Come and See

January 14^th, 2017      “Come and See”       Rev. Heather Jepsen

John 1:43-51

         Last week I was busy telling you that we will be reading from the gospel of Mark this year and now here we are in the gospel of John.  Confusing!  When we talk about the gospels you might hear me mention the synoptic gospels.  These are the gospels that are similar; Mark, Luke, and Matthew.  Scholars think that Mark was written first.  Then Matthew and Luke copied Mark and added in their own traditional stories.  John was written much later, separate from the other three, and while the overall narrative is the same a lot of the stories are different.

         Most Sundays, I focus on the liturgical cycle of readings that were developed by the early church in an attempt to teach most people most of the Bible.  Year A (which was last year) focuses on Matthew and Year C focuses on Luke.  Year B, which we are in now, is a combination of Mark and John.  It’s a pretty strange combination because Mark and John are the two most divergent gospels.  In Mark, Jesus is very human, which we talked about last week with the possibility that he might not even know he is the Son of God until the moment of his baptism.  In John’s gospel, Jesus is very divine.  He is a cosmic Christ, in existence before the dawn of time and with almost super powers.  I hope that throughout the year as we read from both gospels, you will get a sense of both of these divergent pictures of Jesus.

         So in this morning’s reading, we are in the gospel of John.  We have a very holy, otherworldly Jesus.  He can compel people to follow him through the simple sound of his voice.  He can see people, when he is not physically there.  And he can know the inner workings of people’s hearts.  As Nathanael says, this Jesus is clearly the Son of God and the King of Israel.  (And we’re only in chapter one!)

         In our story for today, this Jesus is busy gathering disciples and he decides to go to Galilee.  He finds Philip and says “Follow me.”  That’s all it takes and Philip is all in on this mission.  Philip runs to tell his friend Nathanael “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph of Nazareth.”  That’s a lot to discern from a simple “follow me”.  This is a great example of the magnetic power Jesus has in the gospel of John.

         Nathanael is my favorite character here, because he’s just like “what? He’s from where?”  Nathanael is honest with his prejudice, “Can anything good come of Nazareth?”  Ouch!  It sounds like a dig but Nazareth really was no place to be.  It was a tiny town of about 200-400 people; it would be a backwater even in our time.  Nazareth was nowhere, why would this important dude be from there?

         The cool thing here is that Philip doesn’t argue, he just says “come and see”.  Man, could we use a dose of this today; all we do is argue with each other!  Go back a bit, Philip had just told Nathanael possibly the biggest news of his life.  He has found the Messiah.  He is going to feel super excited, super pumped, can’t wait to share, big news.  And when he tells Nathanael, Nathanael totally bursts his bubble.  Think of how excited you are when you have big news about something really important to you.  It fills you up; you are practically bouncing to tell it.  And to have someone just pop your bubble, ugh, heartbreak! 

         Lots of us would launch into defense here.  We would get busy telling Nathanael why he is wrong about Nazareth and defending Jesus, and trying to argue our point.  Which would probably make Nathanael dig in, and before you know it we have a full blown argument on the merits of people from Nazareth.  But instead of responding with defensive moves and argument, Philip just says “come and see”.  Brilliant!

         Nathanael is naturally curious and so he follows.  Like Philip he is drawn to the magnetic power of Jesus and before long he is declaring that this one is the Son of God and the King of Israel.  Pretty big news for someone from Nazareth.  Jesus declares this is coming soon to a town near you.  As you all will soon see Jesus like the ladder in Jacob’s dream.  Jesus is the one connecting heaven and earth, it’s pretty exciting.

         This week I was really drawn to this idea of asking others to “come and see”.  These days it is so hard to discuss faith with our neighbors.  I for one am pretty quiet about my line of work when I am outside these doors.  I learned that lesson early on.  When I tell people I’m a pastor half of them are offended because I am a woman and want to argue about that, and the other half are offended because I am a Christian and they want to argue about that.  There are so many different types of Christians that when people make assumptions about my faith it can be hard not to be defensive.  And it can be hard to explain what I am talking about when I talk about church.  This is where we can take a tip from Phillip.  Instead of getting defensive or trying to explain who we are, we can just invite others to “come and see.”  We can be invitational.

         And you know what, this makes sense.  You can’t explain who Jesus is or what church is about.  Folks really do just have to “come and see” what we’re doing here.  Philip couldn’t explain to Nathanael why he was following Jesus, so much of it was just a feeling he had.  But when Nathanael comes to see, he gets that feeling too.  A lot of the things I love in the world I can’t explain to you.  I love purring cats and good wine, bread and rich cheese.  I love steak and I’m starting to love sushi.  I love a cup of coffee in the morning and I love a brisk walk in the fresh air.  I love music and harp playing, church and Jesus.  Most of these things I can’t really explain to someone else; they have to try it for themselves.  You don’t know how good a fresh cinnamon roll can be until you have one.  You have to “come and see” these things and no amount of explaining is going to help you understand.

         This is why so much of our faith is experiential.  Last week we came forward and touched the water to remember our baptisms.  We could have just talked about it, but to experience the water made it real.  We had to “come and see”.  Today we gather around the communion table, and you have to come and eat it to know what it’s like.  I can’t explain communion to you, or take it on your behalf.  You have to “come and see” it for yourself.

         This is why we do so much of what we do.  Ours is a faith you have to “come and see”.  From practicing an open table where everyone is welcome, to traveling to Malawi where we can place hands on our mission projects, to volunteering at the Food Center, we need to “come and see” our faith.  We need to experience things to love them and know them. 

         When I get in conversations about faith with those outside these doors, I try not to get defensive; rather I try to be invitational.  When folks are curious about my church I invite them to “come and see”.  Of course, the flip side of this conversation is being willing to “go and look”.  When I find myself in Nathanael’s position, asking “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, I need to be willing to “go and look”.  If I want to understand what others are talking about when they talk about the things that they love, I need to be willing to experience these things myself. 

         This week, as you head out into our divided argumentative world, see if you can employ this trick of “come and see”.  When folks deride you for your faith, either as too conservative or too liberal, invite them to “come and see”.  I mean come on, you’ve got one of those crazy “woman” pastors, there has to be some draw there!  And when folks do take the time to invite you into their life to “come and see” the things that they love, you should probably “go and look”.  Jesus reminds us that good things can come out of Nazareth, and many other surprising places. 

         Let us be willing to “go and look” in our world and to invite others to “come and see” this church and this Jesus which mean so much to us.  Amen.