“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathaniel asks.
There’s just something about his sarcasm and hopelessness that resonates for me. Do you ever feel like Nathaniel?
Is there anything good that can come out of…[pick your source of pain, your arch rival, or your recurring annoyance]
This person that I can’t stand?
Another death in the family?
Divorce?
This period of joblessness?
--
Going to church again this Sunday?
Same old music?
Some new songs I’ve never heard?
Another one of Pastor’s droning sermons?
--
This election year?
Barack Obama?
Mitt Romney?
This economic depression?
The U.S. military?
The Occupy Movement downtown?
--
Can anything good come from a civil rights movement? (MLK)
Can anything good come from having a dream?
Standing up for housing rights? Schooling rights? Religious rights?
Muslim? Atheist?
Can anything good come from Christians?
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth, because we’ve been down this road before…”
I don’t know if I want to give Nathaniel a hug or a high five…
He’s my tragic brother. He’s that voice on my shoulder that whispers, “It can never work, don’t kid yourself.” [Community Garden, recovery of our declining church body, efforts to strike out hunger, cancer, improving education or health care in our nation] “It can never work,” says Nathaniel. There may be some truth to Nathaniel’s sarcasm and cynicism.
And he’s sitting under a fig tree.
And Jesus sees him. What is that about?
I means Jesus sees through all his layers of sarcasm and cynicism and hopelessness. He sees “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Jesus sees honesty. And he sees that honesty, that realism holding Nathaniel captive, like a snake coiled around him. And Jesus sees more than that: he sees beneath those layers of cynicism and hopelessness, a child of God, from a member of the family who everyone else looks at and says, “Can anything good come from Nathaniel’s mouth?”
Fig in our backyard with it’s low-hanging branches that hide; figs are what Adam and Eve used to cover themselves.) It’s also, I understand, a symbol for home in the Old Testament – Micah, Isaiah, and Zechariah. Sees through the hiddenness of the fig, sees through all the baggage of our homes our backgrounds. Jesus sees right through it all, and honors and calls his disciple.
That’s interesting news for those of us who identify with Nathaniel. And here’s the other side of it. The text is so rich, in case you’re not feeling Nathaniel: The other side is Philip.
“Come and see” is what Philip says, when he’s challenged.
Philip lets God be God. He’s still searching too, he doesn’t have all the answers, but all he’s saying is let’s just give this Jesus a try. Let’s go and follow him. Let’s let him be God and not try to take on that job. (Interesting how some religious groups feel that the have to defend God.)
Philip is that other voice on our shoulder, when we start getting cynical and hopeless. Perhaps the best voice. Notice: Philip’s voice is not saying, “Hey, it’s OK, everything is going to be alright.” No, the truth is Martin Luther King, Jr. gets shot. Jesus gets crucified. Is that “everything turning out OK”?! No, Philip models two things: 1) an openness to God’s calling, Christ’s invitation, and 2) a commitment to listening in community, a commitment to tolerance of various points of view and issues. Come with me, he says. Community discernment is so important. It’s like Eli and Samuel’s back-and-forth before little Samuel answers. We need each other to discern God’s call. “Where is God calling us as a congregation?” is the question our church council wrestles with in this new year. And it’s yours too. I’ve got thoughts. You’ve got thoughts. But are my desires in line with what God wants. That takes communal prayer and communal discernment. Do our thoughts line up with God’s invitation?
God is calling. God is moving. God is picking you out from under the fig trees, picking us out from our thickets of hopelessness and fear and saying you are my disciples. I need you and all doubts and questions…because I need your honesty. I need your willingness to just giving it a try, your commitment to your community, Christ says. Come and follow me.
No comments:
Post a Comment