Jesus is the answer

January 14, 2024 Second Sunday of Epiphany Year B John 1:43-51 Jesus is the answer Greeting Opening Prayer Awesome God, you knew us before we were born. You love us into life. Open our hearts and our spirits today to hear your word for us. And, upon hearing the word, may we be convinced of our call to ministry and mission through the church. Bless us with your presence and your powerful love, for we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN. Scripture John 1:43-51 Common English Bible 43 The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael responded, “Can anything from Nazareth be good?” Philip said, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here is a genuine Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are God’s Son. You are the king of Israel.” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these! 51 I assure you that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up to heaven and down to earth on the Human One.”[a Sermon So this is the second week of January, so it looks like we are approaching Blue Monday season. Back in the 90’s it appears that a marketing company in England did some research and determined that there is a certain time in the month of January that is the most depressing time of the year. The exact date is supposed to be January 24th – which is why it is called Blue Monday. But it has been snowing all weekend, and now it is -20 below with the windchill with no hope of things getting better I would say that this qualifies as blue Monday season. The good news is that this is also the second Sunday of Epiphany. Epiphany season is all about finding the light in the midst of the darkness. If we can find the light then we can find Jesus. Jesus is the messiah that gives us hope that things will get better – and warmer eventually. The gospel lesson for the second week of Epiphany is always John. John’s whole mission is to help us to understand that Jesus is the son of God, and that God understands what it means to be human, if Jesus is with us, then God’s hand is working in the world and in our lives. Jesus is here to help us from feeling the effects of blue Monday and any other thing in life that may be holding us down. During Epiphany we always look at some part of chapters 1and 2 of John. John starts out telling us that Jesus us the word of God that became flesh and came to earth. Next it starts with the ministry of John the Baptist. John became so influential in baptizing and telling people to repent of their sins that he had disciples of his own. Until Jesus comes along and steals his ministry and his disciples. Well Jesus didn’t particularly steal them – John admits that the ministry that he is starting is not his own – it belongs to Jesus. Jesus takes over for his cousin, and if you read through the gospels, especially John, you will see that Jesus never forgets his cousin and all that he did to spread the good news of God’s presence. Originally, I had a whole service planned about the baptism of Jesus – but I changed the whole theme for this service so that we can do that service in person next week. I can’t believe that I have never done a sermon on that last part of John, but I think it is a fascinating story – and an important lesson for us. This scripture is a call story – usually when we hear the word call – we think of ordained ministers and missionaries. But this story is a call to the laity – the ordinary people. In reality God calls everyone – not everyone listens. The Goodness and Joy Are Everywhere Long before Frederick Buechner was a well-known Christian author and Presbyterian minister, as a young man he sat in the dead of winter in Army fatigues somewhere near Anniston, Alabama, eating supper out of a mess kit. The infantry training battalion that he had been assigned to was on bivouac. There was a cold drizzle of rain, and everything was mud. The sun had gone down. He was still hungry when he finished and noticed that a man nearby had something left over that he was not going to eat. It was a turnip. He asked if I could have it and the man tossed it over to him. He missed the catch; the turnip fell to the ground. But Buechner wanted it so badly that he picked it up and started eating it anyway, mud and all. And then he had a transforming moment. Here is how he describes it, “as I ate it,” he says, “time deepened and slowed down again. With a lurch of the heart that is real to me still, I saw suddenly, almost as if from beyond time altogether, that not only was the turnip good, but the mud was good too, even the drizzle and cold were good, even the Army that I had dreaded for months.” He concluded: “Sitting there in the Alabama winter with my mouth full of cold turnip and mud, I could see at least for a moment how if you ever took truly to heart the ultimate goodness and joy of things, even at their bleakest, the need to praise someone or something for it would be so great that you might even have to go out and speak of it to the birds of the air." Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com In John’s gospel, he is not talking to the birds – he is talking to us the people of God – helping us to understand and recognize Jesus as messiah. In chapter 1 Andrew and Peter had been disciples of John, but when they meet Jesus, they recognize the light and become his disciples. Philip is from the same town as Andrew and Peter, he too recognizes the light and he tells his friend Nathaniel. Scripture says that Nathaniel is sitting under a fig tree – he is not convinced and asks what good can come out of a place like Nazereth. Sitting under the fig tree – is symbolic for just hanging around hoping and waiting for a change, but having no real idea of what that looks like or how it is going to happen and being doubtful that it will ever come – that is most of us isn’t it. Philip preaches the lesson in this scripture – just three words – come and see. That is the invitation to salvation. All of us are hanging around waiting for the messiah – the messiah is in the world – all we have to do is come and see. When Jesus comes to meet John’s disciples he asks them what are they looking for – he tells them that whatever it is that they are looking for – Jesus is the messiah and cam make it happen. Jesus ministry unfolds from there and it is the disciples that spread the word that the messiah is here for the salvation of all of us. As I said, most of us are sitting under the fig tree waiting for a change. We are all in this world waiting for something to happen. We are all hoping for a better day. We have all experienced blue Monday – maybe not on a specific day – but at some point in our life. The good news is that Jesus has a way of coming into the world and shedding some light on the situation. Jesus came to the disciples, Jesus came to Fred Beuner in the form of a dirty turnip. Jesus came to Martin Luther King in the form of a dream for a better world. If we could just get people to try Jesus. It is eaiser than you think. Evangelical Attitude One day St. Francis of Assisi, invited a young monk to join him on a trip into town to preach. The young monk was so honored to get such an invitation from St. Francis that he quickly accepted. All day long he and St. Francis walked through the streets and byways, alleys and suburbs, and they rubbed shoulders with hundreds of people. At the end of the day, the two headed back home, however, not even once had St. Francis addressed a crowd, nor had he talked to anyone about the gospel. The young monk was greatly disappointed, and he said to St. Francis, “I thought we were going into town to preach?" St. Francis responded, "My son, we have preached. We were preaching while we were walking. We were seen by many and our behavior was closely watched. It is of no use to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere as we walk!” It’s no secret that we, the church, have forgotten what it means to preach the gospel, what it means to bring to others the good news, what it means to evangelize. The word evangelism has become a dirty word in some churches, and if it isn’t outright dismissed altogether, then it is relegated as a task for only those who have been ordained, or for those who are the professional speakers, who make a living giving their testimonials and asking for altar calls, or for those who are missionaries overseas. Author Unknown Now, let me close with the story of the man with two umbrellas. Dr. Gordon Targerson, a Baptist pastor in Worcester, Massachusetts, was crossing the Atlantic by ship some years ago. He noticed on several occasions a dark-skinned man sitting in a deck chair reading a Bible. One day Dr. Targerson sat down beside him and said, "Forgive my curiosity. I'm a Baptist minister. I notice you are a faithful Bible reader. I'd like to meet you." After introductions, the dark-skinned man said, "I am Filipino. I was born into a good Catholic home. I went to the United States as a young man to study in one of your fine universities, intending to become a lawyer. On my first day on campus, a student dropped by to visit. He welcomed me and offered to help in any way he could. Then he asked me where I went to church. I told him I was Catholic. He explained that the Catholic church was quite a distance away, but he sat down and drew me a map. I thanked him and he left. "On the following Sunday morning it was raining. I decided to just skip church. But then there was a knock on my door. There stood my new friend and he was holding two umbrellas. He said that he worried that I might not be able to read his map. So, he said he would escort me to the Catholic church. I hurriedly dressed, thinking all the while what an unusually thoughtful person he was. I wondered what church he belonged to. "As we walked along I asked him about his church. He said that his church was just around the corner. So, I suggested that we go to his church this Sunday, and then to mine the following Sunday. He agreed. But somehow I felt so much at home in his church that I never got around to finding mine. After four years I felt that God was leading me into the ordained ministry rather than into law. I went to Drew University Seminary and was ordained a Methodist minister. Then I returned to the Philippines to serve in a Methodist parish. My name is Valencius, Bishop Valencius, Bishop of the Methodist Church in the Philippines." The hero of the story is not the Bishop, important though he is. The hero is that anonymous young man with two umbrellas. Whether they ended up at the Methodist or Catholic churches doesn't really matter. Go all the way back to the beginning of Christian history and you'll always find him. He is behind almost every Christian convert...that unnamed man or woman with two umbrellas...that person with a winsome faith who builds a bridge of friendship with another person. And across that bridge walks the living Christ and claims another eternal soul. You can be that person with two umbrellas. You can be like Andrew! Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com He comes to us as he came to his disciples, and says to us, "Follow me." To "follow me" means, identifying with the poor and the oppressed, loving the sinner, and living sacrificially for others in this world, taking up your cross. That is the sole qualification for everybody to be his disciple - that you will take up your cross. Martin Luther King understood that, I think, probably better than anybody else in our time. Like all historical figures, he will be interpreted from different perspectives. But the way he would want to be interpreted is that he was a "servant of Christ." Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com God calls some people to do great things, God calls all of us to do little things in a great way. We all have been called to spread the light of Christ and tell others about a man named Jesus. We don’t have to have any special skill – it is as simple as us being like Andrew and inviting a friend to come and see – the messiah is here in the world. We don’t have to invite them to a special event, just invite them to see Jesus as the lord and savior. Jesus can take it from there. Jesus has a way of breaking through the darkness of the world to bring peace, comfort and hope. Jesus comes to us in special moments, in a spirit of love, in a relationship, in a call to be the light of the world. We have all had a touch from God in our ordinary life. In our scripture Jesus assures Nathaniel – You will see greater things that these. I assure you will see heaven opening up and God’s angels at work on earth. Wow! What a promise. There Was a Man in the World Who Loved Me James Baldwin, in one of his novels, says, "There was a man in the world once who loved me, and because that was the case, I can dare now to continue the struggle to become a man myself." For Christians there is a man in the world who loved us, every one of us. His name is Jesus of Nazareth. The love with which he loved us is not just human love. This is the mystery. The love with which he loved us, in the words of Dante, was "the love that moves the sun and the stars." Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com The Church depends on volunteers to do ministry. At some time in our lives we all received an invitation to follow. But, unfortunately we are not always willing. In John we have one of the first recorded volunteers that Jesus invited to help. Jesus asked Phillip to “follow” and Phillip responded by asking Nathaniel to “follow.” Thus began a series of volunteers who eventually became disciples. Keith Wagner, Not So Great Expectations We will talk more about that in person next week. We are in the season of blowing snow, cold dark days, blue Mondays, searching for something better. But we are also in the season of deeper listening, deeper understanding, and recognizing the light in a brand new way. We are all called to invite others to just come and see, we are called to bring the light to the world – how are we spreading the light of christ in these cold days? Let us pray…… Pastoral Prayer Patient and Wise God, you have called this church into being to serve you in this world by helping others. We rejoice in the many ways we are able to be of help. We offer our prayers for each other, for those near and dear to us, for the situations of difficulty and strife in community and world. You hear our voices cry out and with your eternal compassion you respond in loving care to each of us. We gather here this day, meeting and greeting each other, celebrating fellowship and friendship, welcoming each other in your name. You remind us that you are with us always. What have we to fear? But we fear far too often the unknown tasks that lie ahead of us. We always want to be assured of the happy out come of our efforts. Help us to trust your guidance and presence, Lord. Help us remember that there is no time in which we are out of your care. Enable us to be in serving ministry and mission with joy and confidence. Heal our wounds, bind up our bruises and broken spirits. Put us on a pathway of peace. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN. Benediction, Blessing, Commission Go into God’s world, aware of God’s call in your life. Follow our Lord Jesus Christ who will lead you in paths of service and hope. Lean on the power of the Holy Spirit to give you courage and strength. May peace, joy and love flow through you to others, in God’s name. AMEN. Moment for Stewardship In John’s Gospel, we hear of Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael to become his disciples. Gratefully, the scripture details Nathanael’s skepticism! He wasn’t sure any good thing (or person?) could come out of Nazareth. Philip’s response was not a proclamation to persuade…it was a simple “come and see”. In the life of our congregation, we may have moments of skepticism about this whole faith business. Yet again and again, we urge each other to “come and see”. Here, we can see (name one or two specific ministries of your congregation). Here, if we come, we can see (name one ministry which is not well known, but is living out the Good News). Here, each of us has opportunity to participate in making ministry happen as we share our tithes, our gifts and our offerings of time, talent and treasure. Knowing our actions can become the invitation to others: “Come and see!”, let’s bring the symbols of our lives to offer back to God. Prayer of Thanksgiving God, today we remember the times our skepticism has been overcome by what we can see – right before us, or in our mind’s eye. Thank you for accepting this offering, that we might continue to grow in our ability to follow Jesus with our whole lives. AMEN