Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Come See: Something Good Can Come From Nazareth


            Last Sunday, during the Adult Formation hour, we discussed the heresy of Arianism. Arianism was named after Arius, born in 270 A.D. and claimed that Jesus, while of divine origin, was not fully God but a creation of God that set the world into being. The debate was settled by Athanasius who made the claim that Jesus was fully human and fully God and therefore co-eternal with God.
            This heresy was formally combated during the construction of the Nicene Creed in 325 A.D. So, when you say, “true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father” take pride in the fact you are combating heresy (or something like that!).
            Anyway, as the class was wrapping up, I asked if there were any final thoughts or questions. This comment opened a can of worms. Someone said something like, “I know my vocabulary is limited but how can someone be fully human and fully divine? How can there be an explanation for this?”
Because we were running out of time, I gave the short answer, “You can’t. It’s a mystery.” But now that I have the pulpit and at least 10 minutes to kill, I’ll give the longer answer! And it just so happens that today’s gospel lesson gives context to that answer. Another win for the Holy Spirit!
In the first verses of John’s gospel, we read the proclamation that the Word was made flesh. In other words, Jesus, God’s Son, is the manifestation of God’s own self in the flesh of humanity through the person of Jesus. These first verses start to build the argument that Jesus is fully God.
In today’s lesson, the fully human argument begins to take shape. A very human Jesus decides to travel, by foot presumably, to Galilee. He initiates a conversation, presumably in Aramaic, with Philip and says, “Follow me.” Philip is agreeable and tells his friend Nathaniel about the encounter.
Philip is specific with his description of Jesus, “We have found him whom Moses and the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Jesus is a real person with human origin and a human family. Nathaniel can’t believe anything good can come from Nazareth and to that Philip simply says, “Come and see.”
Jesus’ divine nature peeks through when he speaks rightly of Nathaniel, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” The question for us and for Nathaniel asks, “How do you know this about me? You’ve never met me.”
Jesus gives what seems to be an esoteric response, “because I saw you under the fig tree.” While the image of the fig tree might seem foreign to us today, this might be like Jesus saying in a modern context, because I saw you reading in the chapel. A Jew would often be found reading the Torah under a fig tree.
Apparently, this answer is good enough to convince Nathaniel that Jesus is indeed to the Son of God, the King of Israel. But Jesus tells Nathaniel, you only know the half of it. “I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
This curious statement calls the reader to recall the story of Jacob’s ladder in Genesis. Jacob dreams about a ladder that connects heaven and earth with angels ascending and descending acting as intermediaries between the two worlds. But now, Jesus is saying that the Son of Man will replace that ladder.
The Son of Man will be the intersection between heaven and earth. Previously, the intersection between heaven and earth was found in a tent or tabernacle. The tent or tabernacle turned into a more permanent dwelling place with the construction of the Temple. And now that intersection will be found in the Word made flesh, in the Son of Man, in this Jesus who comes from Nazareth, presumably a place where nothing good can come.
But if Nathaniel or any of us are paying attention to the salvation story of scripture, ours is a God who is constantly using unlikely people, from unlikely places, from the proverbial Nazareth’s of this world, to build his nation, to build his heavenly kingdom on earth.
The intersection between heaven and earth is not found where God recruits the best and the brightest to do his work. God’s best and brightest was Solomon. Solomon did great things to begin his reign, like build the Temple, but idol worship and mistresses sent the nation of Israel into a terrible civil war. Eventually, the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah were overtaken by outside countries – a house divided cannot stand.   
No, the intersection between heaven and earth is found when the weak and most vulnerable are remembered and taken care of and invited to sit at the king’s table, for ours is a God who orders his kingdom by lifting up the lowly and by casting down the mighty from their thrones. The fullness of heaven and earth, the meeting place of the human and divine is found in Jesus who is from Nazareth of all places.
As many have said before me, this is a truth that human vocabulary cannot adequately define. This is a truth that words will fail to convey. The fully human and fully divine Jesus is a mystery that we can only come to know through faith.
If you look closely, the mystery of our faith isn’t explained in our creed as a scholarly argument. Instead, the mystery of our faith is proclaimed in our creed as truth. This mystery will not be boxed in or limited by human thought. Rather, we, as followers of Jesus, depend on this truth to be made known through divine revelation, by following Jesus.
Even more, the mystery of faith can only be perceived by us when we are willing to put our books down, to put our studies of God in the scriptures aside in order to meet God in the flesh of Jesus, the man and the God who was born out of a place called Nazareth, a place where all things come into being.
If you still don’t understand, then hear the invitation of Philip again, “Come and see.” Come and see the one who turns water into wine. Come and see the one who can heal from a distance. Come and see the one who makes the lame to walk. Come and see the one who can turn a meal for a family of 5 into a feast for 5,000. Come and see the one who can walk on water. Come and see the one who can make the blind to see. Come and see the one who can make the dead come alive.
Come and see how Jesus transforms a regular meal into a heavenly banquet by serving on the altar or flower guild, by singing in the choir, by serving in worship in some way. Come and see how Jesus uses a Bible study or class to open your eyes how you are being called to divine work in this world.
Come and see how Jesus is always preparing enough food by joining a breakfast team. Come and see how Jesus is turning thankless work into extraordinary service by serving at the food pantry, by picking up trash with Keep It Clean, Selma.
Volunteers are needed at the Christian Outreach Alliance's
Food Pantry. Contact Nancy Bennett if interested.
Come and see how Jesus is calling us to walk on the stormy seas by inviting us into difficult conversations about race and healing in our community and country. Come and see how Jesus is lifting the dead to life by serving Kairos Prison Ministry in some way. Come and see how something good, something divine even, can possibly come from a place like Nazareth.
How can Jesus be fully human and fully divine? I can’t explain it logically but my experience of following Jesus tells me that he is. Our journey with Christ tells me that Jesus is doing far greater things than my human intellect can fathom or dream. Our journey with Christ tells me that I don’t have to understand how God makes it happen but that God does make it happen through Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.

May God grant us the grace and courage to let go of the things we think we need to know to be people of faith so that we may live toward the mystery of faith by following the One who comes from Nazareth, the Son of God – Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  

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