{"id":10943,"date":"2021-02-07T19:49:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T19:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=10943"},"modified":"2023-01-30T12:27:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T11:27:44","slug":"john-143-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/john-143-51\/","title":{"rendered":"John 1:43-51"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Epiphany 2, January 15, 2006
\nJohn 1:43-51, Carl E. Roemer<\/h3>\n
\n

This story of the calling of Phillip and Nathanael (which in Hebrew means „God gives“) raises many questions for the reader. \u00a0Why is Nathanael sitting under a fig tree? \u00a0Was he some kind of dawdler and slouch avoiding work and living off the handouts of others? \u00a0Why, when he is invited by Philip to come and see the promised one, does he ask could anything good come from Nazareth? \u00a0What was wrong with the place? \u00a0Why does Nathanael so quickly change his mind about Jesus when Jesus told him he had seen him under a fig tree? \u00a0And what does Jesus mean when he tells Nathanael he will see angels ascending and descending on himself? \u00a0Why does Jesus call himself the „Son of Man“? \u00a0Just as importantly, what does all of this have to say to us? \u00a0Is this only a story about how Jesus gathered disciples? \u00a0And finally, why is this Gospel reading appointed for this, the second Sunday in the season of the Epiphany?<\/p>\n

Let us first take a walk carefully through this story and so begin to answer some of these questions.<\/p>\n

First of all, if we back up a little bit to the story preceding this one in John’s gospel we see that two of John the Baptist’s disciples left John and followed Jesus. \u00a0One of these was Andrew, who recruited his brother Simon to become a disciple of Jesus. \u00a0Jesus gave Simon the name of „Peter.“ \u00a0So it is likely that both Phillip and Nathanael were also disciples of John the Baptist because they came from the same city as Andrew and Peter. \u00a0There is a connection then between all of these men.<\/p>\n

Nathanael wonders if any good can come from Nazareth because it is a place of no account. \u00a0In fact, historians tell us that the place is never ever mentioned outside of the New Testament until the third century A.D. in the writings of the Jewish Rabbis. \u00a0The name also appears no where in the Old Testament. It was obviously a place of absolute obscurity. If Jesus was supposed to be the promised one, the one foretold in Scripture, it seemed to Nathanael that the place of origin of the promised one would be a more auspicious town with more to commend itself than a place like Nazareth. \u00a0Bethlehem would be a better place to claim as your home from where the great king David originated. \u00a0And the Prophet Micah also prophesied that Bethlehem would be the place of origin of a coming mighty ruler of Israel (5:2). \u00a0„You went to „Broome Community College?“ asked the graduate from Harvard with a slight but obvious sneer in his voice.<\/p>\n

But Philip doesn’t defend Jesus or his claims; he doesn’t throw up a lot of arguments to bolster his convictions. \u00a0Philip doesn’t try to argue him into his own confession that the Coming One has finally appeared and is walking among them. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He merely says, „Come and see.“ \u00a0He disarms Nathanael’s defenses and perks his interest. \u00a0So Nathanael’s curiosity gets the better of him and he lets Philip lead him to this „Jesus of Nazareth.“ \u00a0My friend says, that’s a great movie. Go!“ \u00a0I go.<\/p>\n

As soon as they find Jesus, Jesus exclaims, „Look, an Israelite without guile!“ \u00a0Here is a man who is without deceit, one who is straight forward, honest and sincere. \u00a0Jesus sees him and looks directly at the core of his character. \u00a0Jesus knows him before meeting him; he sees through him, as they say. And how does Jesus know him? \u00a0He had already seen him „under the fig tree.“ \u00a0Nathanael is no slouch because under the trees was where great teachers in Israel gathered students to study scripture and the law to grow wise in the way of God and to learn how to walk in his ways. \u00a0Such a man knows the Bible, knows the way of the Lord, seeks diligently to be his man and to be bound by his word. \u00a0Indeed Nathanael is without guile because he has come to Jesus. \u00a0Jesus also calls him an „Israelite.“ \u00a0That is the name of the people of the covenant, those who seek to be God’s faithful people. He is without guile because he has left off the study of the Scriptures to come and see if their fulfillment has actually arrived. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the last supper Jesus tells his disciples:
\n„. . [Here] is. the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him [but] you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.“
\nJesus knows that the Spirit has led Nathanael to come to him. \u00a0He will now recognize Jesus for whom he really is and make a bold confession of \u00a0his faith in Jesus. \u00a0Nathanael is overwhelmed by the power of Jesus‘ miraculous knowledge about him. \u00a0He confesses that Jesus is the unique teacher of Israel, the „Rabbi,“ that he is God’s own Son, and Israel’s promised king.<\/p>\n

This is the \u00a0deeper meaning to Jesus‘ knowledge of Nathanael and that Nathanael now grasps: Jesus knows his own and the ones who will hear him, trust him and confess him. Jesus says later on in the Gospel,
\n„My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.“(10:27)
\nSuddenly Nathanael, sees the whole world, his life, his own self and all of Scripture he had studied so diligently in a new and different light. \u00a0Suddenly he perceives that his life, his present and future, are bound up together in the life of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Now we reach the high point of the story. \u00a0\u00a0Up until now everything was tentative, doubtful , unresolved and uncertain \u00a0How would Nathanael respond? \u00a0What will come out of this encounter with Jesus. \u00a0Now we hear the clarion call of the good news about Jesus. \u00a0Now the full thrust of the Gospel sounds forth and is proclaimed.. \u00a0Jesus tells Nathanael that he will see ever greater things: the heavens will open and the angels will ascend and descend on the Son of Man.<\/p>\n

Jesus is referring to the old story of the patriarch Jacob, who had cheated his brother Esau and ran away in fear for his life. \u00a0He beds down in the wilderness at night using a rock for a pillow. \u00a0In his sleep the heavens open and the angels of God ascend and descend on a ladder that reaches to the gates of heaven itself. \u00a0God speaks to him and says that he will make good on his promises and make of him a great nation that will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. When Jacob awakes he declares, „This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven“ (Gen 28:17).
\nHe names the place „Bethel,“ the „house of God.“<\/p>\n

Jesus had revealed that he understood the true character of Nathanael. \u00a0Now with these words Jesus reveals to Nathanael his own true character. \u00a0He says there is an unbroken fellowship between him and God. \u00a0The great things that the disciples will see will be the great seven signs or miracles of Jesus that John reports in his Gospel: turning water into wine (2:1-11), healing a man \u00a0from afar (4:46-54), \u00a0healing a lame man, (5:2-9) feeding five thousand men in the desert (6:1-14), walking on the billowing sea (6:16-21), healing of a blind man (9:1-7), and raising Lazarus from the dead (11:38-44). \u00a0In these „signs“ those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God who has come to save the world will see his glory, the glory that he shares with the Father. \u00a0But his real glory is shown in his being lifted up on the cross where he, as the „Lamb of God,“ takes away the sin of the world (1:29). \u00a0Jesus‘ cross \u00a0is the gate of heaven, by which a person can enter into the glory of the Father.
\n“ . . .and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself.“ (12:32)<\/p>\n

Jesus is the „Bethel,“ the dwelling of God with men. In the cross one finds the true God, the true way to home, the real meaning of our life, our true origin and our true destiny. \u00a0In Jesus the promise made to the patriarchs has finally reached its fulfillment: in Jesus all the nations are blessed because now all who believe in him are united with him, and share in the eternal glory of the Father. \u00a0Thus he says to Philip at the last supper,
\n„He who has seen me has seen the Father“ (14:9)
\nIn him all the world is invited to share in the fatherhood of the God of Israel and thus to share all of the promises and blessings that God has bestowed on his ancient people Israel. \u00a0This is what Jesus means when he refers to himself as the „Son of Man.“ \u00a0The Son of God identifies himself with all of mankind and \u00a0those whom the Spirit leads to faith he unites to the everlasting glory of the Father. \u00a0So Jesus says,
\n„Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.“ (11:26)<\/p>\n

This story illustrates the great paradox of the glory of Jesus, the great paradox of the coming of God in our human flesh. \u00a0The call of Jesus goes out and calls everyone to faith and that call includes life and death according to how the one who hears responds. The believer can see this glory of Jesus. \u00a0Those who do not believe cannot see this glory. \u00a0Thus Jesus brings a great cleaving sword into human history.
\nThis story of Nathanael’s call tells us exactly what being a disciple is all about. \u00a0Our „post-modern“ world sends out a myriad of different calls to us and would have us follow them. \u00a0One of its fundamental calls to us is to relativize everything. There is no „Truth“ but only your subjective truth which is valid only for you. \u00a0Nothing has the right to claim our ultimate allegiance. \u00a0There is no authority but your own subjective, individual authority. \u00a0You are the master of your own little „universe“ but that universe has no more validity than anyone else’s „universe.“ \u00a0So you must construct your own ideology, your own life style, your own „religion.“ \u00a0The result of this extreme relativism is the law of a dogmatized tolerance that demands that you sit in judgment on nothing and accept any and all behavior even if it offends you and your sense of right and wrong. \u00a0Everything is allowable and deviant behavior is defined downward until morality, etiquette and social norms become expressions judged to be but quaint products of a past and irrelevant age. \u00a0„Bigotry“ is the judgment passed on all those who would stand in judgment of others who, in a previous time, would have been found guilty of grave offense.<\/p>\n

Our western society is caught in the throes of an extreme rejection of the Christian faith and the person who stands at its enter. \u00a0Oh, Jesus may have been a good teacher who has given us some interesting ideas. \u00a0But can any good come from One who calls us to stake our whole existence on himself, calls us out of our individual worlds and to follow him to his cross? \u00a0Our culture finds that offensive and labels it as a neurotic need to bring punishment on oneself. \u00a0The person of Jesus is, as always, the great cleaving sword of humanity. \u00a0He divides those who come to faith in him from those who reject him. \u00a0It has always thus been so. \u00a0John’s Gospel reports that
\n„He came to his own and his own people received him not but to all who received him, who came to faith in his name, he gave power to become children of God..“ (1:11-12)<\/p>\n

Some years ago a young man, whom I shall call Todd, came to me for some \u00a0counseling. \u00a0He was married with two young children. \u00a0\u00a0Both he and his wife had been able to advance well in their chosen careers and were making a tidy combined income. But he and his wife were having a falling out. \u00a0They were having money problems which is one of the great marital destroyers. \u00a0\u00a0He seemed on less than congenial terms with his own parents. \u00a0He said he had no close friends and when asked if had anyone that he admired he said no one. \u00a0He found most people to be out after only their own self-interest. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0His anger expressed in terms of his wife’s spending habits smoldered under all he said. That anger had frequently burst forth by \u00a0using harsh and degrading words toward his wife and toward her family. \u00a0Both had been raised in Christian homes. \u00a0But they both had rejected Christianity and never went to church. \u00a0The church was full of hypocrites, he said. \u00a0He asked some question about Jesus but he answered that there was no proof for anything about the Christian faith and it was all only my opinion anyway.<\/p>\n

Here was a man who outwardly had it all: wife and family, a rewarding and lucrative career, all of the creature comforts of the age, who had been given great spiritual resources but had rejected them all and was standing on the verge of the collapse of his family. \u00a0He was living a life deeply embedded in his own self, estranged from others and yes, even estranged from his real self. \u00a0He had drunk deeply at the well of our culture’s philosophy of relativism in order to defend himself from really opening his heart to others and to the One Nathanael called the „Son of God.“ \u00a0He One who can integrate our lives giving them purpose and meaning and especially put us on the path that leads to the heart of a loving, heavenly Father.<\/p>\n

There is a temptation for us to become cynical, to lose our way in life, to say that how I live my life does not matter because I’m as good as the next guy and its none of your business, anyway.<\/p>\n

Epiphany is the season that is designed to reveal to us the deeper meaning of the person of Jesus Christ, to understand him more deeply, to love him more sincerely, and to walk with him more intimately. This second Sunday after Epiphany tells us in particular that even though we might be fraught with doubt, sunk in the pursuits of our daily regimes, trying to secure our lives in this world or encapsulated in our daily responsibilities that there is One who sees us and knows us even better than we know ourselves.<\/p>\n

Nathanael might say, „Fall with me at his feet, worship this One who gives us the fullness of life, confess with me, that he is the Christ, the One who was to come into the world to redeem us. \u00a0Here is the One who knows you, who has given his life for you and bore away your sins so that to enter his fold means life that is abundant. \u00a0Then you can go back to your daily lives filled with grace, mercy and peace. \u00a0Oh, yes, this band of disciples is less than perfect (we all abandoned him when push came to shove) but it is in that fellowship of the Church that he is manifested so clearly, his presence so brilliantly, his works so abundantly. \u00a0It is there where our vocation as his people becomes so apparent. \u00a0There we can confess our estrangements and be enfolded anew in our great Master’s fellowship. Yes, come and kneel at his table, eat and drink the supper of his Body and Blood. \u00a0Now you will see that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God and that you have life, real life, in his name.“<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n

\n

(the Rev.) Carl E. Roemer, Th.D., STS
\ncarleroemer@wmconnect.com <\/a>
\n2232 Jacob’s Ladder Road
\nBecket, MA 01223 <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Epiphany 2, January 15, 2006 John 1:43-51, Carl E. Roemer This story of the calling of Phillip and Nathanael (which in Hebrew means „God gives“) raises many questions for the reader. \u00a0Why is Nathanael sitting under a fig tree? \u00a0Was he some kind of dawdler and slouch avoiding work and living off the handouts of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,727,853,108,110,497,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-10943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-archiv","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-01-chapter-01-johannes","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16173,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10943\/revisions\/16173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10943"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=10943"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=10943"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=10943"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=10943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}