Encountering the Messiah: Come and See

On the last Sunday of Advent, we first began our reading in the gospel of John with the Prologue - the first eighteen verses of John that set forth many of the themes and ideas that encompass the entire gospel. Over Christmas, we took a slight detour in Luke and Matthew, as we heard parts of the birth narrative of Christ, something that John doesn’t have.

Today, we return to John, where we will remain through the spring. and continue reading through the first chapter. Our reading today is in two parts. 

This is John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

John confessed (he didn’t deny but confessed), “I’m not the Christ.”

They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

John said, “I’m not.”

“Are you the prophet?”

John answered, “No.”

They asked, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John replied,

“I am a voice crying out in the wilderness,

    Make the Lord’s path straight,

    just as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Those sent by the Pharisees asked, “Why do you baptize if you aren’t the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered, “I baptize with water. Someone greater stands among you, whom you don’t recognize. He comes after me, but I’m not worthy to untie his sandal straps.” This encounter took place across the Jordan in Bethany where John was baptizing.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is really greater than me because he existed before me.’ Even I didn’t recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified, “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it rested on him. Even I didn’t recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testified that this one is God’s Son.” --John 1:19-34 (CEB)

In this first portion of today’s story, John was asked many questions about who he was. The priests and Levites asked if he was one of the characters from the Old Testament who had come back, but he wasn’t.

We’re going to do something a little different today to begin. I’m going to read some clues and I’m going to invite you to help identify the person from the Old Testament that I’m referring to.

I moved from Haran.
I am the father of many descendants.
Once I almost sacrificed my son. I am… (Abraham)

I grew up in Egypt.
My mother saved my life by putting me in a basket.
I heard God’s call in a burning bush. I am… (Moses)

I am a prophet.
I stood up to the false prophets of Baal.
I heard God’s voice in the wilderness as a “still, small voice.” I am… (Elijah)

The priests and Levites in today’s reading thought that John the Baptist was Moses or Elijah who had come back. But, John told them that he wasn’t. Instead, he told them that he had a special role to prepare the way for Jesus, the Messiah. He had an important job to help others recognize Jesus.

If I hold up a bundle of Christmas lights, they look like a tangled mess, don’t they? But these Christmas lights remind me a little bit of the prophets. The prophets were messengers from God - it’s as though they were little lights, one after the other, illuminating a little bit more of God’s character. And of God’s promises. In fact, many of the prophets spoke of God’s promise to send a Messiah.

However, sometimes the messages from the prophets were confusing. Or even seemed unlikely. For example, was it true that the Messiah could really come from tiny Bethlehem?

It’s sort of like that string of Christmas lights I mentioned. Even though there are a lot of little lights, just like there were a lot of prophets, it seemed hard to get the whole picture. Sometimes the messages seemed tangled or unclear. God’s people were waiting for the Messiah, but it was difficult to see how all these little lights worked together. It was like there was a missing piece. 

There was a missing piece. This is where John came in. The priests and the Levites thought he was one of those earlier prophets, like Moses or Elijah. They even asked him if he was the Messiah. But, John very quickly responded that he was not. Yet, John had a specific job. (Straighten lights.) He was the one who was supposed to take what might be a tangled string of promises and “make straight” the path to Jesus. He was the one to point to Jesus. To connect the dots. And to reveal that Jesus was the one they had all been waiting for. (Turn on lights.) In some ways, he turned the lights on for them, so they would understand that Jesus was the Promised One, the light of the world.

Our reading continues.

The next day John was standing again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus walking along he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard what he said, and they followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he asked, “What are you looking for?”

They said, “Rabbi (which is translated Teacher), where are you staying?”

He replied, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

One of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Christ ). He led him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth.”

Nathanael responded, “Can anything from Nazareth be good?”

Philip said, “Come and see.”

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here is a genuine Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are God’s Son. 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! I assure you that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up to heaven and down to earth on the Human One.” --John 1:35-51 (CEB)

Just as God chose John, Jesus chose his disciples. In our reading, Jesus chooses them very quickly. Do you remember how many names you heard in this reading? How many people Jesus chose in the first few days of his public ministry? Can you help me name them? (John, Andrew, Simon (Cephas/Peter), Philip, Nathanael)

Simon, who we also know as Peter, was nicknamed Cephas, which means “rock.” He likely didn’t yet understand why Jesus had given him this name. Yet, we know, these centuries later, that Simon Peter, even after later denying Christ before his crucifixion, would become a strong leader in the early church, like a rock. Peter didn’t know it then. But, Jesus did.

Then, there’s Nathanael. I particularly like Nathanael for his sarcasm. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It’s like saying - if you’re a member of Grace & Glory, “Can anything good come out of Jefferson County?” Or conversely, if you’re a member at Third, “Can anything good come out of Oldham County?” Nathanael was a skeptic. A doubter. The one to question things. But, Jesus could see who he would also become. So, just as Jesus called Peter for who he was and who he would become, Jesus also called Nathanael for who he was and who he would become.

You and I, we are all very different people. We come from different backgrounds and experiences. Some of us very quickly follow when we’re invited in. Others of us hold back and, perhaps, follow, but with just a few more questions, maybe a few more doubts. Whether we feel like a rock like Peter or feel like we don’t even know that that means. Whether we have a lot of questions or not that many, Jesus has called each of us to be his disciples, too. And to come together, with all of our different experiences and backgrounds and ways of being, to grow deeper in our discipleship in Christ. All Jesus calls us to is to follow. In that following we learn answers to our questions and sometimes have more questions. But, most importantly, we learn to trust Jesus as the one leading, even when that means we are not quite sure where he will take us.

May we lean deeply into what it means to follow - to be Jesus’ disciples. May we open ourselves up to trust where Jesus might be leading us. And may we, like his early disciples, be willing and vulnerable enough to point the way to Jesus, to invite others to “Come and see” so that we might, together, “see greater things than these.” Amen.

Preached January 9, 2022, online with Grace & Glory, Prospect, and Third, Louisville.

Epiphany 1

Readings: John 1:19-51; Psalm 66:1-5

Birth of the Church: Being Radical

Last week, we heard about a conflict in the church in Antioch - a division between Jewish and Gentile Christians - that was resolved through listening and compromise at the first ecumenical council in Jerusalem.

As we near the end of the Narrative Lectionary year, we will be spending this last three weeks in Galatians - Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, including the church in Antioch. This letter provides us with a view of Paul’s perspective of the disagreement we first heard about last week. This letter is also central to our Christian faith and our understanding of the doctrine of justification. It is also a letter that is often called the Magna Carta on Christian freedom. 

So, this morning, we read in Galatians, chapters 1 and 2.

You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. --Galatians 1:13-17; 2:11-21 (NRSV)

Have you ever struggled with playing it safe instead of being radical? 

A few years ago in my former church in Pasadena, we experienced this. For several years, we had professed and believed that we were a hospitable congregation, welcoming all people. And, for the most part, we were.

Yet, we had a problem with the homeless population in our neighborhood. They liked to camp out overnight on the church property. Usually, though, if we gave them a little cash or let them use the phone or internet, or allowed them to stay overnight, well, eventually, they would move on. 

But, then, Monica and Vern arrived. (I’ve changed their names.) They lived in a beat up, broken-down van - a van they parked at the edge of our parking lot. Figuring they would move on as so many others had, we were polite. And helpful. And hopeful that they would eventually leave.

But, they didn’t leave. In fact, they started to push themselves into our congregation. When we opened up on Sunday morning, Vern was right there to help set up tables for morning fellowship. Both of them began coming to Sunday morning Bible study. Monica asked if she could sing in the choir. And on and on. They just continued to push their way in the
congregation.

Now mind you, most congregations would be thrilled with newcomers like this. How often do we proclaim our openness to visitors and our desire for them to become a part of us? How thrilled we would be if newcomers wanted to immediately become so involved!

To be truthful, we weren’t really all that thrilled. We weren’t thrilled because Monica and Vern were so different from us. For one thing, they were homeless. For another, well, they didn’t have regular access to showers. And so, sometimes, they smelled a little. Sometimes, they smelled a lot. They didn’t always say or do the “right” things. They didn’t fit into our norm. Into our small-minded, closed-hearted norm of what our church should look like.

And so, we struggled with being radical people. With being followers of a radical Gospel that teaches us that each one of us is enough and is good enough. That God has done it all for us and for every person. That there is nothing - nothing - we need do to be made righteous. That all of us, whether Jew or Gentile, whether white or black, whether gay or straight, whether binary or non-binary, all of us are made righteous before God through Christ Jesus. That is radical.

But, that’s not all. For too long we have used language that has rejected the validity of the covenant of God with the Jewish people. Parts of this letter, written by Paul, were used in the mid-20th century as a basis to extinguish the lives of millions of people. Even Luther, in his writings, used this part of Galatians to malign the Jews.  Because in large part, we have misconstrued what Paul is saying here. 

After decades of scholarship, it is now generally recognized that first-century Jews didn’t actually think that their “right status” with God came from keeping the Torah. Instead, like us, they believed they were saved solely by God’s grace. But, they also believed that their saved status was demonstrated by their obedience to the Torah, practices that marked them as God’s people, that set them apart. 

So, when Paul writes in chapter 2 that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith, this is not a diatribe against Judaism and the keeping of the Torah. Paul was a Jew, who kept the Torah religiously. Instead, if we look in the first chapter of Galatians, verse 16, we have a clue. Here Paul notes that Jesus was revealed to be God’s Son so that he might “proclaim him among the Gentiles.” Woven into the letter to the Galatians is a key idea - that the ancient promise of God - the covenant with Abraham to bless all the families of the world through his people - is now being fulfilled by the Messiah, Jesus. Christianity is not superior to Judaism. Rather, as one theologian puts it, “Christianity exists as the gracious fulfillment of the already gracious Judaism. It is the climax of the covenant, fulfilled in Jesus, through whom, as John writes, we have received grace upon grace upon grace. The holy Scripture tells this story - of how God’s past, present and future grace goes forth from Israel to the world through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

So, when Paul opposes Peter to his face, it’s not because Peter was a legalist, attempting to earn his way into heaven. Instead, Paul is saying Peter was acting hypocritically by leading others in a way that was out of step, even contrary, to the multi-ethnic, cross-cultural, radical nature of the gospel. By refusing to eat with Gentile Christians when a faction of Jewish Christians arrived in Antioch, Peter was essentially saying that there were two classes of Christians, divided by ethnic lines. And that to be a “real” Christian, one must live according to the markers of the Torah. But, Paul was having none of that. Because Paul’s idea of justification by faith in this letter is not an individual act of inclusion, but a communal act of inclusion - bringing the non-Jews into the sect of Jesus believers. It answers the question of who’s in and who’s not. For Paul, because of the radical faithfulness of Christ, nobody is out. Everybody is in. 

Monica and Vern eventually became a beloved part of our Pasadena church. Members. We learned to live into being the radical people of love that the Gospel called us to be. And, when they decided to move on, nearly two years later, we were heartbroken to see them go. 

This is what it means to be radical people of a radical Gospel, whether we are from Galatia or Pasadena, from Goshen or Louisville. To be people reaching out by grace to grab for dear life onto the perfect divine life of Jesus Christ, given for us. To be a new creation, given a new status. Included. Transformed by grace. To love. Deeply. According to the will of our God and Father. 

To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Preached May 9, 2021, online with Grace & Glory Lutheran/Goshen, KY, and Third Lutheran/Louisville, KY.

Easter 6

Readings: Galatians 1:13-17, 2:11-21; Luke 18:9-14