John 1.43-51
It's an interesting spiritual transition that Nathanael has for us in today's
Gospel. He goes from skeptic to cynic to believer, in a few sentences. WOW. Wouldn't it be great if all faith conversions were
that easy?
Aside from the obvious questions about what else had been happening in his
life, I wonder what else is happening in these scriptures to facilitate that
conversion? What happens to make that change not only possible, but probable. I
think it's all about the attitude.
When we start off, the narrative has some extreme emotions coming out.
Nathanael gives us some great snark. Philip is kinda excited, yes? HEY! WE
FOUND THE MESSIAH! And Nathanael says NOPE. It can't be him. That Jesus guy
can't be the Messiah. Because he's coming from Nazareth. Icky Nazareth.
Nazareth that might be called a... "poophole" in certain political
spheres. Nazareth: Nothing good comes from that place, so surely God's chosen
one, the anointed, the Messiah - would not come from there.
Now at this point, it would have been VERY easy for Philip to either join in on
the joke. Philip was from Bethsaida, after all, which was a great place to be
from. Good economy, good people, growing population.
Or, Philip could have gotten a bit defensive with Nathanael. Nazareth can't be
ALL bad, even if it is a small town of no more than 400 people, you can't blame
a person for where they were born.
But instead, Philip changes the game. He doesn't in fact, respond to the
location at all. Instead, he puts the focus on Jesus - that which has come from
Nazareth - the person not the place. And, he also shifts the responsibility of
the defense onto Nathanael himself. He changes the whole scope of the conversation
with one simple phrase: Come and see.
It's an invitation, not just to go and visually witness something, but to
experience something completely different, something unexpected. Without
preamble, without prejudice, without pre-judgment: Come and see.
Now, Philip doesn't force the issue - Nathanael could have said no, and that
would have been the end of it. But perhaps in that simple invitation, Nathanael
recognised that there was something more than ordinary going on - something so
amazing that it spoke for itself, that it didn't need introduction or emphasis.
Something in Philip's very demeanor demonstrated that he had been changed by
this person, this experience, and he wanted to share it.
Come and see.
What a wonderful invitation. What a wonderful opportunity. What a great example
in leadership that Philip gives to us all.
Come, and see. Jesus is there, and you're invited to come and see. Experience
the presence of the Christ for yourself; get your own experience, your own
feelings, your own reality. Come, and see.
It's powerful, isn't it, what can happen when someone chooses to accept that
invitation. Look at Nathanael - from snarky and cynical, he has one brief
conversation with the Lord - about sitting under a fig tree, of all things! And
suddenly, Nathanael's world changes. "RABBI!" he calls out, "YOU
ARE THE SON OF GOD! YOU ARE THE KING OF ISRAEL!"
A little bit of Jesus goes a long way.
Perhaps we need to remember this when we want to invite someone to come to
church, to come to Christ. Nathanael was not changed by logic, or guilt, or
force, or tradition, or by anything that Philip did. He was changed by his own
encounter with the living God. Philip ignored the snark and cynicism, he
ignored the excuses, he ignored the presumptions and pessimism. All he did was
extend an invitation.
We, like Philip, *should* be inviting people to come to encounter God; and we
do that by extending an invitation to worship in community, to be the church.
It's in this wonderful community of being church that we celebrate our own
experiences with God, through Christ. But our invitations need to be careful -
like Philip's - to make sure they're not loaded with innuendo or guilt or pressure.
Just an invitation: come, and see.
People - all people - have pre-conceived notions of what it means to be a
Christian, of what it means to come to church. I asked some social media
friends to give me what they think when they hear the word "Church."
My churchy friends - which, let's be honest, is the majority of my friends -
answered with things like "belonging" and "community" and
"fellowship" and "an old white rectangular building with a
steeple and stained glass windows along the sides, arched double doors at the
front." What we would expect, being in that group of people.
From some of my
non-churchy friends I got: "boring" and "judgmental" and
"spontaneous human combustion, but that's just me." (Ironically, this
was from the friend who stood up for me at my ordination. I assure you; there
were no flames!)
It is astonishing how big a difference there is in perception and attitude!
What weight is in the words of those who have a good experience of church; what
weight is in the words of the people who do not have an active and healthy
relationship with the church, or with Jesus.
So the invitation that we extend to others to come to Jesus needs to respect
where these people are coming from, without making them feel that they are in
the wrong place. The invitation is just that - an invitation - to come and see
for themselves. It may happen in our time, it may happen in their time, it may
not happen. But the invitation - gentle, honest, faithful - well it's always
the right time for that.
I pray that we move forward like the Philips, sharing our experience of an
active and living relationship with God to the world around us. I pray we can
celebrate just how much that relationship means to us as individuals, as
family, as church. And then we can share it with the world: come, and see.
Come and see how your life can be changed by establishing and maintaining a
connection with Jesus.
Come and see the world as God made it, beautiful and good.
Come and see what it means to be forgiven, loved, saved.
Come and see what it means to live in the reality of joy and hope and
faith.
Come and see the light of Christ that is burning deep within you, overcoming
all hints of darkness.
Come and see.
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