Anything Good?

Text:  John 1:43-51

Theme:  “Anything Good?”

2^nd Sunday after the Epiphany

January 18, 2015

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

50 Jesus said, “You believe[a] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you,[b] you[c] will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’[d] the Son of Man.”

The Epiphany season rocks on!  Epiphany means to “make known” or “make manifest”.  The One being made known is Jesus, and one of the ways He does that is through calling disciples.  He called them then; He calls them now.

Disciples 1 and 2, in John’s Gospel, are Andrew and Simon Peter.  So we have two of the original twelve in place.  Disciple 3 and Disciple 4, the gentlemen we heard about today, are, respectively Philip and Nathanael.  Thus, we have Andy and Rocky lined up on one day.  On the next, Philip and Nathanael (we’ll call them Phil and Nate) come on board.  In only two days, Jesus has one third of His apostolic band.  Pretty cool!

Others would come later on – folks like Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector.  Using the familiar language of our day, Simon, being a member of the Zealot party, was an archconservative.  He was a red state, tea party guy through and through!   He and others like him despised the centralized power of the Roman government.  He yearned for the day when it would be overthrown and the nation of Israel would be restored to its rightful place.  Anyone who disagreed with this view was a traitor. 

This takes us to Matthew the tax collector.  Talk about a study in contrasts!  Again using today’s popular language, he was the radical, the liberal.  He, a Jew, actually worked for the government that Simon the Zealot so despised.  And worse, he collected taxes.   In belief, point of view, and opinion about the main issues of the day, Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector were polar opposites. 

Yet, somewhere along the line, all that they held dear – Simon’s conservatism, on the one hand, and Matthew’s liberalism, on the other – finally came in second place or didn’t even show up at all.  All of that changed when a rabbi and itinerant preacher from an out-of-the-way, backwoods, tiny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, hayseed town called Nazareth said “Follow me.”  He brought them together by giving them both a higher calling – that is, to follow the One manifested – epiphanied! -- to them as the Son of God and the King of Israel. 

A few Sundays back I suggested to you that, if current statistical trends continue, the Presbyterian Church (USA) will cease to exist in a generation.  Rev. Blair Monie, who retired last year as pastor at Preston Hollow Presbterian Church in North Dallas and is now a part-time professor at Austin Seminary, shared the description one of his friends gave of our denomination:  “It’s a Republican church that is led by Democrats.”  And therein lies a big part of the problem that fuels the dismal statistics:  the denomination – in its rank, file, and leadership – has become so political and reactionary – slouching and lurching either to the right or left -- that it’s canceling itself out.  Folks like me, at the tail end of the baby boomer generation, and on down to 40somethings, 30somethings, and young millennials, repulsed by the politicization of the church and politics in general, are voting with their feet.  In the past few weeks, I’ve read accounts of people – even decades-long church members – who simply have stopped coming to church.  They’ve made a conscious decision to go no more.  They are done with it.  One article was entitled “The Rise of the ‘Dones’”.  Give me your email, and I’ll send you the links!

In our reading, Nathanael asked what is called a rhetorical question.  He inquires:  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Nowadays, more and more folks are phrasing the question differently:  “Can anything good come from the church?”

Out in the narthex, on the Sunday when I shared the statistical trends, one of our members approached me and, with concern of voice, asked:  “What can we do?” 

One thing we can do, by way of beginning to make a beginning, is to engage, think over, and pray about what a Gospel reading like today’s gives us.   Begin by paying renewed attention to what actually happens when Jesus calls disciples.  Did He ask for their opinions and see if they matched His own?  Was that the price of admission?    Did He solicit their views and make sure they were lock and step with his own?   Was the subjugation of Israel to being a client state of the expanding Roman empire an issue that He was curious about?  Did their political bent – either to the left or to the right – matter to Him?  You’re a tax collector.  So?  You’re a zealot.  So?  Did Jesus offer fresh techniques to Matthew so he could collect more revenue?  Did He strengthen Simon’s partisan zealotry, love of country, patriotism and such? Was He discriminatory?  Did He withhold His call?  Did He refuse to call someone because they weren’t spiritual enough or because He had a “personality conflict” with him/her?  Did He shun people because they weren’t sufficiently “like Him”?  Did He insist on a handshake, a hug, a name properly spelled out on an official lanyard or tag?

No. He did none of that; He said none of that – zip, zero, nada! But He did say “Follow me.”  He did declare this:  “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The miracle is that people did.  There was – there is! – something about who Jesus was – and is! – that was compelling.  All of that religious, spiritual, political, mental, emotional, vocational, familial baggage was set aside and put in its place so that the main thing could be the main thing.  The main thing was – and is! -- the wonderful drawing power of the One who said:  “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.  Take MY yoke upon you, and learn from me that I am meek and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” 

Phil found Nate and said:  “We found him – yes, we did!  We found the One that Moses and the Prophets wrote about!  Jesus of Nazareth!”  Nathanael asks:  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  He would discover the answer soon enough:  A man, a rabbi, a voice, a call, a cross, and empty tomb, a full forgiveness for sin, a rest for the weary, a world indelibly changed, a resurrection of the body, and a life everlasting that begins now.

Can anything good come from the church?  That’s really not the question.  But can anything good come from Nazareth?  Now we’re on to something.  We have begun to make a beginning!

Amen.