The Invitation
January 22nd, 2012
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St. David’s United Church
Rev. Dan Chambers
January 22, 2012
John 1:35-51
The Invitation
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 from Nazareth.” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
John 1:45-46
It must have been something really amazing, some kinda show-stopper that inspired Philip to run to his skeptical friend, Nathanael, and say in effect, “You gotta see this!”
In the United Church, we’re polite to a fault. We’re not inclined to run out and tell somebody about a recent experience of mystery or wonder. We’re not inclined to talk to a neighbour in the grocery isle or a friend in the locker room about our church. It’s too personal. Religion shouldn’t be imposed on others. We want to be respectful of different attitudes. Leanne, our Administrator, who is part of a more overtly evangelical tradition, recently exclaimed, “You all are so polite!”
That said, we know how to be evangelical about some things. When we tell someone about a great movie or a fabulous restaurant, evangelical words can issue from our mouth: “Go!” Well say. “Don’t miss it!” Or we’ll say passionately about an excellent book, “When you have the time, read it!”
I think Cal Stead is the most natural evangelist this congregation has. He’s evangelical about anything he loves. A few nights ago he was telling us about “the world’s best sandwich shop” located right by Victory Square. He recently gave me a CD of a friend whose music “is amazing” he said, and he was right. If Cal tells you about something he loves, chances are you’ll be curious or interested to see if you may love it too. You’ll want to bite into that sandwich from the deli called Meat and Bread, Inc. You’ll want to listen to that CD. You’ll want to go to that church. He’s evangelical in the very best sense because he just wants to share something he loves with you, hoping it will give you joy, too.
I can learn from Cal. I share the Canadian qualities of being reserved and polite and extremely cautious when it comes to talking about my faith with others. But there have been times when I’ve been so excited about something, or so moved or so inspired that even I have broken through the sound barrier and said to someone, “Come and see. Check it out for yourself. I think you’ll love it.”
My guess is that Philip must not have been Canadian. Or if he did share Canadian tendencies of being polite and shy, reserved and cautious, he sure got over them when he met Jesus. It seems without hesitation he approached his friend, Nathanael, who questioned everything. “I’ve just met this amazing man; a holy man. A rabbi, it seems, from Nazareth.”
“Oh, really?” Nathanael responds. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
It’s interesting that Philip was not put off by his friend’s disinterested response. He didn’t apologize and slowly back away or quickly try to change the subject to something more comfortable. He didn’t seem to be hurt as I would have been or respond defensively. He simply says, “Come and see for yourself.”
I think Nathanael, the skeptic, is a great caricature of our society. “Oh, really?” we ask with one eyebrow raised in question. “Can anything good come from a church?”
And our job, our job as a church community, a God-centered community, a Jesus-filled community, is to be a place so genuinely inviting that people are willing to overcome their negative Christian-stereotypes, and come. We are called to be a place where people want to come because here, with us, they find life. They find a community that cares about others, that tends to the broken, that addresses injustice, that cares about the environment, that provides community and a place to grow.
People in our society are very likely to respond to an invitation to church with severe skepticism, “Oh, really?” But what I’ve noticed is that often, not always but often, people not grounded in the practices of a sacred tradition don’t have a strong root system to hold them up when things get tough, or to give them a depth of joy and gratitude when life is otherwise going very well. The majority of our society, if they think of spirituality at all, want to design their faith. And it makes sense: we buy designer fashion, we design our own music stream with ipods, we design our own facebook page – why wouldn’t we design our own religion?
The problem is, a little bit of that and a pinch of this isn’t likely to hold us when the winds howl. Because one way or another we need to go beyond ego-centrism and the desire to be in control of everything from how we load the dishwasher to how we encounter God.
Lillian Daniels is a UCC minister in Glen Ellen, Illinois. She remembers how her mother absolutely loved daffodils and shares this delightful story:
When I was a kid, my mother planned a big garden party, where her yard would be filled with blooming daffodils that she had planted in anticipation. But as the party date approached, the weather stayed cold and no daffodils were even close to blooming.
Yet on the day of the party, our lawn was filled with daffodils, just as she had dreamed. The guests marveled. No garden had any springtime action like that.
But then after the guests went home, the daffodils drooped and my mother went through the yard carefully removing all the cut daffodils she had bought at the florist, that she had painstakingly attached to chopsticks with wire twist ties, and stuck in the ground.
Those daffodils weren’t fake, but they were short-lived and flimsy, with no bulb under the earth to allow them to survive the rough weather. On the surface and for a short while, they looked like real daffodils, but they didn’t have enough going on underneath to last.
Isn’t that usually how the life of faith works? You can go to the bookstore or attend a yoga class or listen to a lecture or go on a retreat and pick up a little of this and a little of that, and decorate your life with little bundles of acquired wisdom.
But deep participation in a tradition greater than our own invention is the bulb under the earth. It will live through the cold, to rise again, long after our self-made bouquet has faded.
That’s why, even in the face of skeptical friends, we need to say, “Come and see.”
And what did the first followers of Jesus see? Who was Jesus for them? Who is Jesus for us, now?
Hold that question as we turn for a moment back to the story. Notice two odd things in this passage. Here’s the first odd thing: Nathanael comes to see Jesus, to check him out, but Jesus sees first. It’s as if Jesus sees Nathanael and in the seeing, knows him.
An Israelite in whom there is no deceit!
Nathanael is startled by this declaration and asks, “Excuse me, have we met?” Jesus says that he saw him under the fig tree.
In that exchange, Nathanael recognizes the holy identity of Jesus. Then Jesus says, Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these. Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
Now, in the Jewish mind, and perhaps in our mind too if we’ve heard the Biblical stories, we hear about “angels of God ascending and descending a ladder” and we think… “Jacob’s ladder.” Jacob, the fugitive who ran from his brother who wanted to kill him for stealing his rightful inheritance; Jacob, who collapsed from exhaustion and fell asleep on the
ground in the middle of the desert. He dreamed of the gate of heaven opening with angels ascending and descending on a ladder and when he woke he exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. This place is awesome. This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
What did those first disciples see in Jesus? What was their experience of him? I think this was it. They experienced him as one who housed God. Infinite Love dwelled in Jesus. The fancy theological word for this is “incarnation”. But it simply means that this rabbi from Nazareth was filled with a holy and powerful love.
For the person with an open mind and an open heart, an encounter with Jesus was like Jacob waking from his amazing dream. As you looked into the extraordinary eyes of this otherwise ordinary looking man from Nazareth, you might have echoed Jacob, “Here in this man is none other than the house of God, in him is the gate of heaven.”
I don’t think Jesus carried a special-effects machine around with him that hinted at his holiness. No extra lighting for that holy aura. No smoke and fire to convince people of his power and glory. He was just a guy with dirty feet and tangled hair.
But those without guile, those who were open to the way of God noticed something more. Something remarkable. Something awesome that they just couldn’t quite describe.
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Don’t take my word for it. Come and see.”
Jesus isn’t walking around anymore. But we can still encounter that Spirit, the Christ. It might happen when you’re reading the Bible, or in prayer, or talking with a child, or walking in nature. One way you know it is when you have that feeling that you’re being seen, and in being seen, you are known.
Now here’s the second odd thing: Two of the disciples of John the Baptist began to follow Jesus around. He noticed them, and asked, What are you looking for?
They said to him, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”
Note: the Greek word for “staying” means more than “where are you sleeping?” or “in what hotel are you staying?” It means, where do you dwell, spiritually?
Come and see, Jesus replied.
The reading continues, “They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.” Then there’s this odd little detail thrown in like a sprinkle of salt: “It was about 4:00 in the afternoon.”
What? Who cares about the time of day? But in John’s Gospel, nothing is just casually thrown in. It all has symbolic meaning. Here’s the possible meaning of the time, 4:00.
In the Jewish tradition, the Sabbath is the high point of the week. The Sabbath is like having Christmas every week, except without the presents. The house is cleaned and decorated. Family and friends come together. People are in a good mood. There are special meals, candles are lit, stories told, songs sung, blessings offered. The Sabbath is the day of rest. It’s the “do nothing” day. It’s the day you don’t need to be productive, don’t need to strive, don’t need to achieve anything. On the Sabbath, you set aside your to-do list for a change, you slow down, take a deep breath, relax and give thanks to God. It’s a day to worship, eat, read, make love, nap, play. And it begins at sunset. Perhaps the twinkle of it around 4:00 in the afternoon.
It’s unfortunate that we’ve lost this practice. But I bet you know the feeling of Sabbath. That feeling of freedom when you approach a long weekend. Or that feeling of excitement when you prepare for a trip to someplace warm and you’ve packed a swim suit and a book. That
feeling of being back home with family and now you don’t have to cook for yourself anymore and you relax into the familiar smells and voices of home.
I think it’s something like this that Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathanael experienced when they first met Jesus. He was the gateway to heaven. He was the dwelling place for Love. He was the embodiment of the Sabbath. Amazing! Come and see.
Even though people in our society often project a tough exterior that says, “I have it all together,” on the inside I think we’re desperately searching for something: for success, for riches, for acceptance, for love…Even still, Jesus turns to ask, What are you looking for?
A Canadian captured the echo of the one who embodies the Sabbath and is the dwelling place for Love. She lives in Toronto, and many years ago studied Social Work at Ryerson University and Philosophy at U of Toronto. She was debilitated by chronic fatigue, has struggled with that condition, and now writes and speaks and leads workshops on healing and life’s meaning.
Jesus asked those first disciples, What are you looking for?
And if we still listen, we might hear the whisper of Love, as Oriah heard an inner-voice say:
What you are looking for is right here.
Open the fist clenched in wanting
And see what you already hold in your hand.
There is no waiting for something to happen,
No point in the future to get to.
All you have ever longed for is here in this moment, right now.
You are wearing yourself out with all this searching.
Come home and rest.
How much longer can you live like this?
Your hungry spirit is gaunt, your heart stumbles. All this trying.
Give it up!
Let yourself be one of the God-mad,
Faithful to the Beauty you are.
Let the Lover pull you to your feet and hold you close,
Dancing even when fear urges you to sit this one out.
(“The Call” by Oriah Mountain Dreamer)
That’s our invitation. That’s our call from the One who dwells in Love, the One who is the gateway to heaven and the embodiment of Sabbath joy. Amen.
