leaders. 

I’ve seen angels ascending and descending.  I saw them comforting those who are grieving, sharing their memories of Betty at Cherrywood Village.  I saw them advocating for Santa Cruz to be included in some upcoming social activities we are planning.  I saw them bringing toilet paper for people in need.  I saw them sorting coats and hats and gloves.  I saw them engaging a young person in our congregation.  I saw them engaging someone hearing impaired.  And we will see greater things than these when we follow Jesus on this mission of love and life and healing.