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First off I would just like to say that this sermon is going to be shorter than normal because I am ill and might be a little different as well because of it as well.
I really enjoy this text because even though it is only a few short verses there is a whole lot of information that we can pull out of it. I always enjoy reading the call stories of the disciples because of how Jesus is able to talk to them and because of his presence or what he says, or whatever it is, he is able to invite people to see in him what is really there, that he is the son of God.
I say that because Jesus simply finds Philip and says to him, “follow me” and Philip does just that. Right after Philip becomes one of the disciples he goes out and finds Nathanael and explain to him that they have found the person that Moses was talking about in the law and the prophets. As I said just a moment ago, all Jesus did was ask, or tell, Philip to follow him and after he does he finds his friend and tells his friend that this man is the one that all the prophets have been talking about.
Now the response from Nathanael has to be my favorite part of the text. He wants to know if anything good can come from Nazareth. Which is a legitimate question to ask. You see at the time of Jesus Nazareth had a population between 200-500 people. It was an agricultural area that sustained itself, but beyond being able to sustain itself it was quite a poor area. There was no real reason to go to Nazareth because there was no trade and no real industry there. There is no reference to Nazareth in the Old Testament which further shows that it had no real impact on Israel and was likely a town that popped up from settlers, but it never grew because there was no real value to it. There was also a good chance that unless you lived near Nazareth you would not have known that town had excited despite the fact that modern archeology sets this town back to the bronze age.
So when Nathanael asks if anything good could possibly come from Nazareth he is asking a legitimate question. He wants to know if anything beyond a poor farmer could come out of that area.
Now I don’t want to offend anyone, but I was trying to think of an equivalent here in Arizona. Bekkah, Aubreigh, and I have spent a number of vacations going down to Rocky Point, Mexico and the last stop that we make before we make our trek into Mexico is Ajo and the place that we never stop at other than to meet up with the rest of the extended family is the town of Why. From what I remember there is only a gas station and an intersection in Why. So to ask if anything good comes from Nazareth would be to ask if anything good can come from Why. It’s a small town that doesn’t have much in it.
Philip responds to Nathanael by telling him to come and see. This phrase of ‘come and see’ is the same phrase that Jesus says Andrew and Simon Peter when they want to know where Jesus is staying and that is how they become Jesus’ first disciples.
I love that phrase ‘come and see’. I was reading a commentary about today’s text and the author pointed out that perhaps this should be what it means to be a Christian. We a part of the family of Christ, but it is Jesus that is at the center and so should we not be the ones who go out into the world and invite people to ‘come and see’? Invite them to come to our worship and come to the ministries of the church and when they come they are able to see who it is that we are talking about. They are able to come and see and also be a part of the family of God. It is through that invitation to comes and see Jesus that we not only are fulfilling Jesus’ command to spread the good news, but we are making it about him and not about us. It’s about sharing the good news with others so that they might see.
Now Jesus and Nathanael have a back and forth conversation about Jesus knowing him and seeing him under a fig tree. Nathanael seems to be amazed by the fact that Jesus knew that he was spending some time under a fig tree and so he declares Jesus not to simply be a Rabbi, but that he is the Son of God and the King of Israel.
What is interesting here is that I believe John is the only Gospel writer to call Jesus the King of Israel in a positive note. We often hear at the end of the Gospels Jesus being called the king of the Jews when he is being beaten and crucified, but John is different in that he truly sees Israel in a positive light. John’s gospel lifts up the Israelites for their belief and continued faith in God instead of their inability to see Jesus as the Messiah. All the gospel writers know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophets and the law, but John seems to lift all of Israel in a positive light even if they are unable to see Jesus for who he is. If we look at Nathanael’s first response to Jesus, even one of his disciples questioned who he is based on his human origins.
Finally, Jesus ends his calling of Nathanael by telling him that he will see so much more than a man who knew where someone was sitting. by a fig tree. He will see heaven opened up and he will see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Here Jesus tells us that heaven will open up for him and that the divine will descend upon him and go back up into heaven. Jesus is letting them know just how different he is and how he has direct access to God and heaven. What else is fascinating is that Jesus gives himself the title of the Son of Man here.
So far in today’s text he has been called the one who was spoken by Moses and the prophets, he has been called, Rabbi, Son of God and King of Israel, but Jesus chooses to call himself Son of Man. Jesus, after declaring that heaven would open up for him and he would bring the divine down into the world then calls himself the Son of Man. He knows he is God’s own son and will do miracles and share God’s love, but he at this moment also discloses that he is also truly human. Jesus shares with us that he is both truly divine and truly human.
Today’s text is full of so much we get to learn about God and Jesus. We learn what it might mean to invite people to church by inviting them to come and see, we get to see how even from a small town the King of Israel comes to save everyone from their sins and we find out that Jesus, in the opening of John’s gospel reveals both his divine and human nature.
John’s gospel may be different from the other gospels, but I am thankful for John’s gospel and how much we get to see and know about Jesus through these words we have today. I pray that you might be strengthened by them and know that we are all encouraged to invite others to come and see the incredible gift that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.