John 1:43-51 * January 18, 2009 * Epiphany 2 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

Maybe you work in an office or a classroom or a shop, or maybe you don’t work outside the home or are self-employed or are retired. Imagine you’re getting off work or following the regular rhythm of your daily routine, just going about the normal business of doing what’s next.

Then something unusual happens. A man you do not know personally but who you instinctively recognize as having some sort of innate power and authority enters your space and seeks you out. He looks you straight in the eye and utters two simple words: “Follow me.”

What do you do?

That very thing happened to a couple of people in our text for today. Two men named Philip and Nathaniel appeared to be simply going about their business when Jesus found them and invited them into a relationship that would and did change their lives from that moment on. And in recounting what went on that day we are provided with some important

LESSONS ON DISCIPLESHIP

Let’s work our way through this text and discover what they are…

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, He said to him, “Follow Me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. This event took place at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He is gathering to Himself a band of close followers who will eventually be known as the Twelve Disciples. The brothers Andrew and Peter are already in the fold. On the day of our text He is about to enlist two more.

The first of this new pair was Philip. Since they all shared the same home town, had Peter and Andrew seen Philip beforehand and alerted him to what was going on? We’re not told. All we know is that the Savior found Philip and invited him to follow Him. And he did.

What do we know about Philip? Not much. We have a couple of other references about Him later in this Gospel, but other than that, we know nothing about him. We might refer to him as one of the “background” disciples. If we had to assign a predominant characteristic to Philip, we might say that he was thoroughly ordinary.

Something else that should not escape our attention is the fact that Jesus found Philip, and not the other way around. In other words, Jesus is the One who initiated what would soon become a close spiritual relationship. Later in this Gospel Jesus would tell all of His disciples that they did not choose Him, but rather He chose them.

The same holds true for all of us who gladly call ourselves His modern day disciples. We did not choose Him; He chose us. This truth is underscored in one of our hymns (CW 380):

Lord ‘tis not that I did choose you; That, I know, could never be,

For this heart would still refuse you, had your grace not chosen me.

This is a very comforting piece of information. Some of us may have had the rather crushing experience of being the last one picked when choosing up sides or being the one who wasn’t invited to the party or the one who was passed over for a job promotion. While the world celebrates the mover and the shaker and the great achiever, many of us would have to rank ourselves as being nothing other than average or ordinary. Kind of like Philip.

But here’s the deal: With God there are no ordinary people. With God, we are the chosen ones. Think about this. Regardless of name, rank, serial number or native ability; regardless of whether we have a Ph.D. or a GED after our names; regardless of whether we’re in the limelight or in the background; regardless of whether we’re living high or just scraping by – we have been chosen by God to be His own. Because of the redeeming work of His Son, to whom He in His grace has called us to faith, we will someday live with Him forever in heaven.

Viewed from the perspective I think we’d all say: “If that is an ordinary life, sign me up.” And God in His grace already has.

Back to the text. Philip’s call to discipleship sets up a small chain reaction. Here’s what happens next: Philip found Nathaniel and told him, “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 doesn’t let any grass grow under his feet. Even though he’s got it backwards about who found whom, we’ll excuse him because he’s obviously excited to share the news. So he finds his friend Nathaniel, also known in the gospels as Bartholomew.

As a believer who knew the Old Testament with all its Messianic prophecies, Philip had been led by God to the conviction that Jesus, who grew up in Nazareth and was known there as the son of Joseph, was actually quite a bit more. He was the One whom Moses and the prophets had written about. He was the Savior. Philip now wanted Nathaniel to know what he knew.

He may not have been prepared for the response. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathaniel asked. It’s hard to tell whether Nathaniel is speaking negatively about Nazareth as a town or if he’s simply stunned that such a great thing could come out of so unlikely a location. Whatever the case, Philip answers back the best possible way: “Come and see,” said Philip” – which is exactly what Nathaniel intended to do.

When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said to him, “Here is a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false.” On occasion in the Gospels Jesus will comment on the depth of a person’s faith or character. This is one of those times. Nathaniel was an honest, sincere and genuine Old Testament believer. At this particular moment, he is also a mystified honest, sincere and genuine Old Testament believer: “How do you know me?” Nathaniel asked. He’s probably wondering if Philip had spoken about him to the Lord. But Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Recognizing that only God could know this, and very moved to be in His presence, Then Nathaniel declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (meaning the long expected Messiah). Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” (The miracles of Christ come to mind.)

He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” What does Jesus mean by this? He alludes to an incident that Nathaniel as a devout Old Testament believer would be very familiar with.

Maybe you remember it as well. It’s found in Genesis chapter 28, where are told of Jacob’s dream. Exhausted due to his flight from his brother Esau, whom he had deceived, Jacob (also known as “Israel”) fell asleep and dreamt he saw a ladder standing on earth with its top reaching to heaven. Ascending and descending upon it were angels, and at the top was God Himself.

Within this dream God pronounced upon Jacob a series of blessings, which climaxed with the same promise given earlier to Jacob’s father and grandfather: “All people on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” This is a reference to the fact that the Savior of the World would come, according to His human nature, from the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – in other words, the Jewish nation.

With this as background, what Jesus appears to be saying is that He is the link between heaven and earth, the bond of union between God and man. He is the One who, through His sacrifice for the sins of the world, reconciles God and man. He is the One who brings heaven to the people of earth in the fact that He is God and brings the people of earth to heaven in the fact that He is the Savior. In time and through the eyes of faith the disciples will see Him in this light; just as we see Him in that light now.

So far the text. What are the practical lessons for us within it? Since the two principle people in this event (other than Jesus) are Philip and Nathaniel, let’s consider what we can glean from their example. Two key words come to mind: CONFESSION and TRUST.

In Philip we see a believer who confessed his faith to others. Chosen by Christ and led to know Jesus as the promised Savior, Philip was anxious to get the word out. The fact that he quickly sought out Nathaniel shows us his missionary spirit. So we can say that the life of following Christ is a life which understands the importance of confessing Christ to others.

How do we confess Christ as His disciples? Perhaps the most direct way is doing what Philip did: Telling someone face to face about who and what Jesus Christ is for them. Not in a forced or militant way, but when the time and opportunity presents itself for us like it did for Philip.

I would guess that some of you have had such opportunities. Maybe you have also had the privilege and joy of watching the Gospel which came through your witness take root in another person’s heart and bloom forth in faith.

Then again, maybe not. Maybe you have shared the message with seemingly little or no or possibly even negative results. Then it is important for us to remember that it is God, not us, who is responsible for results.

I would also guess that for some of us the thought of telling others about our faith is a pretty scary proposition. There is the fear that we really don’t know what to say or how to say it, and the nagging idea that something as important as the Gospel we surely don’t want to mess up. So we may say nothing, even if we are asked. In such a situation, it is good to remember – and apply to ourselves – the words of the mission hymn:

If you cannot speak like angels, if you cannot preach like Paul

You can tell the love of Jesus, you can say He died for all.

If you cannot rouse the wicked with the Judgment’s dread alarms,

You can lead the little children to the Savior’s waiting arms.

If you cannot be a watchman, standing high on Zion’s wall,

Pointing out the path to heaven, offering life and peace to all,

With your prayers and with your offerings you can do what God demands

You can be like faithful Aaron, holding up the prophet’s hands.

The bottom line: Be encouraged to know that in some way or form, through simple words or simple actions, through heartfelt prayers and offerings, God can use us as His instruments, just as He used average, ordinary Philip.

And what about Nathaniel? What can we learn from him? We can learn to be gullible. Usually we think of that word in negative terms. “Gullible” people are too trusting and will believe anything. But here it can be taken in a positive sense. In this “gullible” believer we see genuine trust in Christ. Once Jesus made it clear who He was, Nathaniel simply trusted and believed.

So it is with us. The life of discipleship is one of implicitly trusting Jesus.

Trusting Jesus when He says I’ve prepared a place for you in heaven, and I’ve got the scars to prove it. Trusting Jesus when He tells us to not lose heart even in the midst of troubling times because He will never abandon us. Trusting Jesus when He calls Himself the Good Shepherd and us His sheep, knowing that like a Good Shepherd He is in the lead of our lives at all times – in the valleys as well as on the hills; over the rocky terrain as well as by the quiet waters. Discipleship is a trusting gullible-ness, just like we see in Nathaniel.

At the beginning of this sermon you were asked to speculate on what it would be like if Christ looked into your eyes as He did to Philip and Nathaniel and asked you to follow Him. We are removed from that point in history by some 2000 years, yet Christ Jesus has called each of us to be His own in no less personal or dramatic fashion than He did those two.

Through the waters of baptism He found us and brought us into His kingdom. Through Word and Sacrament He strengthens and sustains our faith. We are His disciples. To us, as to the two in our text, Jesus says, “Follow Me.” And by God’s grace we have.

May we always continue along the path of committed and confessing discipleship, richly and daily giving honor to the One who died so we might live. And may our daily prayer be that God will use us more and more to carry out His purposes. Amen.