Under the Fig Tree
John 1:43-51
We live in a time when it seems that we are always hearingthe call to follow someone. It may be as innocuous as some sales person inviting you to follow them to the warehouse or the car lot to take advantage of their latest and greatest deal. But you can’t turn on your television, or read the news online, or listen to the radio, without encountering someone calling you to follow them, to support their claims of being the chosen one; or at least, the one you should choose. Sometimes, their call to follow them means saying, “Yes, we can.” Sometimes, the call to follow them means saying, “Oh no, we won’t.”
If you could somehow filter out the people running for office – and I suspect you could make a lot of money if you could figure out how to do that – then we might think that we live in a time like the days of Samuel. The third chapter of I Samuel begins, “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” If we look at what is happening in our society, it can be easy to come to that conclusion. There doesn’t seem to be a widespread and godly vision that includes both loving God and loving our neighbors in such a way that it reflects the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. And sometimes, the vision that is shared in the name of God looks more like a political platform than something we can find in the Bible.
Larry Wagley was a member of my doctoral committee,and at the worship celebration for his retirement from Saint Paul School of Theology,he read that scripture from I Samuel 3. Larry noted that, unlike the days of Samuel,just about everyone he taught was sure that God had spoken to them. Not only was it “not rare” that God spoke, it seemed that God couldn’t shut up. God apparently talked to everyone, and about everything. And God was giving all of them visions about how the world should be different.
That presented a challenge for him when teaching. Some of his students felt they didn’t need to learn what God had said in the Bible, all those long years ago, because they had heard from God much more recently – and that was the only message that had to be shared. Some of his students didn’t care what the traditions of the Church taughtabout howto live as disciples.They were called to be the new wine and they needed new wine skins. Some of his students didn’t see any need to apply reason to their vision, to discern if the voice they heard was actually God’s voice. The certainty of their experience was all the confirmation they needed.
I don’t know if there have been any studies done on this, or even if a study could be done, but I have a hunch that this is part of the reason the Church has trouble sharing the vision Jesus called“the kingdom of God.” For at least a generation, and likely longer, people in the church have preferred certainty over discernment. We have preferred experience over exegesis. We have preferred self over scripture.
That is why people all over the theological spectrum are shouting at each other. Each group is confident that they, and they alone, know the complete will of God because they, and they alone, have heard the voice of God. It is with great pride, and without any trace of humility, that each group declares: “We have heard the voice of God, so you must be wrong unless you agree with us!”
So how do we stop all the shouting, and arguing, and dividing of the Body of Christ? How do we move from trying to win the argument, to living as those who serve the One who has won the battle over sin and death? How do we become the people who can live out their confession that there is “one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all”? How do we become the people who share the good news of Jesus Christ, and not the people who still witness to the brokenness of the world?
There are times when I think it would be so much easier if we could just go back in time and listen to Jesus call us directly, personally, just like Jesus called Philip and Nathanael in our reading for today. Of course, it would be easier if we were all like Philip, who not only immediately says “yes” to following Jesus, but he also goes and invites Nathanael to follow Jesus, as well. Philip doesn’t have any doubt about what Jesus says because Jesus said it, and Jesus is the messiah.
The truth is we are more like Nathanael. Whenever someone makes the claim that they have figured out exactly what Moses and the prophets were talking about, our inclination is to doubt that they have. Too many times, we have seen persons take something in the Bible out of context and use it to justify their reason to do something Jesus would never do. So when we hear that someone has figured out exactly what God means, we want to figure out how and why they are wrong. In our rush to prove them wrong, we miss whatever it was that they got right, and we miss what God was actually trying to say through them.
I have said this before, and I will say it again, but often our sin is in wanting to decide for our self what is good and what is evil. And, of course,the sin is manifested whenever I declare that my understanding is good, and that those who disagree with me have chosen the evil.
We see that sin echoed in the reading. Philip comes to Nathanael, excited, almost breathless. “We have found him, Nate! We have found the one Moses promised, the one the prophets foretold. We have found the messiah!” Nathanael, who has been sitting under this fig tree thinking deeply about the things of God, raises one eyebrow, looks over at Philip, and says to him, “Really? Does this messiah have a name?”
Philip says, “Of course he does. It’s Yeshua bar Joseph.” Nathanael looks up at a low-hanging fig on the tree, plucks it, and replies, “That’s a pretty generic name. I know dozens of Yeshuas, and a lot of them had daddies named Joseph. Can you narrow it down a bit?”
Philip cleared his throat, knowing what Nathanael would say next. “The messiah is from Nazareth.” Nathanael almost choked on the fig he had just bitten into. After coughing a bit, he asked, “Where in God’s green earth is Nazareth?”
Philip told him that Nazareth was in Galilee, within walking distance of Sephoris, which was a regional center of Roman power. Nathanael smirked. “That just proves you are wrong about this Yeshua, or Jesus, being the messiah. Look, Philip – I have read the Law of Moses. I have read all of the prophets. Nazareth isn’t mentioned even one time – not even in passing. How can the messiah be from Nazareth if Moses and the prophets never even mention Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Apparently, Moses and the prophets didn’t think so.”
Philip had good news to share with Nathanael – the messiah has been found! Nathanael doesn’t see any reason to believe that Philip is right. People had claimed that other people were the messiah, and they had all been found lacking. Some even thought John the Baptizer might be the messiah. So, was Nathanael just supposed to believe the messiah had come simply because Philip said so? We know that Nathanael has acted reasonably and wisely, even if he has come to the wrong conclusion.
Those of us gathered here today know that Philip was right, that Jesus is the messiah. We have the benefit of the gospels, and the witnesses of the disciples, and the traditions of the church over the centuries. But Nathanael didn’t know that, at least not at that moment. But Nathanael can teach us some very important lessons about how we are to share good news with others.
We see that scripture wasn’t enough to convince Nathanael. It is clear that the messianic tradition wasn’t enough to convince Nathanael. Reason wasn’t enough. Experience wasn’t enough. Those are all good tools for helping us hear the word of God, for enabling us to see the vision God has for us. We know that some people come to faith because they read the Bible. Some people come to faith because they learn the traditions and practices of the Church. Some people come to faith after examining all the evidence. And some people come to faith because they have a life-altering experience.
Any one of those tools may be enough to convince us to believe that Jesus is the messiah. If someone is ready to believe, any one of those tools can be enough. But, none of those tools is a guarantee that someone will believe. Nathanael knew about all those tools, but he wasn’t ready to believe in Jesus. There was still one important missing piece for him. So Philip offered it.
Philip said, “Come and see.” Come and meet Jesus. Come spend time with him. Come talk with him. Come and listen to him. Come and build a relationship with him. Don’t take my word for it. Don’t settle for what you read in the scriptures, or what someone else tells you. Come and see, so you may know that Jesus is the messiah.
Philip invited Nathanael to become a disciple, so that he could believe that Jesus is the messiah. That is still the invitation today. Come and see. Build a relationship with Jesus. Become a disciple, an apprentice, until you know this stuff yourself.
There is a story told of a young man in the 1800’s who wanted to become a dentist. His father convinced him that there was a greater need for a blacksmith, so he became an apprentice to a blacksmith and learned the trade. When this man was towards the end of his life, he told his children that it was a good thing that he had become a blacksmith instead of a dentist. As a blacksmith, he had earned a good living, but he would have starved to death as a dentist. His proof – in all the years of his life, many people had needed his services as a blacksmith, but not one person had ever asked him to work on their teeth.
That’s how it is for many people in their faith journey. They don’t know Jesus is the messiah because they don’t have a relationship with Jesus. Their logic is that in all their time as sinners, no one ever asked them to be a disciple, so therefore being a disciple would be bad for them.
How do we invite others to believe that Jesus is the messiah? We have to invite them to build a relationship with Jesus. But unlike Philip, we can’t meet with Jesus under the fig tree, like Nathanael did. But there are other ways we can help people have a relationship with Jesus.
We have the means of grace. The “means of grace” is just another way of saying “being with Jesus.” So, we meet with Jesus when we come together in worship. We meet with Jesus when we read our Bible. We meet with Jesus when we gather around the table and celebrate the sacrament. We meet with Jesus when we spend time in prayer. We meet with Jesus when two or three are gathered in his name. We meet with Jesus when we serve those in whom Jesus promised to come to us – the least, the lost, and the last. We meet with Jesus whenever we take up our cross and follow him.
That’s how we build a relationship with Jesus. Sometimes, we are ready to jump into that relationship, like Philip. And sometimes, we need time to build that relationship, and it is strengthened over the days and weeks and months and years we spend together.
The invitation Philip extended to Nathanael was to follow Jesus. It was a call to become his apprentice. It was a call to learn how he lived and to learn to do the same. It was a call to learn who Jesus is, so that when Jesus does speak to us, we will be able to recognize his voice and his authority, and then work to fulfill his vision of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
The invitation is still extended to us. If you do not know Jesus, we invite you to build that relationship by joining with us in our worship, Bible study, prayer, and service. If you would like a formal start to that relationship, either through baptism or the confession of your faith, please talk with me after the service today. If you want to strengthen your relationship with Jesus, we invite you to spend time with him practicing the means of grace. Jesus is still calling us, and we can see visions of the kingdom breaking in all around us, if we have eyes of faith to see.
#454 Open My Eyes, That I May See