What is Good in Nazareth?

1Sam3:1-10
John 1: 43-51

All of us our searching for something. We all have dreams and goals that we work our whole life toward. We tell ourselves as children that we can be whatever we want, we can accomplish anything. As we get older, some of those dreams and goals fade away, partly because we have changed and so they no longer are something we want. Then there are times when we let our dreams and goals go because we think they are unrealistic. We tell ourselves it was a stupid thought, a foolish wish, or unrealistic expectation and it is time to grow up.

Jesus comes along right at this time in these four men’s lives. They have settled into their lives. They were no longer children with fancy dreams; they were grown men with careers. They had responsibilities and bills; they had families to take care of. They didn’t have time to hold onto dreams that might never come true, they had to put food on the table and make sure there was a roof over their family’s heads.

But Jesus is walking along and he chooses to head to Galilee. The text does not tell us if Philip is the first man Jesus sees or what Jesus was looking for. All we are told is that Jesus saw Philip and he told him “Follow me.”  So Jesus sees Philip and extends him an invitation to come on the journey. The word ‘see’ right here means more than Jesus looked at the outward appearance of Philip. Jesus saw inside of Philip; he saw the character, the flaws and the strengths that made up the man standing before him. Jesus proves that when he tells Nathaniel the kind of man he is and Nathaniel is amazed at his insight.

Jesus comes along in our lives right when we are about to give up our hopes and dreams. Jesus turns to us and reminds us of the joy we have in trying to fulfill our goals. Jesus fills us with faith, the faith that Jesus has in God and the faith he has in us.  This is one of the reasons why we seem to feel Jesus’ presence the most strongly when we are at our darkest moments. This is the reason that so many persecuted Christians seem to have such a strong, vivid faith. We have faith in the happy times of our life, but we really need and we really depend on God the most when we are at our lowest moments.

The first thing Philip does after Jesus issues him an invitation to follow him isn’t to accept the invitation. He doesn’t run home and pack his bags. He doesn’t go to the bank to get his savings. He does not kiss his wife and pat his kids’ heads and say he’ll be back when the journey is over. The first thing Philip does is he finds Nathaniel and issues an invitation.

He tells Nathaniel, “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.” Philip’s first instinct when he encounters the Messiah, when he finds the Word of God is to SHARE THE GOOD NEWS!

 The Gospel of John avidly reminds us of several things. We are given deeper glimpses into the human part of Jesus, but the Gospel of John never lets go of the divine half of him either. No, we are forced to mesh the two together until they are inseparable. It is why we proclaim that Jesus is both human and divine without any division between the two. He is fully human, and he is fully divine. This Gospel also reminds us that our first response to this amazing insight should not be to hold it close, but to share it with the world!

In the previous verses, Jesus sees Andrew and tells him to follow. Andrew goes immediately and finds Simon Peter and tells him, “We have found the Messiah!” And we see it again when Philip immediately finds Nathaniel and tells him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about!”

Are you sharing the Word of God with others? Are you telling people about the one who holds all the hope for our future? And if you aren’t – WHY?!

Why are we so afraid to share the Gospel with those around us? Why are we so afraid to live each day in the grip of excitement and joy that the Holy Spirit brings when we pay attention to what she is doing around us? Why do we hide who we are, why do we pretend we are happy when we are not, why do we allow ourselves to grow dull and weary when God promises renewal and excitement?!

Many of us allow our fears to stop us from doing these things. We fear what others will think. We fear what others will say and do. We fear ourselves. We fear God. If many of us are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we are afraid to give ourselves to the Lord because we fear we will lose who we are. We do not want to give God everything because then we wonder what will be left for us to enjoy. If I’m always doing something for God, when will I have time for me?!

Jesus understands these fears, but that doesn’t mean that he excuses them.

You will not lose yourself if you give everything to God. The Lord does not suck us up and wring us dry like an old dish cloth. What happens when we give our all to God is that we find out who we really are. We are given a freedom to be exactly who we are without restraint. It seems like an impossible dichotomy.  However, what we always forget is that God loves us more than we could ever measure in human ways. Why would God who loves us beyond reasoning, take from us the very essence of whom we are?

God wouldn’t. But God would give us the ability to find deeper meaning in all that happens around us, God would give us the chance to find out more about God and ourselves. God would open up for us a new world with so many possibilities that we are left speechless and amazed.

Philip knew that. He had to share what he had found with Nathaniel because it was the most precious, the most perfect, and the most wonderful moment of Philip’s life. Something like that is not meant to be hidden away for an hour on Sunday. The Lord our God is not meant to be an afterthought. The Lord Our God is the one who gives us back all that we have previously lost in our lives. The Lord gives meaning to the saddest moments as well as the happiest ones in our life.

If you are wondering what to say to people, then follow Philip’s example. Nathaniel asks him in doubt, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?!” And Philip simply responds, “Come and see”.

When you invite someone to hear the Good News, to find out what is going on here at Trinity, all you have to say is “Come and see”. Let Jesus do the rest. Jesus will look deep into each of our hearts and will know what we want, what we need, and Jesus will restore us, transform us so that our hearts beat in time with God’s. That is what happens when we give ourselves to the Lord. We will abide in God and God will abide in us. We will dwell in Jesus and Jesus will dwell in us. The Holy Spirit will live in us and we will live in the Holy Spirit.

Amen.