Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 • 1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20) • 1 Corinthians 6;12-20 • John 1:43-51

This week’s theme is God’s divine intimate knowledge. In our call to worship psalm, David affirms that nothing in his life escapes God’s notice. In 1 Samuel, the young prophet receives the word of the Lord concerning Eli the priest. In 1 Corinthians, Paul declares that we are in intimate union with God through Christ. And in our pericope in John, Jesus reaches Nathanael by telling him things that only God could know about him.

Can Anything Good Come from Nazareth?

John 1:43-51 NRSV

A young college student was invited by his girlfriend’s grandparents to join them one Sunday afternoon at their farm. As he perused their ample garden, he saw several rows of large leaves with reddish stalks attached to them. He asked his girlfriend what they were. She exclaimed, “Those are rhubarb plants, and tonight we will have strawberry rhubarb pie.”

The young student recalled the dozens of times that his mother told him and his siblings that rhubarb was the worst thing on God’s green earth and was not fit for human consumption. She declared that nothing good has ever come from those plants.

After finishing his dinner at the farm, a strawberry rhubarb pie was placed before him. He just knew that nothing good could come from this, but he didn’t want to be rude. He cautiously took a very small bite and as he did his eyes lit up. He started digging into the tasty desert taking bite after bite until it was devoured without a crumb left on his plate. Something good did come from that cursed plant after all.

In the gospel of John, Nathanael asks the question, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” The answer for us is obvious as we have the benefit of reading the end of the story. We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. But the answer for Nathanael wasn’t so obvious.

As we read today’s text, we will examine those places within us that we may still have a hard time believing. We may uncover where our prejudices lie concerning who we expect God to be. Can he be trusted? The text and sermon today are inviting us to come and see.

Read John 1:43-50

Verse 43 starts out with “The next day…” To give us some context, we have to go back to the previous day. And on the previous day, we see Andrew encountering Jesus. He decides to follow Jesus and then goes to find his brother, Peter, who also follows Jesus. And this brings us up to speed for today’s text.

At the beginning of our text, we have Jesus issuing an invitation to Philip to follow him. Philip, as scripture indicates, was from the same town (Bethsaida) as Andrew and Peter. Might they have known each other? It seems likely. In any case, there is a strong presence of relationship among the disciples of Jesus, which we are about to glimpse more of.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  (John 1:43-50 NRSVUE)

Prior to our text, we saw Andrew finding Peter; after our text begins, we see Jesus finding Philip and Philip finding Nathanael and telling him about how they found Jesus, the Messiah. That’s a whole lot of finding. Which gives us the indication that there must also have been a whole lot of searching as well.

In 1976, Campus Crusade for Christ started a bumper sticker campaign in the United States. They worked with thousands of churches to distribute and display a slogan on car’s bumpers that said, “I Found It.” There was an 800 number also listed that people could call to find out what had been found, although, writing down a phone number while driving was definitely not a good idea.¹ The truth is, we cannot take credit for finding “It.” Which, if you haven’t figured out what the “It” was — it was Jesus. And we didn’t find him, he found us.

Philip did not “find” Jesus as a result of an active search, neither did Andrew or Peter. They were most likely keenly aware of what was written about the Messiah in the law and the prophets, and in some ways they were always looking, but the truth remains, Jesus found them.

Long before any of us had any thoughts of following Jesus, of wanting and desiring to know God, he was the one looking for us. Notice what the Psalmist says:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1-6 NRSVUE)

Where is the hope in us going out and trying to find God? If it is up to us, we are doomed to failure. But the good news is that we have a God who has found humanity and has embraced us as his own through the very life of Christ.

Obviously, Philip is very excited about encountering Jesus. He is convinced that Jesus is the one that they have been waiting for. Jesus seems to line up for him what was written about the Messiah, and Philip is eager to share this good news with Nathanael. But there is a problem. Nathanael needs a little more convincing.

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael’s response was full of doubt, disbelief, prejudice, and suspicion. We might be tempted to think that this would have been just something that was unique to Nathanael, but this is probably a question that many Jews would have had.

Nazareth was a small hill town in Galilee of about 400 residents.² But what that town was known for primarily was having a Roman Garrison, a stronghold full of Roman soldiers. Most Jews would have avoided Nazareth like the plague because of this. To make matters worse, many of its residents were poor, and therefore, they were held in suspicion as traitors or perhaps even spies for the Romans.³ The Nazareth chamber of commerce had their work cut out for them.

Once again, Philip doesn’t help his own cause. Technically, he was correct in saying that Jesus was from Nazareth, as that was where he grew up. But Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is part of the mighty tribe of Judah. It was also the birthplace of King David. Bethlehem is the kind of place from where messiahs are supposed to come. The book of Micah, in the Old Testament even prophesies this.

We prefer our messiahs to be nice and respectable, from well-to-do families, to wear three-piece-suits and to be on our side of the political aisle to the exclusion of our enemies. We want predictable and pious messiahs, but certainly not messiahs who come from questionable backgrounds, or who might challenge our paradigms.

If Philip had included this part of Jesus’ lineage, about Jesus being from Bethlehem, then Nathanael could have had a lot easier time accepting Philip’s invitation. However, this should also give us hope. Despite our best intentions and zeal, we don’t always present the gospel in the most accurate light. But more importantly, there is a God who is more than capable of using even our inadequacies. God is not dependent on our perfect presentations, but on the activity of the Holy Spirit working through what we have shared. He will have the final word in a person’s life.

Philip’s reaction is to answer Nathanael by saying “come and see.” Come and see who Jesus is and what he is all about. The key is taking a good hard look at Jesus. People who are skeptical of Christianity like to point out the inconsistencies between our words and our actions. They point at disgraced evangelists and those in the church that have perpetrated harm on others. They try to discredit the Bible as mere fables as well. We should be honest about these things in a spirit of humility. But there is something that we can do even better. Point them towards Jesus, himself. We can issue the invitation to “come and see.”

As a church, what is our ultimate aim with people? Is it to impress them with our buildings, our programs, charismatic leadership, dynamic worship, free coffee and donuts? Or is it to get them to see Jesus? And the Jesus that they most need to see is the Jesus in us — to see how Jesus is expressing his life through us as his body.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” (John 1:47-48 NRSVUE)

Jesus begins ministering to Nathanael before they are even face to face. He cannot wait to start giving him the good news. As Nathanael is walking towards him, Jesus begins to read the contents of Nathanael’s heart to him. Nathanael is incredulous. “How can you know me?” And to sum up what Jesus says to him, “There isn’t anything that I don’t know about you, Nathanael.” Again, we read from the Psalmist:

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; (Psalm 139:13-14 NRSVUE)

Nathanael is seen by Jesus. Not just physically, but more importantly, Jesus sees into him. Jesus affirms something in Nathanael that perhaps he doesn’t feel has been recognized until now. Jesus speaks to his very need. And although we don’t know what was going on with Nathanael at the fig tree, it was important to him and therefore important to Jesus.

So many people go through this life feeling like no one really knows them. And yet they long for just one person with whom they can share the deepest part of their being. The author, John Lynch once wrote:

What if there was a place so safe that the worst of me could be known, and I would discover that I would not be loved less, but more in the telling of it.⁴

Jesus tells us there is such a place. And he has been calling all of us from that place. The same place that he called Nathanael from. God, in his overflowing heart for humanity has been crafting a way to reach us all.

Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (John 1:49-51 NRSVUE)

Nathanael saw who Jesus was. His heart was touched in an intimate way. In fact, he is the first person documented in the Bible for making a verbal confession of Jesus as the Son of God. Nathanael came, and he did see!

Church tradition says that Nathanael traveled to several countries, but he is most recognized for bringing the gospel to Armenia, where he was eventually martyred for his faith. Nathanael assuredly received the promise from Christ, that he would see the heavens opened and that Jesus, himself, would be present there with the angels.

Today, let us turn from our prejudices about God. Let us accept him who has accepted us in all of the love and grace that flows from the Father. Let us put aside anything that distorts the fundamental character and nature of Christ from being shown to a world that watches us. May we be led by the Holy Spirit to go and simply offer the invitation to come and see that something very good has indeed come from Nazareth.

Resources:
1) https://www.baptistboard.com/threads/i-found-it-sticker.12746
2) https://jesus-story.net/about-nazareth
3) https://iamohanyere.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/can-anything-good-come-out-of-nazareth/
4) Lynch, McNicol and Thrall: “The Cure” What if God isn’t who you think He is and neither are you. (San Clemente, CA: Crossection, 2011)
5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_the_Apostle

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