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.
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| 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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