SECOND SCRIPTURE READING (PASTOR)
John 1:43-51
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.
He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 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.”
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
“Come and see.”
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”
“Where did you get to know me?”
“I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
“Do you believe because I told you that 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.”
SERMON (PASTOR)
My friend Liam, is a good sport and regularly will go camping with my my two best friends and I, and before you think, ‘Hey, thats not a bad deal,’ you need to know that its pretty much going camping with three of me. There is an obscene amount of giggling, excitement, and girl talk, not to mention actual occasional skipping. Liam, puts up with a lot, and in one of these instances, when he was hangry, craving an InandOutBurger, and driving three Daisys, who were dissing his food choice and probably playing some music like the Cranberries and singing along, Liam said, “Everyone has the right to be left alone.” I’d never thought of it before, as I am usually the one who is always bugging people to play. I am the one who woke up first at sleepovers in middle school, as my friends would burry their heads in pillows until I gave up and would go make conversation with their parents in the kitchen, and when there was a slight stirring, I was known to take pictures of their morning faces and messy hair - the early risers trick - as the last ones to sleep have theirs too.
I think Nathanael in this passage is like Liam, or my friends as teenagers, just wanting to be left alone, and I think that Jesus gets that they have a right to. Now you could read this passage the other way, that when Nathanael says, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” he says it completely sincerely, but to me, I don't see how Jesus noticing Nathanael under the fig tree makes Jesus the Son of God. Plus, I tend to avoid the goody-two-shoes Biblical interpretations, just as I do in friends. Liam in fact, is from Boston and was the one I sassed the most in college that New Englanders never smile when you pass them. They just bunker down and walk fast, as if it was always blowing cold snow and they had forgotten their scarf. Liam, also had easily figured out just how gullible I was at that point in my life. Jesus could have come up to me and I would have followed him, and run and got Liam, like, ‘Come on Curmudgeon, and see this really cool thing, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” And Liam, quick and sarcastic as he is, would have responded “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But me, still pleading, would say, “Come and see.” And then it would start, Jesus and Liam, would go back and forth completely sarcastically,
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Like making some Beantown joke that would go over my head, and Liam saying, “Where did you get to know me?” They both knowing that Jesus hadn’t. Jesus responding, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” and Liam, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” and Jesus, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”
This is how I read this scripture, and perhaps Nazareth was also a New England sort of culture, because I think Jesus too respects that everyone has the right to be left alone. He doesn’t try to convince, Nathanael, he doesn’t make Nathanael believe. Jesus just tells of his experience, his hope and his love. “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” This too is my theology, because I have been a Nathanael, and a Phillip, and sharing our faith isn’t about convincing; you can’t convince a quick, sarcastic wit. All you can do is share your experience and offer it there like bait. Jesus, a fisher of men, knew this.
He shared his experience and left it there, and I wonder how different our world be if we did the same. I think about what is happening in France and in Germany; people are taking up sides, and protesting through sarcasm, violence and threats, one side against the other, but you can’t convince people with a quick, sarcastic wit, no matter how funny your cartoon. You can coerce, but you can’t convince people with violence, no matter how many you kill, and I’m pretty sure, the more you kill - the less you convince. You can’t convince people with threats or with fear. You can’t convince people by xenophobicly marching against, ‘them.’ All those things do is help us to feel pretty smug in, ‘our side,’ and others justified in, ‘theirs.’ I wonder how different our world would be if we just let people be, if we let them sit under the fig tree, and simply offer our experience, our hope and our love, because sharing faith isn’t about convincing, its about loving.
Also in this week’s news, there was mosque that was bombed in Sweden, where, on average, one mosque is attacked each month. There, and in the face of rising Islamophobia throughout Europe, the people responded by Love-Bombing the mosque. Hundreds of paper hearts, with notes of care and solidarity covered the walls with love after it had been struck with unyielding hate. That is sharing faith; it is sharing love and hope. In our own community, what if sharing faith looked less like separating out believers, and agnostics, and atheists and instead offering gifts to all those who participated in confirmation, no matter if they chose to join the church or not. What if faith looked more like my friend Sheri, who will tell people that God loves them, or offer a blessing, but is ever so careful to make sure she is doing so out of love and offering rather than push. What if sharing our faith, looked like leaving people under the fig tree if that’s where they want to be, joking with them if that’s their common banter, and if they want to follow, then telling them how you have seen a hundreds of paper hearts, the love of God ascending and descending, and that, that love can be seen no matter if you are a goody-two-shoes, rejoicing, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” or if you say the same thing completely sarcastically. What if sharing faith was loving people where they are, and for who they are, even if it means my friends and I sometimes having to eat an In-And-Out-Burger or letting Liam choose the music if he is not ready for a three part serenade of chick-rock. Maybe its letting people know they are loved just the same whether they choose to sit under the fig tree or hear of the way you saw the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending.
